Some in the U.S., albeit still clinging otherwise to some wildy flawed axioms, are now scared enough to speak out against the war propaganda against Russia and urge the Biden administration to find a way to step back from its talk of NATO defending Ukraine.
“Yes, Putin Might Invade Ukraine. But that’s Ukraine’s Problem, Not Ours,” MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen wrote in The New Republic yesterday. His main point: “Does Washington really want to risk war with a nuclear power over a country thousands of miles from the U.S. homeland and with little strategic importance to the U.S.?” He acknowledges that Russia’s concern is that “Ukraine is being converted into a big American aircraft carrier,” as RAND Corporation analyst Samuel Charap told him. Cohen urges the Biden administration help find “an off-ramp” for the Ukraine-Russian conflict, by (1) making clear to Ukrainian President Zelensky that the U.S. will not defend Ukraine if Russia attacks, and (2) getting the U.S. and its NATO allies “to think seriously about taking NATO membership off the table for Ukraine and Georgia.” [https://newrepublic.com/article/164663/joe-biden-putin-ukraine ]
“The US Can’t Deter a Russian Invasion of Ukraine — And Shouldn’t Even Try,” wrote Andrew Latham, a Professor at Minnesota’s Macalester College and non-resident fellow at D.C.’s Defense Priorities, in The Hill on Dec. 7. He, too, recognizes that “the prospects for escalation to nuclear war cannot be discounted... and are real,” if the U.S. attempts to defend Ukraine. He argues that “a neutralized Kyiv – or even one firmly in Russia’s geopolitical orbit – poses no threat to American prosperity, security or freedom,” and, in fact, “such an outcome might actually reduce tensions between the two powers.” [https://thehill.com/opinion/international/584619-why-the-us-shouldnt-try-to-deter-a-russian-invasion-of-ukraine]
