Exhibiting the lunacy which passes for “thinking” in Washington, D.C. these days, on March 9 Defense One published two separate proposals to get around saner opposition to provoking a direct U.S. military conflict with Russia by putting U.S. troops or planes into Ukraine.
Sam Tangredi, Director of the Institute for Future Warfare Studies at the U.S. Naval War College, outlines an elaborate proposal for NATO, EU Defense Forces, or “a coalition of non-European states ostensibly under United Nations General Assembly authority” to occupy western Ukraine, call it a “Zone of Peace,” and establish a no-fly zone over the area, in order to keep Russia from gaining full control of Ukraine. No lightly-armed troops for this “peacekeeping” operation. The troops deployed would have to be well-equipped and well-trained. He envisions the “Zone of Peace” protected by rapid-reaction force-type light infantry along the boundary (not including U.S. troops), with heavier forces deployed all over the inside of the area, which would be “built around at least three U.S. Army or U.S. Marine Corps divisions (or equivalents).” No Ukrainian forces would be allowed to be part of the occupation force; they would be “permitted to retreat to cantonments within the zone,” if they agree to not fight in the Russian-controlled area of Ukraine.
Would this cause a nuclear war? “Perhaps a small amount of risk concerning a nuclear outcome is required.”
