President Biden Embraces Ukrainian Defeat

It has become evident the Biden administration has embraced conflict “containment” as its principal objective in dealing with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to this theory, while it would be nice if Ukraine survives the war, that is not of fundamental importance. What is critical, as far as the Biden administration is concerned, is that the war not spread to involve other parties, notably the U.S. and NATO. Thus, Biden has ruled out providing NATO air support, a no-fly zone, old Warsaw Pact MiGs, or even Patriot anti-missile batteries on the supposition that such aid might sufficiently anger Russian dictator Vladimir Putin such that he lashes out at the United States or our NATO allies, thereby drawing us into the war.

There are a number of flaws in this strategy. In the first place, it leaves Putin not only with the initiative, but also the authority to set the rules as to what the U.S. is permitted or forbidden to do in defense of the free world. In the second place, it is based on the conceit that Putin requires a provocation or legal justification to launch an attack on anyone. This is certainly untrue. If Putin deems something is in his interest, he will do it, without any regard for how it might conform to international law, prior treaties, global public opinion, or whatever. Thus the mental gymnastics being performed about such questions as under what rubric which weapon systems might be sent to Ukraine are totally nonsensical. Putin will strike Poland if he thinks it will help him win the war. It obviously won’t, so he hasn’t. We are therefore tying ourselves up in knots for no reason.

About the Author

Robert Zubrin

Robert Zubrin is an aerospace engineer and the author of twelve books, most recently The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet.

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It has become evident the Biden administration has embraced conflict “containment” as its principal objective in dealing with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to this theory, while it would be nice if Ukraine survives the war, that is not of fundamental importance. What is critical, as far as the Biden administration is concerned, is that the war not spread to involve other parties, notably the U.S. and NATO. Thus, Biden has ruled out providing NATO air support, a no-fly zone, old Warsaw Pact MiGs, or even Patriot anti-missile batteries on the supposition that such aid might sufficiently anger Russian dictator Vladimir Putin such that he lashes out at the United States or our NATO allies, thereby drawing us into the war.

There are a number of flaws in this strategy. In the first place, it leaves Putin not only with the initiative, but also the authority to set the rules as to what the U.S. is permitted or forbidden to do in defense of the free world. In the second place, it is based on the conceit that Putin requires a provocation or legal justification to launch an attack on anyone. This is certainly untrue. If Putin deems something is in his interest, he will do it, without any regard for how it might conform to international law, prior treaties, global public opinion, or whatever. Thus the mental gymnastics being performed about such questions as under what rubric which weapon systems might be sent to Ukraine are totally nonsensical. Putin will strike Poland if he thinks it will help him win the war. It obviously won’t, so he hasn’t. We are therefore tying ourselves up in knots for no reason.