What Happens When We Back Putin Into a Corner
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Every Friday, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
What are your thoughts about the war in Ukraine? What questions do you have? What are your hopes or fears?
Email your answers to conor@theatlantic.com. I’ll publish a selection in Friday’s newsletter.
Conversations of Note
War is ravaging Ukraine.
“There are decades where nothing happens,” Vladimir Lenin purportedly said, “and there are weeks when decades happen.” Throughout the West and beyond, governments are nervously reassessing aspects of the global order that have prevailed since the end of the Cold War, or, in some cases, the end of World War II.
With Vladimir Putin’s invasion ongoing, provoking fierce Ukrainian resistance, fleeing refugees, and stiff sanctions from Western powers constrained by the threat of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, many wonder: What can we see through the fog of war? And what should we do next?
In the Kyiv Post, Diane Francis spells out the dark future she expects for Ukranians:
The world will now watch, in real-time, the destruction of an innocent, democratic nation, abandoned by the West as a result of 30 years of appeasement and collaboration with Russia by Europeans … Bombs will rain down on beautiful cities, apartment blocks, schools, hospitals, churches, and squares. Footage will once more show European families fleeing, children orphaned, defenseless elderly people, and a culture torn asunder. Casualties could be catastrophic and it’s more likely that 10 million, not 5 million, Ukrainians will flee to Europe, creating a humanitarian disaster lasting years. There is no justification for the invasion, and no excuse for the United States and the United Kingdom to have reneged on defending Ukraine from the Kremlin as promised.
Watching Russian forces slaughter Ukranians is causing some journalists to muse on U.S. intervention. “A massive Russian convoy is abt 30 miles from Kyiv,” NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel tweeted. “The US/NATO could likely destroy it. But that would be direct involvement against Russia and risk, everything. Does the West watch in silence as it rolls?”
Zack Beauchamp : “This is a catastrophic idea. Stripped of cant, the US announcing a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be an American declaration of war on Russia—the first major conflict between the two nations that,Robby Soave at , “The U.S. cannot attack Russia because Congress has yet to declare war on the country … A direct attack on Russian forces by either the U.S. or NATO would be an act of war,” creating “favorable conditions for an all-out nuclear war.”
