(C) Common Dreams
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Lloyd Austin Raised the Stakes in Ukraine in a Risky Way [1]
['Michael A. Cohen', 'Alyona Minkovski', 'Casey Michel', 'Monica Potts', 'Matt Ford']
Date: 2022-04-28
Well, so too could a military stalemate that leaves Putin searching for a face-saving gambit. Every day that the war goes on, every day that U.S. military shipments are finding their way to Kyiv, and every day that the U.S. is sharing intelligence with Ukrainian forces, the potential for direct conflict between the U.S. and Russia increases. What if, for example, Russia tries to follow through militarily on its recent veiled threats against Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova? Or escalate the situation in Transnistria, a contested region along the Moldovan border where Russia has stationed “peacekeepers”?
While once the goal of American officials was to avoid at all costs such a situation, with calls for weakening Russia or a victory for Ukraine they are taking a very different and undoubtedly riskier approach. And the danger is not just military. The longer the war goes on, the more the global economy bears the brunt of the intensive sanctions regime on Russia and the inability of either Moscow or Kyiv to export its products. This situation will make it all the more difficult to keep sanctions on Russia in place.
Considering the actions of Russia to date, the U.S. position is hardly surprising. Weakening Putin—and preventing him from wreaking havoc in his near abroad in the future—is an eminently reasonable position to take.
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[1] Url:
https://newrepublic.com/article/166232/lloyd-austin-ukraine-raised-stakes
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