Francis P. Simpa: "Why Should We Listen to Gates and Rice About Ukraine?"

link

I've long--though not always--had a high opinion of Rice. Mostly that dates back to just one instance in which she was honest about the (paucity of) evidence for invading Iraq. So that's not evidence about her expertise... See how cheap my respect is? 

Anyway.

I haven't read the piece because my VPN is messed up and I can't access the WaPo from home, and am too lazy to fix it. 

But will that keep me from commenting on it?

Noooooo...

I generally have a favorable opinion of the Biden administration's Ukraine strategy. In fact, I don't know what else we could reasonably do. However I do have a very bad feeling about further escalation. FWIW. Which is nothing.

It seems clear that we can't keep escalating forever without provoking a response.

Also I am inclined to agree that China is our biggest problem right now.

OTOH, we're already in the midst of it with Putin--and this is costing him a lot more than it's costing us. 

Bleed him dry seems like a very reasonable strategy.

OTOH, he has more to gain and more to lose than we have--so we'd expect him to be more committed.

I dunno man.

All I'm really saying is: I've been on board thus far, but I'm not wild about the suggestion to escalate--or quasi-escalate.