Thread by @GregKulchyckyj

I understand the risks of escalation through US interference via a No-Fly Zone.

I get it.

But here’s why it should be done anyway. 1/10

The US owes #Ukraine after the Budapest Memorandum. We talk about nukes and the desire for peace. That’s also what Ukraine wanted, which is why we gave up our nukes. Now we’re paying the price. 2/10

The US does not get held hostage by terrorists. Yet, that’s exactly what #Putin is doing - holding the US hostage through the threat of nuclear war. 3/10

Delaying involvement now forces involvement later. We know Putin has his sights beyond Ukraine - we’ve been warning you of this for years! If the US thinks it can avoid escalation and avoid Putin’s Soviet ambitions at the same time, it’s wrong. 4/10

Building off the previous point, escalation is inevitable. If not in Ukraine, then somewhere else. Finland. Latvia. Poland. Avoiding it now is simply emboldening Putin and giving him the green light to kill Ukrainians (and others) at will. 5/10

Setting a dark precedent. By not involving itself in Ukraine, the US is showing that most countries are vulnerable to war at a moment’s notice. If war breaks out, no matter how unjustified, there will be no leadership to deter. Hunting season for dictators is year-round. 6/10

There’s game theory here, too. It’s called Mutually Assured Destruction. We have historical data to strongly suggest Putin will not get his ambitions and country - in addition, #China and the world - literally blown up because the US enacts a #NFZ. 7/10

And if your counter to that is: “well, he’s insane, we don’t know what he might do,” that’s simply a bad counter. It’s purely speculative. The US intelligence community has proven itself mightily capable of informing the world of Putin’s intentions. Why stop now? 8/10

The US has done a great job up to now, and Americans have clapped themselves on the back. But for what? If there’s no follow through to stopping this war, then at the end of the day, the US has done nothing. 9/10

And that realization by Putin and others will be what forces US involvement far beyond an NFZ in the future. 10/10