We will constantly have to reevaluate how much we feel we can do for Ukraine as the atrocities against it mount. By all means, let's not start a nuclear war. But, having said that, let's also keep in mind that Russia is already accusing us of having set up WMD labs in Ukraine.
They don't need us to actually do anything to make outrageous claims to "justify" their indefensible acts. And they know we are providing key weapons to Ukraine. They know we are leading crushing sanctions. They know we will soon provide Ukraine with another $14 billion.
The Russians know we have helped train the Ukrainians. The Russians no doubt believe we are providing them with all manner of covert assistance. Further, our military and theirs have operate in close hostile quarters in Syria and we avoided WWIII.
Again, I'm not saying we should do anything needlessly provocative. But we should recognize that while Russians will assert there are red lines here, many of them are blurry and typically they do not even care what the truth is.
Today they bombed a maternity ward and said that the Ukrainians were at fault, that it was not a hospital but was being used by the military. Russia lies. Every single pretext for this war and every element of this war has been a lie.
And we do have a moral duty to defend the innocent people of Ukraine as best we can. And we should not wait until it is too late, until Russia makes first use of WMDs like chemical weapons or expands their on-going use of banned weapons systems or war crimes.
Maintaining clear eyes is the best form of caution. Seeing our enemy for who they are, seeing the risks they pose for what they are, seeing the potential costs of our inaction as clearly as we may see the risks of action are all key.
I'm pretty sure that if we do that we can provide more aid, more weapons, stronger support, most of the support Ukraine requests, and take better steps to forestall future horrors than we have already done.
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