By: Joe Buff

Joe Buff — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 14:06:09 +0000

My esteemed colleague Christophe has written another crisply reasoned and very well argued contribution to Global Security Review. His well informed take on views and concerns in France and the rest of Europe are especially valuable additions to global dialogue about best containing and eventually defanging the Gang of Four, the Brothers Mayhem, the Axis of Upheaval, the CRINKs. Bloody Vladimir conveniently forgets that the reason the U.S. withdrew from the INF was that Russia was egregiously cheating and violating the treaty — this now is all truly his own doing! One can (sadly) add to Christophe’s comments re the President of France at the time not getting it when Russia invaded Georgia that then POTUS Obama didn’t get it either when Russia invaded Donbas and annexed Crimea. Such sleepwalking is why the world is in the current security crisis. As to the question of anyone actually prevailing decisively against an adversary — short of them collapsing from internal rot — this might actually not be possible (or advisable to try) when that adversary is nuclear armed and is priming its people and its military and its propaganda apparatus for nuclear conflict. Such is the double edged sword and irony of nuclear deterrence: alleging any threat is “existential” to one’s regime can be the excuse to pop a tactical nuke or two. Only time will tell if broader strategic stability can be restored by the U.S. pursuing a necessarily more symmetric defense policy including nuclear Dynamic Parity.

Comments on: Putin’s Nuclear Swagger

By: Joe Buff