Word has it that Vladimir Putin still misses Donald Trump. But NATO, of course, doesn’t—except for the authoritarians in charge of Turkey and Hungary. NATO needs the U.S. if it is going to effectively combat Russian plans to reset Europe–and erase its USSR-devolution humiliation. But the Biden Administration is not about to actually put American troops into Ukraine. This isn’t Vietnam or Afghanistan. Besides, Ukraine’s not a member of NATO. And that’s the sanctions needle that President Joe Biden has to thread. Help to save face, NATO credibility, Russia-to-Europe energy trade, global-price surges and lives—without committing troops for the trenches.
And then there’s this geopolitical, Cold War-ish reality. Miscalculations matter. Would the U.S. consider the possibility of a treaty obligation that could risk a nuclear war over the Donbas?