The Ukraine War Is Getting
More Dangerous For America
The risks of miscalculations in dealing with
a politically wounded Putin are rising
Thomas L. Friedman / The New York Times
(May 9, 2022) — If you just followed news reports on Ukraine, you might think that the war has settled into a long, grinding and somewhat boring slog. You would be wrong. Things are actually getting more dangerous by the day.
For starters, the longer this war goes on, the more opportunity for catastrophic miscalculations – and the raw material for that is piling up fast and furious.
Take the two high-profile leaks from American officials this past week about US involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. First, The New York Times disclosed that “the United States has provided intelligence about Russian units that has allowed Ukrainians to target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the Ukraine war, according to senior American officials”.
Second, the Times, following a report by NBC News and citing US officials, reported that America has “provided intelligence that helped Ukrainian forces locate and strike” the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. This targeting assistance “contributed to the eventual sinking” of the Moskva by two Ukrainian cruise missiles.
As a journalist, I love a good leak story, and the reporters who broke those stories did powerful digging. At the same time, from everything I have been able to glean from senior US officials, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity, the leaks were not part of any thought-out strategy, and President Joe Biden was livid about them.
I’m told he called the director of National Intelligence, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Secretary of Defence to make clear in the strongest and most colorful language that this kind of loose talk is reckless and has got to stop immediately-before the US ends up in an unintended war with Russia.
The staggering takeaway from these leaks is that they suggest America is no longer in an indirect war with Russia but rather edging towards a direct war – and no one has prepared the American people or Congress for that. [Full article can be read online. — EAW]
New York Times Warns US May Be
Dragged into Direct War with Russia
“The longer this war goes on, the more
opportunity for catastrophic miscalculations”
(May 8, 2022) — New York Times columnist Tom Friedman penned an op-ed that warned the United States risks being inadvertently dragged into direct war with Russia due to its support for Ukraine.
“If you just followed the news reports on Ukraine, you might think that this war has settled into a long, grinding, and somewhat boring slog. You would be wrong,” Friedman, a longstanding opinion columnist for the Times, wrote.
The article, titled “The War is Getting More Dangerous for America, and Biden Knows It,” asserts that “things are actually getting more dangerous day by day.”
“The longer this war goes on, the more opportunity for catastrophic miscalculations,” Friedman wrote.
Friedman pointed to two recent leaks; one that the United States provided Ukrainian forces with intelligence used to kill Russian generals, and the second that America provided intelligence to Ukrainian forces to sink Russia’s Moskva, its flagship battleship.
Friedman reported how President Biden never intended for the US’s involvement in these strikes to be known, and was “livid” when said knowledge became public.
“From everything I have been able to glean from senior US officials, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity, the leaks were not part of any thought-out strategy, and President Biden was livid about them,” he wrote. “The staggering takeaway from these leaks is that they suggest we are no longer in an indirect war with Russia but rather are edging toward a direct war — and no one has prepared the American people or Congress for that.”
He continued, “Vladimir Putin surely has no illusions about how much the US and NATO are arming Ukraine with material and intelligence, but when American officials start to brag in public about playing a role in killing Russian generals and sinking the Russian flagship, killing many sailors, we could be creating an opening for Putin to respond in ways that could dangerously widen this conflict — and drag the US in deeper than it wants to be.”
Friedman also warned that while he admires what he views as Zelensky’s “heroism and leadership”, the Ukrainian president has a vested interest in increasing American involvement in the conflict even if it is not in the United States’ best interest.
“President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has been trying to do the same thing [involve America in the conflict] from the start — to make Ukraine an immediate member of NATO or get Washington to forge a bilateral security pact with Kyiv,” Friedman wrote. “I am in awe of Zelensky’s heroism and leadership. If I were him, I’d be trying to get the US as enmeshed on my side as he is.”
Friedman said that as an American citizen, he wants the country to do what is in its own best interest and to remain “laser-focused” so the US doesn’t risk of being pulled directly into the conflict.
Friedman concluded by cautioning that America is “dealing with some incredibly unstable elements” including a “politically wounded Putin.”
“Boasting about killing [Putin’s] generals and sinking his ships, or falling in love with Ukraine in ways that will get us enmeshed there forever, is the height of folly,” he wrote.
Joe Silverstein is a production assistant for Fox News Digital.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
