By Daniel L. Davis
Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has illegally recognized the independence of two breakaway parts of Ukraine – and the Russian Duma has handed Putin an authorization to use military force – the world is not just in the 11th hour before war, but also the 59th minute.
The West loves to wield sanctions to solve any international problem. That hasn’t deterred Putin since 2014 with Ukraine and it won’t work now. Recognizing reality and making rational choices, even at this late hour, remain the only things that can prevent major war in Eastern Europe.
What is now acutely clear: the only thing that has any prospect of forestalling war at this point is for the West to acknowledge the plain reality that Ukraine is never going to be invited into NATO. It is the foolishness of the highest order to pretend otherwise, especially when relentlessly keeping NATO’s door open is the most likely spark that would convince Putin that attempting a limited objective military strike into Ukraine might be better than having NATO as his next-door neighbor.
This piece was originally published in 1945 on February 22, 2022. Read more HERE.