January 3, 2024
Why defeat in Ukraine probably won’t signal U.S. weakness to Iran or China

Bernard-Henri Levy is most certainly correct that Ukraine will continue to fight Russia’s occupation with or without U.S. military assistance. But he’s wrong to suggest that Ukraine is a make-or-break moment for global democracies or for U.S. power and influence around the world.
While Levy doesn’t state it outright, he seems to believe that a U.S. failure to send Kiev additional military aid will embolden authoritarian states such as Russia, China and Iran to test U.S. resolve in other theaters.
Theoretically, this could be true and shouldn’t be totally ruled out. Yet in reality, this isn’t how credibility works in international relations.
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