This enormous achievement of postwar statecraft is difficult to celebrate because it is an absence of something. Besides, suddenly the most sophisticated of weapons might be used by a moral primitive because of Russia’s 10-thumbed mishandling of its conventional forces in Ukraine. The calamity of crossing the nuclear threshold might occur because, for example, a Russian convoy ran out of gas. Because of the Russian military’s incompetence regarding logistics and other military fundamentals…

The Ukrainians’ effective resistance is forcing President Biden to make a delicate calibration that he is fortunate to be in a position to make: How much embarrassment can Putin suffer without taking a catastrophic step — use of a tactical nuclear weapon? Biden’s calculation occurs in this context of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s saying U.S. objectives are the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This might maximally imply the reversal of Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea…

The Ukrainians’ effective resistance is forcing President Biden to make a delicate calibration that he is fortunate to be in a position to make: How much embarrassment can Putin suffer without taking a catastrophic step — use of a tactical nuclear weapon? Biden’s calculation occurs in this context of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s saying U.S. objectives are the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This might maximally imply the reversal of Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.