War in Ukraine — existential threats vs sanctions.
I came across a post I wrote 11 years ago what would happen if Al-Qaeda got a copy of Stuxnet.
Quoting Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn in the Obama administration:
Given these circumstances, deterrence will necessarily be based more on denying any benefit to attackers than on imposing costs through retaliation.
It seems that the Biden administration is pursuing the opposite foreign policy.
By imposing economic sanctions, the US and Europe are imposing high costs on Russia, while allowing Putin to benefit from continued aggression and continue his agenda of destroying Ukraine.
Since the Russians see NATO and EU expansion eastwards as an existential threat to Russia — it seems to me that Putin will not cave in to US and EU sanctions.
The Americans should know. The last time the US was faced with an existential threat was Pearl Harbor and we all know how the US reacted to Japan.
The Western Europeans are dependent on Russian gas and the Americans don’t really care that much about Ukraine.
So — it boils down to a question of who has more resolve.
Putin or Biden.
The original post What if al-Qaeda got Stuxnet
#cyber #administration
