On-Ramps to War

While the United States and NATO are not in any rush to get into a hot war, for ideological reasons Russia is. Let’s face it, as far as Russia is concerned, it’s losing this war against a nation that it does not recognize. From the view of Moscow, Ukraine is little Russia. It’s a colony. It has no right to exist.

This is why this is inconvenient. It will break the ideology of greater Russia. They cannot claim it’s the mean West if their army faces defeat in the field. This is why, as I argued in a previews piece, Russia needs NATO to join the fray.

So what are the on-ramps? Because in reality, NATO has to do its level best to avoid this. Or at least avoid it openly. The foreign volunteers and military transfers are a good way to help, without giving Vladimir Putin the victimhood card of the west destroying mother Russia with a side dish of great patriotic war.

There are several possible on-ramps. They mostly include some sort of weapons of mass destruction. Why? These are horrific enough. So what are the on-ramps?

The accidental war

This is possible and will become more so as Russia tries to attack the west of the country, or if Lukashenka’s troops don’t have maps. Or for that matter have ordered. We already had a couple of drones fly over NATO territory. They were not armed. Truly, it did look accidental.

What happens if a company of Russian or Bielorrusa troops gets over the border? The danger of this is diminishing now that Russia claims…