The suggestion that Biden should have issued an ultimatum to threaten open war with Russia is weird. But certainly more could have been done to deter the start of the war, or else to hasten its end. Right at the outset, Biden could have plainly stated that all conventional weapons could be made available for Ukrainians to defend themselves if Russia went ahead with its blatant act of aggression. That would have neatly skipped the whole silly dance where someone would gingerly suggest sending some new type of weapon, Russia would latch onto the indecisiveness by bluffing that it would be a serious red line, and so each incremental decision dragged on for months. Even if that weren’t enough to deter Putin, it may have been enough to allow Ukrainians to push out Russian forces back when they were still disorganized and unfortified.
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