Common sense is very rare in DC politics these days.
On issues of foreign policy that could potentially go nuclear, this is particularly stark.
For example, on March 16, 2022 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the US to push NATO to establish a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine. Many people, whose minds have been warped by fictional anime, Marvel or generic Hollywood material, think a “no-fly” zone is some magical force-field that will instantly prevent Russian aircraft from entering Ukrainian airspace, are in for a rude awakening.
Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie showed everyone what such a proposal entails:
“U.S. imposed no fly zone over Ukraine” is a euphemism for “a military battle between Russia and the U.S. in Europe.”
It’s not some sort of gentleman’s agreement. It would literally mean Russian planes being shot down by U.S. forces, and the retaliation that would ensue.”
In sum, a “no-fly” zone will unleash an escalatory chain of events that would lead to World War III. And yes, this war could go nuclear.
Russia is not a backwater like Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s a nuclear power that is making great power moves in its backyard. We’re in the era of sphere of influence politics in international affairs, and most foreign policy pundits in Washington DC haven’t adjusted to it.
Now more than ever, DC needs to shift its grand strategy and at the very least start focusing on Western Hemispheric affairs. The US foreign policy establishment’s refusal to give up its global policing vision will eventually bring the US to a state of imperial overreach.
From there, the US will go down in the history books as another empire bled dry by the hubris of its ruling class who is blindly devoted to social engineering both domestically and abroad.
This fate could be avoided if people like Massie took over Congress and brought the US back to its realist/non-interventionist foreign policy roots. Whether or not the voters and GOP elites come to their senses by embracing Massie’s restrained course of action is a different story.
