Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • COVID-19
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • The Swiss Way
  • Dick Young
  • Debbie Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Dick Young’s Safe America
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • Critical Race Theory
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money

Ugly Choices Facing the Biden Administration

April 8, 2022 By Debbie Young

LEFT: The President of Ukraine (Volodymyr Zelenskyy) met with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland. February 1, 2022. Photo courtesy of the office of the President of Ukraine. RIGHT: Russian President Vladimir Putin listens as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during their bilateral meeting focused on Syria and Ukraine at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2016. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

With both Russia and Ukraine stuck in a crisis that neither knows how to win, you might be having a sense of déjà vu, Well, it would be real, writes Walter R. Mead in the WSJ writes. Mead uses the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.), “still studied today by ambitious young military officers all over the world,” as one example.

Hannibal thought that if he could get an army into Italy and win some conspicuous victories, the other Italian city-states, restless under Roman rule, would revolt and enable him to break Roman power for good. The Romans thought that their superior legions with their fighting spirit and discipline would quickly show Hannibal who was boss.

Both sides discovered that their initial strategies did not work. The Romans were shocked by a series of disastrous military defeats and faced the greatest challenge in Roman history. Hannibal achieved his initial goals, getting his army over the Alps and winning a series of dramatic victories, still studied today by ambitious young military officers all over the world. But his strategy failed. Even after his overwhelming victory at Cannae, only a handful of Italian city-states went over to his side. Roman power survived, and the war dragged on.

Mr. Mead then moves to World War I as another example:

The French and the Germans had both planned what they hoped would be decisive attacks, the French over their eastern border and the Germans with the Schlieffen plan for an attack through Belgium that would capture Paris. Both offensives fell short, leaving the countries locked in a conflict that neither side knew how to win—and neither was willing to lose.

Putin’s war has a familiar ring to it, explains Mead. Russia’s plan of breaking the Ukrainian state by quickly taking the capital and major cities (Kharkiv) has failed. Ukraine’s hope that the “shock of military setbacks plus major economic sanctions would either force Mr. Putin to accept peace terms favorable to Ukraine or lead to his overthrow,” also seems to have failed.

Faced with a war neither side knows how to win, is there a compromise both sides can live with?

Ukraine cannot accept a peace that leaves it exposed to further Russian aggression and that involves further territorial sacrifice, and Mr. Putin cannot end the war without demonstrable gains at the expense of Ukraine. The logic of warfare now seems to lock the two sides into further, perhaps escalating military, economic and political conflict as each looks for some pathway to victory. Russia is refocusing its military efforts on the east and stepping up the level of violence on the battlefield and against civilians to terrorize Ukrainians into accepting Russian dominance. Ukraine is redoubling its appeal to Western countries for more military aid and tougher economic sanctions.

Mr. Mead writes of the three “ugly” choices facing the Biden administration.

Option #1: Helping Ukraine Win

This is emotionally appealing but the costs and risks are high.

Russia won’t accept defeat before trying every tactic, however brutal, and perhaps every weapon, however murderous. To force Russia to accept failure in Ukraine, the Biden administration would likely have to shift to a wartime mentality, perhaps including the kind of nuclear brinkmanship not seen since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. With China and Iran both committed to weakening American power by any available means, a confrontation with the revisionist powers spearheaded by Russia may prove to be the most arduous challenge faced by an American administration since the height of the Cold War.

Option #2: A Russian Victory

A Russian victory would inflict a massive blow to American prestige and the health of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, especially if the West were seen as forcing Ukraine to surrender to Russian demands.

Option #3 Freeze the War (Handing a Partial Victory to Putin)

Freezing the conflict is also perilous, as this would presumably leave Russia holding even more Ukrainian territory than it did following the 2014 invasions of Crimea and the Donbas. It would be hard to spin this as anything but a partial victory for Russia—and Mr. Putin would remain free to renew hostilities at a time of his choosing.

Derail Putin with No Shots Fired

A WSJ reader writes of a 4th option: Stop funding Putin’s war by dropping all the nonsensical climate regulations.  Eliminate all new Biden regulations, and actions taken by the EPA, and drop the regulatory activities preventing oil exploration and pipeline construction.

  • Drop oil to $40/barrel, where it was when Biden took office.
  • Supply Europe with natural gas.

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • The Preposterous Fabrication from the Biden Administration
  • Biden's Sinking Approval Ratings
  • America Must Get Rid of the Biden Administration
  • Biden: An Extraordinary Success?
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Debbie Young
Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving her Porsche Boxter S through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga.
Latest posts by Debbie Young (see all)
  • Joe Biden – Malicious, Incompetent, a Wannabe Left Wing Ideologue? - May 20, 2022
  • What Would We Do without the Experts? - May 19, 2022
  • Florida: Enjoy Certain Freedoms and Individual Liberties - May 19, 2022

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • We’ll Burn the Place Down!
  • What to Do about China?
  • The Problem in America
  • “The Great Object Is that Every Man Be Armed”
  • Paris, The Palace Hotels: Part I
  • Stunned Democrats Against “Defund Police”
  • Warning! Your Survival Guy’s on a Boil Water Advisory
  • Democracy & Diversity: Not In the Constitution
  • “I’ve Got Guys Buying Guns/Ammo for Me All Through the Night.”
  • Rich States, Poor States this State is Dominant Once Again

Our Most Popular Posts

  • Tucker Carlson Interviews My Favorite Florida Farmer
  • What’s Ahead for America During Biden’s Last Years
  • MARKET CHAOS: This May Take Time, Here’s How to Prepare
  • “We Cannot Save Ukraine by Dooming the US Economy.”
  • Baby Formula Gone Missing?
  • BE VIGILANT: The Rats Are Scurrying in These Rough Markets
  • PRICES SOAR: Diesel Shortage Could Cripple America's Economy
  • Jean-Pierre: Economy "Not Something that We Keep an Eye on Every Day"
  • Biden: A National Disgrace
  • WATCHING YOU: Italy Deploys Stealth Social Credit System

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Job Market Survival Advice for Graduates and for Those YOU Love
  • BULLWHIPPED? Inventory Overhang Could Slow Growth in Certain Sectors
  • BUY THE DIPS? Can You Catch a Ginsu Knife?
  • MARKET TURNING: Canada’s Housing Market Turmoil
  • “I’ve Been with Richard Young for Over 30 Years Now”
  • All-Powerful Money Managers Voting YOUR Money Targeted by Senate GOP
  • HORDING CASH: Funds Hold the Highest Level of Cash Since 9/11
  • COMMODITY CRUNCH: Will Tesla Buy a Cobalt Mine?
  • Young Americans Fall in Love with Farming, Again
  • Your Survival Guy: “Sell in May, Buy After Labor Day?”

Joe Biden – Malicious, Incompetent, a Wannabe Left Wing Ideologue?

Jean-Pierre: Economy “Not Something that We Keep an Eye on Every Day”

Job Market Survival Advice for Graduates and for Those YOU Love

The Destructive Rise and Fall of BLM

What Would We Do without the Experts?

V4 Stands Against North African and Middle Eastern Invasion

Copyright © 2022 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives