In Their Corner

The Economist Asks: How could Ukraine win the war?

Which is a good question, if one that I wouldn't expect a podcast to give a workable answer to. Not because it's the sort of thing that would be beyond a podcast, but because the answer would constitute at least somewhat valuable information. In other words, if the answer was "the Ukrainians could win by doing X, Y and Z," it's a pretty safe bet that the Russians would obtain that information, and, if they found it credible, move to close of the possibility of Ukraine doing X, Y and Z.

As a result, Anne McElvoy's conversation with the former commander of the United States Army in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, comes across as more of a cheerleading session than a layperson's introduction to the strategy and tactics of repelling an invasion.

General Hodges saw a lot of factors working in Ukraine's favor, one of which was that people in the United States wanted to see Ukraine win, and this was likely to mean that support for military aid in Congress would continue. This, I think, may be a bit of wishful thinking. (But then again, there is a remarkable amount of wishful thinking when it comes to foreign policy, I've learned.) Not because the public of the United States doesn't, for the most part (after all, there are a few Russia boosters, here in the States, for various reasons), wish Ukraine well, but wishing someone well, and working to ensure they are well are not the same thing. The question is not whether the people of the United States have a favorite of the two warring sides, but how much in the way of both resources and risk that they're willing to put on the line.