Anyone who thinks instituting a no-fly zone over Ukraine is a good idea: your ideas are bad and you should feel bad.
Since Validmir Putin (who from now on we shall only call Vladdy Poo) unjustifiably and premptively invaded Ukraine, there has been an enormous and understandable desire amongst Western countries to do as much as possible to support the Ukrainians and punish Russia. President Biden and other NATO countries continue to provide weapons to Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia. However, President Biden has made it clear, even prior to the invasion on February 24th 2022, that he will not send any United States soldiers to fight in Ukraine directly engaging Russia, and he will not set-up a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
This second military option is the subject of today’s report. Broadly, American’s continue to oppose on the ground troops, but a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll claims that 3/4ths of American’s support NATO establishing a No-Fly Zone over Ukraine.
Now, most NATO countries have established no-fly zones for all Russian planes over their own boarders. Currently, no Russian planes, commercial or military are permitted to fly within our borders. But, what would a no-fly zone over Ukraine actually entail?
Well, instituting a no-fly zone is literally a country flexing their sovereignty over a territory, with the threat of violence. Any Russian plane, whether commercial, passenger, or military, would be shot down by United States planes and pilots. That is direct military engagement with Russia.
Not just that. In order to effectively enforce the no-fly zone, our fighter jets would have to neutralize any weaponry the Russian military has on the ground in Ukraine that might be able to prevent us from enforcing the no-fly zone. That is direct military engagement with Russian troops on the ground.
But, we’re not done yet.
Russia has plenty of surface-to-air weaponry in Russia on the border with Ukraine that could potentially threaten the no-fly zone. Those would need to be neutralized as well. That’s a direct military attack against the Russian military on Russian soil. That means World War III. (BTW, Russia has Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles or ICBMs that can strike any target on the other side of the planet in about thirty minutes).
Vladdy Poo has already said a no-fly zone would be an escalation and has increased the readiness of Russia’s own nuclear arsenal. It’s important to remember, Russia isn’t just any other belligerent nation. It is a belligerent nation with the largest stock pile of nuclear weapons on the planet. The United States directly engaging militarily with Russia would mean a nuclear holocaust. As soon as one nuclear bomb is launched, following the strategy of Mutually Assured Destruction, a domino effect of nuclear weapons would launch from all over the planet. There are approximately 15,000 nuclear bombs across the world. If even just 5% of those were released, that’s enough fire power to annihilate the planet.
This conflict will not end because of more weapons or more escalation. It will ultimately end only through diplomacy.
Listen to Kurt Volker Former-US envoy to Ukraine and former ambassador to NATO, on CBS advocate for a limited no-fly zone over Ukraine. (BTW, CBS doesn’t mention this but Volker works for the BGR group a powerful lobbying firm that represents both weapons-manufacturer Raytheon & Ukraine itself. So, his literal job is convincing the U.S. government to buy weapons from Raytheon and send them to Ukraine).
How does Volker’s no-fly zone work without creating World War III? By making it clear to Vladdy Poo we don’t really mean it, and we’re going to stay on the West Side. Literally by using diplomacy to come to an understanding about rules of engagement. If any of those diplomatic steps are not met, or don’t work, then we have WWIII. Volker even admits it might lead to WWIII but still thinks its worth it to come right up to the line, to just test it a bit.
The urge to help Ukrainians against the war of Aggression by Valddy Poo is very strong. We want to do what’s in the best interests of the Ukrainians suffering right now. Well, guess what, a nuclear holocaust doesn’t benefit Ukrainians at all.
CORRECTION: This article originally stated Russia has the second largest nuclear stock pile.
This article was originally published on Strangecornersofthought.com and has been updated.
