Originally Posted by
GlobalNav
America should communicate clearly to Putin that any employment of weapons of mass destruction will be answered by overwhelming force without measure.
The only one who wins that scenario is China.
As to your suggestion of an ultimatum, he knows that what you propose is a bluff - which is why he's doing what he's doing.
He knows that there is not, to date, unity of purpose to that level among the various Western governments.
We all have to much to lose, the risks are too high to escalate.
The Russians have been preparing to do this for a number of years as that low grade civil war in Ukraine has gone on.
This didn't happen overnight.
The time to deliver an ultimatum that was backed by the full faith and confidence of the allied governments was before the tanks rolled.
But we bickering allies could not provide a united front, which I think (as seen looking west from Putin's chair) provided the cracks and openings through which to maneuver politically. I am glad to see that Ukraine is fighting hard and making him realize that he's not entitled to what he wants.
The lack of resolve before the tanks rolled leaves the same Western political leadership in the position of cleaning up afterwards.
Air wise, the ELINT and INT assets are probably being used to provide Ukraine with info that they can't create organically.
Space wise, I am a bit out of date. Most of what I know that applies to this is bound by NDAs so I won't comment.