Cheney Says Russian Use of Chemical Weapons Would Be a 'Red Line' for NATO Intervention

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) thinks that Vladimir Putin using chemical weapons in Ukraine should be a “red line” for NATO to intervene in Ukraine.

“I think that we in the West, the United States and NATO — we need to stop telling the Russians what we won’t do,” Cheney said to Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We need to be very clear that we are considering all options, that the use of chemical weapons is certainly something that would alter our calculations.”

Silly, stupid posturing. In fact, “NATO intervention” is an invitation to a world war — one that Vladimir Putin would not turn down.

Besides, what is Cheney talking about when she mentions NATO in the same breath as “intervention”? She doesn’t mean the NATO alliance; she means the United States. The U.S. is the only nation capable of ferrying thousands of troops to the battlefield in Ukraine in a matter of days. We’d have our troops deployed before any other NATO member would have mustered more than a handful of troops.

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The Hill:

She added Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s actions so far have demonstrated that the Russian military is nowhere near as capable as the world perhaps thought it was and “probably not as capable as Putin thought it was.”

“And they need to understand that if the brutality here increases, the United States will contemplate and consider every possible range of actions along with our NATO allies,” she added.

The Wyoming Republican added that it’s important that Russia knows that “we will contemplate changing the calculation in terms of humanitarian challenges and the humanitarian devastation the Ukrainian people are facing.”

If we’re going to “contemplate and consider every possible range of action,” we better include the use of nuclear weapons in contemplating war with Russia. If there’s one thing Vladimir Putin has consistently made clear over the last 20 years, it’s that he’s not averse to using nuclear weapons.

Are we really going to blow up the world to protect Ukrainian oligarchs? Putin cannot be allowed to get away with destroying an independent state. But neither is the continued national existence of Ukraine worth one single American life, much less the end of human civilization.

Sit down and shut up, Liz.