SAVE
Replying to Russia’s Drone Provocation
The best response is to send long-range missiles to Ukraine.
The Pentagon on Thursday released footage of a Russian fighter jet that harassed, dumped fuel on and then collided this week with an American reconnaissance drone. The provocation warrants a U.S. response, and the right one is giving the Ukrainians the sophisticated and long-range weapons they need to defeat Vladimir Putin’s military.
WSJ OPINION LIVE Q&A: THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
The threats to global stability and the US homeland are growing. How will the war in Ukraine end? Can China and the US develop a less combative relationship? Join historian and Journal columnist Walter Russell Mead and editorial page editor Paul Gigot for an interactive conversation on the threats to US security.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday that it wasn’t clear whether the Russians intended to ram the MQ-9 drone’s propeller; the U.S. was forced to bring down the drone in the Black Sea. But a collision was a risk Russia accepted when its pilots dumped fuel in what the Pentagon calls an “unprofessional” intercept. Gen. Milley noted that the “very aggressive” episode fits “a pattern” of behavior by the Russians.
OPINION
America Needs Its Small Banks
14 hours ago
Apostasy in Germany’s Catholic Church
14 hours ago
How SVB ‘Profited’ From Interest-Rate Risk
8 hours ago
OPINION
America Needs Its Small Banks
The SVB collapse raises the specter of Europe-style consolidation, which would make it much harder for entrepreneurs and farms to get credit.
14 hours ago
Apostasy in Germany’s Catholic Church
The Synodal Way’s sexual revolution is a break with the faith, not only with Rome.
14 hours ago
How SVB ‘Profited’ From Interest-Rate Risk
An accounting rule created an incentive for the collapse.
8 hours ago
Has ESG Peaked?
Now would be a great time to focus on market returns over politics.
14 hours ago
While Yellen Assures, Banks Run
The Treasury Secretary’s claim that all is well are belied by the reality at First Republic Bank.
8 hours ago
Where’s Brian Kemp on School Choice?
The Georgia Governor is missing in action as reform stalls in Atlanta.
8 hours ago
Macron Muscles Through Pension Reform
The French President gambles on a rare constitutional ploy.
8 hours ago
Who Owns the University?
As state-run schools push extreme ideologies like CRT and DEI, some lawmakers and governors have begun to push back.
9 hours ago
Fed Action Could Have Prevented SVB’s Collapse
A central function of the central bank is to act as the lender of last resort. Why did it fail to do so?
9 hours ago
Some are warning that the episode shows the risk of U.S. war with Russia and is a reason to abandon Ukraine. But the drone was operating in international air space, and Mr. Putin wants to make the Black Sea his private pond. Russia could escalate, but the moment is clarifying that Mr. Putin is the aggressor and his designs aren’t limited to Ukraine.
The Biden Administration has been calibrating its Ukraine policy based on its own anxiety about Mr. Putin’s reaction, but this crash is the latest reminder that Mr. Putin takes whatever risks he thinks he can get away with.
NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP
Morning Editorial Report
All the day's Opinion headlines.
President Biden now has more reason to do what he could have done long ago: Give Ukraine the weapons needed to win. Priority No. 1 is the Army tactical missile system, which would allow strikes deeper into Russian positions in Ukraine to gain momentum on the ground.
Another worthy platform for Ukraine is, as it happens, the MQ-9. One reason the Biden Administration hasn’t offered the drone is fears that the Russians might pilfer the technology. The Russians are now threatening to fish the crashed drone from the Black Sea, though Gen. Milley says the U.S. took “mitigating measures”—presumably wiping the hard drive of the drone—and that any remnants won’t be of value.
That suggests the risks of offering the MQ-9 to Ukraine are manageable and outweighed by the benefits of a platform that can stay aloft more than a day and conduct reconnaissance over long distances.
Mr. Biden may prefer to let the moment pass and herald his own restraint, but he won’t like the decisions he will be forced to make if Russia escalates and downs a plane manned by U.S. military pilots.
Russia isn’t the only adversary testing what the U.S. will tolerate. Beijing has been harassing American assets in the Pacific, with a Chinese fighter jet coming within 20 feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane in December. If the world seems volatile now, it will be more so if America’s enemies feel empowered to provoke the U.S. without fear of a response.
No comments:
Post a Comment