Last week, realizing that Belgium was once again being laughed at by its NATO partners, Belgian federal government ministers David Clarinval and Hadja Lahbib put the idea of delivering Belgian F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine back on the table.
Their recommendation is immensely important for the US and the West. If the overall Western policy is just “not to let Ukraine lose” rather than to defeat an unprovoked attack against a democracy, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be emboldened to continue his aggression, and China will read the weakness as a green light to invade Taiwan. The US is already seen as having abandoned Afghanistan, during a conflict former President Barack Obama had called “the good war.” The US cannot afford another display of weakness or surrender. Putin sent his troops to the Ukraine in September of 2021, just a few weeks after the US abandoned Afghanistan. He got the message that “the coast was clear.” Unless there is a clear strategy to defeat Russia, anything short of that will look globally like Afghanistan, the sequel; another example of US fecklessness, and a good reason not to be an ally.
