Morning Note

Joe Biden thrust the United States deeper into Eastern Europe’s destructive war on Sunday, reportedly authorizing the Ukrainian military to use American long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.

The decision brings the U.S. closer to a nuclear conflict than since at least the Cuban missile crisis, as Vladimir Putin has long stated that such an escalation would constitute an act of war. 

“When it comes to using high-precision, long-range, Western-made weapons… [such an action] would mean NATO countries, the United States, European countries, are at war with Russia,” Putin said in September. “And if that [becomes] the case… we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be posed to us.”

Russia and the United States combine to possess 85% of the world’s nuclear stockpile. A war between the two countries could plausibly end humanity. America’s government should do everything in its power to reduce the likelihood of that happening, not stoke the flames of chaos by continuing to fuel this conflict and provoking the Kremlin to expand its operations beyond Ukraine’s borders.

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