Stevenson’s army, February 26

–China contorts.

–India waffles.

-WH wants Ukraine supplemental.

– Administration debates arming a Ukrainian insurgency.

– Former CIA official describes such an insurgency.

– NYT sees Russian attack slowed.

– NYT sees pro-Russian sentiment online.

Good background: WaPo ticktock on Biden actions in 2 weeks before the invasion

– NYT annotates Putin war speech.

For people under 30, most of Europe [Balkans excepted] has been at peace, democratic, with freedom of movement of people and goods. That era has ended. We’re back to 19th century politics with 21st century weapons.  The first sad lesson about Ukraine that comes to me is what the Indian defense minister said right after the Gulf War in 1991: “Never fight the U.S. without nuclear weapons.”  Ukraine surrendered theirs in return for security guarantees from the US and Russia.

On domestic politics, see this centrist Democratic critique of the party’s direction.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).