By Dalibor Rohac New York Post

As Vladimir Putin’s gangster regime moves to recognize the two “people’s republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk, it raises the stakes in a conflict that many fear might lead to a cataclysmic land war in Eastern Europe. At this moment, it is important for the West not to blink and offer Putin, out of fear, an “off-ramp” that would likely involve the destruction of Ukrainian statehood.

I am not holding my breath. After weeks of Russian escalation, the Biden administration on Sunday accepted, “in principle,” the idea of a summit with Putin, suggested by France’s President Emmanuel Macron. The summit is a moot point after the Kremlin’s latest brazen move, but the very idea and its timing were a clear illustration that a bullying behavior was being rewarded, not deterred, by the West.

Influential voices on the left and right, from Sen. Josh Hawley to former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, would like America to simply forget about Ukraine and move on. Hawley sees the US support for Ukraine as a distraction from the far more pressing challenge of China’s rise and a “legacy of a bygone era.”

READ MORE