Cal Thomas - Nuclear games

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, March 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Here’s commentator Cal Thomas.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Oh, for the good old days of the Soviet Union. America's foreign policy and goals were clear then: containment and opposition to communist expansion. Nuclear weapons were a deterrent, but neither side believed the other would use them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has changed the game by threatening to use nukes should the United States directly confront his forces in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the whole world is watching them commit war crimes in real time thanks to ubiquitous mobile phones, brave reporters, and camera crews.

President Biden and top members of his administration say we can't directly intervene to stop Russia because of Putin's threat. Is that America's new foreign policy? If we can do little beyond sanctions against nations that have nuclear weapons, this will signal to those who have them—and those planning to acquire them—that they have little to fear from America. That includes potential attacks from China on Taiwan and Iran on Israel.

Suppose Putin is emboldened by at least temporary success in Ukraine. What if he proceeds to invade other countries once in the Soviet orbit but now sovereign states? In some cases, those countries are members of NATO. Estonia and Latvia are two of them. Finland has a border with Russia that is more than 800 miles long. Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty says an attack on one member country will be considered an attack on all. That treaty was written in 1949. Does it remain relevant today? Will someone in this administration please tell us how far we would be prepared to go to help NATO allies? Would the excuse that Russia has nuclear weapons be used to keep America from directly engaging Russian forces should they invade one or more NATO countries? It would be nice to know and soon.

The increasingly secular West has difficulty understanding evil, except in general terms. That’s why what appears to be a pending nuclear deal between the United States and Iran is fraught with danger. If reports are accurate, Iran would have to ship its uranium to another country. Would that country be Russia? And as part of the deal, would the United States then buy Iranian oil in hopes of reducing gas prices ahead of the fall election? That would surely be a deal with the Devil.

And it’s not likely to bring peace. Iran’s leaders have said they believe Allah wants them to develop nuclear weapons. And they make no secret of their targets—Israel and the United States.

Evil can never be accommodated. It must be opposed, even defeated. That was Ronald Reagan's goal with the Soviet Union. Now Putin thinks he can reincarnate the USSR, starting with Ukraine.

He signaled for years what he planned to do. The West didn’t listen. Knowing something bad is coming and refusing to confront it ensures that when it does come we have fewer options to defeat it.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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