“If we lose in Ukraine, if the Ukrainians lose, Vladimir Putin, if he has enough strength to do anything else, will turn to Georgia and take control of it; he will turn to Moldova and take control of Moldova. And then he will challenge NATO, he will try to break NATO and he will challenge our democracy. He is not going to stop unless he is stopped in Ukraine,” Evelyn Farkas, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and former NATO Adviser, told CNN.
The defense expert worries that the war will go on as long as both sides think they can win.
“I hate the words ‘provoking Russia,’ she said. “If anyone is provocative, it’s Russia. Russia chose this war and Russia chose to slaughter innocent Ukrainians. So, there is a question of ‘escalation.’ Yes. I like that word better. We do not want escalation, we do not want to do something that will cause Russia to escalate. Nevertheless, we cannot be so afraid of escalation that we rule out things that might actually help the Ukrainians. So we need to assess the risks carefully, but we need to be willing to accept some risks.”
