Fight Like Hell for Ukraine: The Cipher Brief
Summary of the Article’s Proposed Actions Against Russia:
This article argues for a significantly escalated Western response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, moving beyond current measures to truly pressure Russia and strengthen Ukraine’s negotiating position. Here’s a breakdown of the five “Marching Orders” proposed:
- Seize Russian Assets: Rather of just using the interest from the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine, the article advocates for seizing the principal itself. This money would be used for ukraine’s war effort (weapons, industrialization), and eventual reconstruction.
- Turbocharge Air Defense & Weapons Production: Rapidly increase the supply of advanced air defense systems (Patriots, IRIS-Ts, SAMP/Ts) to Ukraine and dramatically scale up weapons production in the West to meet Ukraine’s needs. The emphasis is on speed – “months or less.”
- Remove Restrictions on Striking inside Russia: Allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets within Russia, including military factories, command centers, and logistics hubs. Specifically mentions Germany supplying Taurus cruise missiles.
- Aggressive Oil Sanctions: Strengthen and enforce the oil price cap on Russian oil, and impose “debilitating secondary sanctions and tariffs” on any country buying Russian oil in large quantities or above the cap – including China, India, Turkey, and even European nations. The goal is to drastically reduce Russia’s oil revenue.
- Broad Economic Squeeze: Further isolate Russia economically by:
Disconnecting Gazprombank from SWIFT.
Targeting key state agencies like Rosatom and Roscosmos.
Cutting off access to dual-use technology.
Prosecuting those aiding Russian logistics and cyber operations (including crypto providers).
Core Argument: The article believes the West needs to demonstrate a serious commitment to Ukraine’s defense and Russia’s economic weakening. This will shift the dynamics of the conflict, forcing Russia to negotiate from a position of weakness and potentially ending the war on terms more favorable to Ukraine.