Two Wars, Countless Consequences

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel were brutal and unprovoked acts of aggression. Both Ukraine and Israel fought back hard, and the US rightly backed both Kyiv and Tel Aviv with diplomatic, economic, and most importantly military support. But as the wars unfolded a divergence in their trajectories became apparent, as did a divergence in the US approach to them. Put bluntly, US policy toward the wars in Europe and the Middle East could make war crimes and nuclear blackmail more common, to the detriment of US national security and global stability.