It is time for Nato to call President Putin’s bluff

Editorial: The lesson seems to have been learnt, painfully and tardily, that only by threatening force, indeed war, can aggression be avoided

(Dave Brown)

What could he mean? When Joe Biden told a journalist at the Nato summit that the alliance would respond “in kind” to the use of chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine, his comment raised eyebrows. He declined to answer follow-up questions by reporters.

After all, the United States, in common with most of the world, has renounced by international treaty the use of such weaponry, and it is impossible to envisage any western nation dropping poison gas on anyone, let alone on Ukrainian soil.

Whatever the US president and his counterparts have in mind has not been made clear. But that is useful, because it only adds to the doubts and uncertainties entering the mind of Vladimir Putin. Over recent years, Nato has made Mr Putin’s life immeasurably easier by ruling out any military intervention in Ukraine. Thus, Russia was given a green light to annex the country.