The calls for a no-fly-zone are hollow virtue signaling. They would be empty virtue signaling even if the Russians were heavily reliant on air power in the invasion of Ukraine, but, as has been widely noted, Russian air power barely showed up to the party.
There’s been ample speculation as to why that may be the case, but the bottom line is that air power is hardly even a factor.
Despite that there have been feverish discussions about a no-fly-zone on both sides as if it were a serious proposal when it could hardly be any less serious.
A no-fly-zone would indeed mean calling Putin’s bluff and preparing for war if he fails to back down. That’s exactly why Biden wouldn’t do it. And I have trouble believing that the average administration would take that course.
Now perhaps Putin has limited air power because he knows we’ve used no-fly-zones in the past, but I don’t buy that.
But either way a no-fly-zone is a policy non-starter, but popular political trolling. The extent of our side of the war is heated rhetoric that everyone, and I mean the whole world, knows is hollow chatter. That weakens us and certainly doesn’t help the situation. The people doing this know perfectly well that they’re trolling. And they don’t care because it builds their brand and gets them attention.
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