The complexities of war

Invasion of Ukraine

Regarding “Looking for the real endgame in Ukraine” and “West gives Putin a refresher course in physics,” (March 3): Thank you for two excellent columns. Both Ross Douthat and George Will shined light on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the actual and possible outcomes of his action. Will reminds us that while “the ever-thickening fabric of globalization is still insufficient to prevent all wars,” noncombatant nations can inflict economic wounds with strong effect. Douthat warns, however, that financial and cultural isolation of Russia could drive them to forge an even stronger economic alliance with China creating “a Eurasian financial and economic system unto itself.” Both opinion pieces deal with the complexities of the current crisis, unlike Marc Thiessen’s column: “The White House’s pathetic response to Putin’s invasion,” which dithered on about out-of-context remarks made by Biden and other White House officials during the Russian build-up along the borders of Ukraine. Alice Lively, Kingwood

Let me get this straight: we want to punish Russia for their invasion of Ukraine, but we will import many millions of dollars of oil from them which fuels their war machine? We know Iran is a state sponsored country that chants death to America — but we are relying in part on Russia to broker a deal for the Iran nuclear agreement releasing sanctions on Iran to sell more oil, which will fuel them to pay for more state sponsored terrorism, and yes, death to America? Lastly, we won’t open up our federal lands for drilling and allowing major pipelines to be built so we can be energy independent (and have cheaper gas) once again and sell excess gas and oil to countries dependent on Russia. Maybe it is just me, but none of this seems to make any sense. Brian Binash, Houston