George Beebe (Dick Cheney’s former Russia aide) on why we need a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine

George Beebe was Dick Cheney’s former Russia adviser. He authored the 2019 book The Russia Trap: How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear Catastrophe.   He is Director of Grand Strategy at Quincy Institute but is no left-wing pacifist. 

Beebe says in this interview on WABC that he supports U.S. efforts to aid Ukraine, but he thinks it’s very unlikely that Ukraine can win and force the withdrawal of Russian forces.  Instead, a long, drawn-out war will “devastate” Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S. and will risk nuclear war.    He says:

What’s most likely there is that we will  end up in a stalemate that’s years long and that’s in danger of escalating to a direct war between the United States and Russia and that leaves the Ukrainians absolutely devastated.  And it leaves Europe with an open wound that is going to cause a great deal of suffering for everyone for a long time, that devastates the international economy. It has huge repercussions for Europeans and Americans.

He says the U.S. has a lot of leverage to steer the war towards a diplomatic solution.  Removing the sanctions will help convince Putin to compromise.  Beebe laments that there are no (overt) negotiations with Russia.