The many shades of deterrence in Ukraine

There’s a catch to practising this type of deterrence, however. The West must reciprocate Russia’s drawdown. Deterrence can’t work if the aggressor expects continued punishment even after it acquiesces to demands—under these conditions Russia will have no reason to end the war.

American ambassador to Canada David Cohen, pictured on Feb. 24, 2022, leaving the Ukrainian embassy in Ottawa after a meeting with other G7 ambassadors. That Vladimir Putin felt comfortable upending the global order by launching Europe’s greatest war in more than 70 years suggests a deterrence failure of epic proportions, writes Alex Wilner. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY ALEX WILNER

March 14, 2022

OTTAWA—Deterrence entails the use of threats to manipulate an adversary’s behaviour. The concept has been around a long while. Even the Romans understood that “if you want peace, make ready for war.” In Ukraine, Canada and its allies have been given a crash course on its contemporary applica...

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