“The Russians lent their airpower and anti-aircraft capabilities in our Vietnam conflict, it did not amount to “a declaration of war essentially.” “
Enforcing a “no fly zone” in Ukraine would lead to US and Russian aircraft fighting each other, and aircrew on both sides would get killed. This is a recipe for disaster.
Vietnam was half a world away for both US and USSR. Ukraine is in Russia’s and NATO’s backyard. Reaction times for both sides is drastically short.
Enforcing a “no fly zone” in Ukraine would lead to US and Russian aircraft fighting each other, and aircrew on both sides would get killed.
***Yes, that much looks to be the case.
This is a recipe for disaster.
***That part looks untrue because both sides lost aircraft in Vietnam.
Vietnam was half a world away for both US and USSR. Ukraine is in Russia’s and NATO’s backyard. Reaction times for both sides is drastically short.
***That appears to be your argument: Since fighting is so close to Russia and NATO, there’s more chance of it getting out of hand. That makes sense. So when we do go in with our no-fly zone, we should have an ongoing communication, a red phone similar to what existed during the cold war.
On the red phone would be some diplomats discussing the up to the minute engagements, seeing where the borders are and how much trouble might ensue if one or the other crossed the border, basically the kind of thing that took place in southeast Asia for a couple decades.
Yes, the proximity to each side’s jugular does lend itself to more chance of escalation. It’s one of those things that PUtin shoulda calculated when he chose to invade.
The earliest engagements of the no-fly zone are going to be SAMs anyways.