"Having the U.S. risk global nuclear annihilation over Ukraine is an indescribably insane view, as one realizes upon a few seconds of sober reflection."<p>No, it is not. Loosing Ukraine to Russia means imminent danger to whole Europe and from there U.S. This war is existential.<p>Letting Russia know that nuclear retaliation is very real possibility forces Russian establishment to reconsider current situation and options.<p>Putin may be (or maybe not) crazy, but the whole Russia is not and Russians understand real power very well.<p>I prefer not to die in nuclear Armageddon, but I do not want live in Europe constantly threatened and sliced or worse, concurred and destroyed by Putin.