Lithuania’s top diplomat, Kęstutis Budrys, delivered a stark message to Western allies from NATO’s eastern flank during his Monday visit to Washington: The era of self-deterrence is over.
The time, he insisted, is now to confront Russian aggression with overwhelming force – and budget.
Speaking at the Hudson Institute after a day of meetings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Benson and other US officials, Budrys offered a stark, cold-eyed assessment from NATO’s frontline. The West, he argued, has been trapped by a Russian-planted idea: that escalation should always be avoided.
“The only thing that you shouldn’t do is escalate – who created this [mantra]?” Budrys challenged. “You shouldn’t be afraid to escalate. This is what works,” he emphasized.
Advertisement
Drawing on Lithuania’s long experience with Russian power, Budrys said that Western restraint only invites more aggression.
He paraphrased Lenin’s maxim – that if you probe with a bayonet and encounter mush, push; if you encounter steel, withdraw – to argue that Russia always advances until it meets force.
Every time the West holds back, he warned, “they think we’re weak – pushovers,” he said.
Ukraine has launched a new, previously unreported “Sub Sea Baby” underwater drone and sank a Russian...
Germany’s foreign ministry on Saturday denounced Israel’s approval of a new plan that would see over...
President Donald Trump took aim at another media outlet on Monday by filing a $10 billion...
U.S. envoys arrived in Berlin Sunday morning for another round of talks intended to secure a...
