The case for de-escalation with Russia

John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, surely did not secretly fly all the way to Moscow last week merely to warn the Russians not to attack a Nato country. There is clearly more to it than has been reported. It has always been the official policy of Nato to defend itself when attacked, and so this alone wouldn’t justify Ratcliffe’s visit. I can only assume that the circumstances behind this meeting are darker, more serious and more complex than we can possibly know. Based on the information we have, the most plausible explanation for the visit is that Ratcliffe and his Russian counterparts were discussing de-escalation. If Russia’s war against Ukraine were to turn into a broader European war, it would pose a vast security risk to the entire world. What the US and Russia have in common is that