Russia's invasion was a war chosen by its leadership, which differs from a wider Western doctrine about wars of choice. For decades, many NATO governments treated war as something that would happen only when they elected to launch an intervention. That assumption made reduced readiness seem safe because declining a discretionary campaign appeared to eliminate the war itself. The flaw is that other states retain their own agency and can choose conflict on a timetable the alliance does not control. Post-Cold War force reductions thus reflected a strategic culture that mistook freedom of choice on one side for control over the entire international system.
Notable Point · 1:32:52-1:33:35
The flaw in a one-sided war-of-choice doctrine
Post-Cold War governments are criticized for assuming wars occur only when they choose to intervene, thereby discounting an opponent's independent agency.