Ukraine watch: Quit Worrying About WWIII

President Biden “blocked the transfer of Polish MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine” and refuses to establish a no-fly zone for fear of provoking “direct confrontation with Russia” — but the fear is misplaced, argues Dov S. Zakheim at The Hill. Russian President Vladimir Putin is actually “pursuing in Ukraine the same strategy that he employed against Chechnya in 1999-2000 — namely, to wear down the opposition by destroying any semblance of normal life among the local population.” The “last thing Putin” wants “is an all-out nuclear war that would devastate his country and put an end to his dream of reviving” the Russian Empire. America “must stop deterring itself with nightmare visions of World War III” and act.

Libertarian: A Painful Lesson in Misspending

With the White House warning of “dire consequences” unless Congress OKs $22 billion for COVID testing and treatments, it’s “a damn shame” so much federal COVID-relief money “went to everything except COVID relief,” snaps Reason’s Eric Boehm. Of more than $5.7 trillion in supposed virus-related spending, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget counts “a scant $682 billion — less than 12 percent — as ‘health spending.’ ” That is, there was “plenty of money” to fund this program for the uninsured; instead, state and local governments, schools and individuals were “showered” with cash they didn’t really need. They then spent all that money and more, and “all we got for it was runaway inflation.”

Neocon: An Even Worse Iran Deal

America “is sacrificing more in pursuit of a new Iran deal than it will gain from such an agreement,” frets Commentary’s Noah Rothman. Team Biden’s “hunger” for a deal “is already undermining its full-scale economic blockade of Russia,” as it’s agreed to some sanctions relief so Moscow can “take custody of Iranian nuclear fuel.” The new accord’s terms are reportedly weaker than the original’s, “which allowed Iran to preserve its nuclear know-how, left its centrifuges intact, did not address Iranian missile development, and gave Tehran a free hand to execute proxy attacks throughout the Middle East.” Iran will also get sanctions relief, leaving it “richer, more powerful, and more influential in its neighborhood” — and only pushing back the estimated breakout time for a “fissionable device by a whopping six to nine months.”

Pandemic journal: Experts’ Umpteen Errors

“The medical establishment” presented “a consensus of expertise” and “marginalized physicians who had different opinions” on COVID, gripes Dr. Marty Makary at Fox News. So “how did public health officials do?” Terrible. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention argued they were using science to close schools, but many private schools and most schools in Florida and other states remained open throughout” — with the same COVID outcomes. Studies are showing “the catastrophic harm” of closures, with kids seeing “significant motor and cognitive declines and a mental health crisis.” And America “remains an international outlier by masking toddlers,” which “had zero benefit and some harm.” Dr. Anthony Fauci was particularly hopeless: For months, he assumed a surface-transmission model when all other deadly coronaviruses spread by air — and downplayed the possibility of a lab leak even longer.

Foreign desk: Ukraine’s Likely Freeze

“Fairytale endings never happen in war,” and the “Ukraine war might not end,” warns Harry J. Kazianis at Spectator World. Soon “Ukraine will be stocked with defensive arms like NLAWs, Stinger missiles, and potentially air defense systems that will make it very costly for Russia to take much more territory.” But it’ll still lack weapons allowing it “to go on the offensive and take back much ground.” So “more and more blood will be spilled until both parties see peace as the only way out.” It won’t be “peace in the traditional sense of the word,” though: “Ukraine seems destined to become a giant frozen conflict, one that could get reignited at any moment, by accident or on purpose.”

 — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board