Great Power contentions

[Montmorency]

If Biden did what I want and put divisions in Europe right now

I just can't get over how the extraordinarily-consequential, costly, and unauthorized unilateral decision to do this (not that any available American president would), could, in theory, be legally upheld in Republican-ruled courts, but even the small-bore, legislatively-backed customarily preferential policies of the current executive just get casually struck down. It's annoying (with Korean intonation). Also ruinous to state and society, but there's a lot of insult in these injuries.

Anyway, some interesting factoids in this article on punitive measures against Russia available to the US, such as:

Intellectual property law is another such node; the chief elements of the global intellectual property regime were designed by the United States, largely for the benefit of US firms. To participate in the global technology economy, Russia had to adapt to this legal structure after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This now makes Russia vulnerable across an array of fronts. Effectively, the administration can take steps that would make Russia’s tech sector toxic, preventing Russian companies from exporting devices that have any US components or other US intellectual property. This would definitely hurt the Russians on the international market, and it also would deter European and Asian tech firms from collaborating with their Russian counterparts. The US won the Cold War in part because it could cut the USSR off from international developments in information technology, and the weapons at the disposal of the United States have only grown more lethal. The use of these weapons of course requires the active cooperation of European, Korean, Taiwanese, and Japanese companies, but a vicious attack on Ukraine might well make that cooperation more forthcoming. Indeed, the Russian military itself depends on foreign chips (largely from Taiwan) in its more sophisticated equipment.

Watta plot twist! Unify the plot strands, now that's good writing for once.

Here's a planet-brain idea, two birds with one stone: Offer Iran a deal whereby they publicly drop relations with Russia, in exchange for which the US expresses legitimate gratitude to the Iranian government, providing cover for both sides to formally recommit to JCPOA. There's a missing incentive for Iran there, but the structure of the gambit makes sense IMO. The biggest obstacle to rapprochment between the US and Iran, at least over nuclear proliferation, is America's belligerent uncredibility and reactive public sentiment in both countries, something a double maneuver banking off Russian escalation, with immediate payoffs for both parties, could neutralize.

Relatedly, reshuffling a major US OOB into Europe would probably no longer even be the deterrent it used to be considering that everyone knows that China is mightier than Russia and that the American military has its hands full with its West Pacific commitments.