Former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland told Newsmax Wednesday that for the first time in her adult life she's "nervous" about the potential of a nuclear weapons strike as a result of Russia's growing aggression in Ukraine.
"I wrote my dissertation 40 years ago on nuclear war between nuclear powers and the escalation into nuclear war," McFarland, who served under former President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax's "National Report."
"I sure hope that when President [Joe] Biden goes to Europe, he talks to the European leaders about, What's the exit plan? What's the off-ramp here? What do we expect out of this?"
Further, she said she wants Biden to learn if Russian President Vladimir Putin is to be "utterly defeated and humiliated" and go home, where he can't survive politically.
"If that's the case, he'll escalate and potentially even escalate to chemical weapons, or nuclear weapons," said McFarland. "Is there some kind of a compromise solution we can urge and then in that intervening period of a cease-fire, we can help Ukraine? We can help rebuild their military. We can help rebuild their economy."
The problem is, however, is that Russia will return to try again in Ukraine, said McFarland.
"The important thing is to look to the future," she said. "Not only will Russia be back to Ukraine, but Russia will want to go after all the NATO countries, the more vulnerable, weaker NATO countries in the future."
Meanwhile, Biden is expected to announce further sanctions on Russian lawmakers, but McFarland said she does not think that will make much difference in the war efforts because the real way to hit Russia is on its energy sector.
"Russia continues to export energy, export oil and gas," she said. "Prices of those are double what they were last year, so Russia's export revenues are double what they were, and they have a lot of money to pay for wars."
But if the United States can drive oil prices down to where they were a year ago like they were when Trump was in office, Russia's revenues would be cut and Putin would not be able to afford an occupation of Ukraine, McFarland said.
"We should also be telling the Europeans, We've got your back, that we will export American energy to your liquefied natural gas terminals, and to get off Russian oil," she said.
Meanwhile, there is the danger of cyberwar, but there are no guidelines about what would be expected, said McFarland.
There has never been a cyberwar," she said. "What if the Russians do escalate into having all-out cyberattacks against Ukraine? Does it spill over to NATO countries? Does it this spill over to the United States?"
Further, Russia could launch cyberattacks agains the 16 industries Biden warned Putin against a year ago, said McFarland.
"We don't know what happens, and we don't know what our response would be," she added. "Is World War III over a cyberattack, or is it like Biden said about Ukraine, that if it's a minor incursion, maybe we won't have a real problem here."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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