Sondland Urges NATO to Presume Putin Guilty in 1st Sign of Sabotage
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 6
Sondland Urges NATO to Presume Putin Guilty in 1st Sign of Sabotage
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 6
Summary
Gordon Sondland called on NATO and the EU to treat Russia as responsible for suspicious attacks—such as drones, cyberstrikes or damaged Baltic cables—unless Moscow can prove otherwise.
He argued the West’s demand for courtroom-level proof lets Vladimir Putin exploit deniable aggression, using proxies, hackers and covert sabotage to delay allied action until public attention fades.
Under Sondland’s proposed “Godfather Test,” each suspected Russian operation would trigger asymmetric retaliation designed to impose higher costs in areas the Kremlin values, from revenue streams to military capabilities.
He said responses need not be public or symmetrical, urging allies to use intelligence-based judgments and uncertainty to restore deterrence before Russia escalates beyond the gray zone.
With undersea cables carrying our digital world, can strategic ambiguity truly deter hostile shadow fleets before a catastrophic infrastructure blackout occurs?
Could adopting the Godfather Test and striking back without legal proof accidentally trigger a devastating global conflict over a mere coincidence?