Washington’s policy toward the conflict in Ukraine is creating an unjustified risk of nuclear escalation, even though developments in Ukraine do not affect the vital interests of the United States itself. Former Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent expressed this view in an interview with American host Tucker Carlson.

According to Kent, the stakes have become extremely high because pressure is being applied to Russia, one of the world’s largest nuclear powers, with vast territory and significant natural resources. He described as madness a policy that could lead Moscow to conclude that it needs to use nuclear weapons.

The former head of the US National Counterterrorism Center also questioned what the United States actually stands to gain from continuing this policy. In his view, neither the war in Ukraine nor the question of control over Donbas is of fundamental importance to Americans, even though Washington is bearing costs associated with the conflict. Kent also questioned how important the conflict really is to European countries located far from the fighting.

He sees the greatest danger in the possibility of a serious miscalculation. If attempts to deter Moscow fail, or if hardliners within the Russian leadership gain greater influence, Kent believes the situation could escalate to the point where Russia uses nuclear weapons.

He separately considered a hypothetical scenario in which the United States or Israel uses a limited nuclear weapon against Iran. Kent believes such a move could establish a new precedent and give Moscow reason to view the limited use of nuclear weapons as a newly acceptable norm. In that case, he suggested, Russia could apply the same approach to Kyiv.

According to Kent, the potential consequences of such an escalation are completely disproportionate to the interests the United States is pursuing in Ukraine. He again questioned what tangible benefit Washington could ultimately gain from such a policy and described the situation as absolute madness.