S8 Ep160: PREVIEW — General Blaine Holt (USAF, Retired) — Flexible Deterrents for Russian Escalation. General Holt discusses American strategic options for responding to imminent Russian military aggr

PREVIEW — General Blaine Holt (USAF, Retired) — Flexible Deterrents for Russian Escalation. General Holtdiscusses American strategic options for responding to imminent Russian military aggression independent of NATOalliance consultation and collective defense invocation. Holt argues that rather than immediate direct kinetic conflict engagement, the National Security Council would prioritize implementation of "flexible deterrent options," encompassing financial sanctions mechanisms, clandestine intelligence operations, and asymmetric cost impositions designed to dissuade Moscow from executing further military escalation. Holt emphasizes that this graduated response framework preserves escalation control while demonstrating American resolve and imposing sufficient strategic costs to render Russian aggression calculations unfavorable relative to continued status quo. 1962 OPERATION  IVY KING