A direct attack on Russia would be unwise.

In the eleventh hour of his presidency, Joe Biden has given Ukraine the green light to use American short-range missiles (ATACMS) against Russia. Biden’s reasoning is not a sudden surge of affection for his favorite beleaguered country. Oh no. The rockets have been in Kiev’s possession for some time but had not been authorized for use because of their potential to dangerously escalate an already brutal conflict. If Biden’s risky change of heart comes to full fruition, this action is for one reason only: to diminish incoming Donald Trump’s ability to broker a settlement, which he has many times vowed to do.

Trump is no angel, loathed by too many establishments to count, particularly the one that occupies the Washington–New York liberal corridor. Their hatred of the improbable second-term president is boundless. His failure in anything he attempts would, and will, delight many.

If Biden’s risky change of heart comes to full fruition, this action is for one reason only: to diminish incoming Donald Trump’s ability to broker a settlement, which he has many times vowed to do.

But Biden is no saint either, and this missile game places him squarely in scoundrel territory. If a single American missile fired by Ukraine explodes in a Russian city, any peace deal will be set back by months, perhaps more. No skin off Biden’s back, since he has no interest in witnessing a Trump diplomatic coup.

As for the war, very much the creation of Russia, both the United States and Europe have fallen into a wartime status quo. That means simply that they have come to accept the war as a show of NATO-renewed vigor, and with it a demonstration of Europe’s willingness to defend an ally — so long as it is asked to commit cash, weapons, and rhetoric but no ground troops. The European Union is glad to applaud Ukrainian heroism as long as it keeps its hands clean. Odd because its hands are very dirty in Gaza and Lebanon, in which Israeli actions have at times rivaled those of Russia in the early stages of the Ukraine war. Russia acted cruelly and unilaterally. Israel has done much the same, the only difference being the year-old Hamas terrorist attack that worked Jerusalem into a rage. Europe continues to decry the aggressive monster that is expansionist Russia but has little to say about expansionist Israel, by now a no-nonsense killer of civilians.

All is fair in love and war, but someone please put a brake on Western righteous indignation. Falsity serves no one.

If Ukraine unleashes Biden’s missiles, he will justify it by saying Ukraine needed a boost. A lie. He will have done so to serve his own end-of-term political goals. And undermine the man he has many times called unfit for office.

Biden should be judged harshly as a self-styled noble leader less interested in his own nobility than in prolonging a conflict that has become very good for the arms business and has also cast Vladimir Putin’s Russia into a pariah status it will take decades to undo. Make no mistake: Putin is bad guy, snake, opportunist, and madcap nationalist. But his is a war that should be ended, and Trump, a grand impresario, has a fair chance of doing just that, perhaps even brokering a deal both sides can live with.

Shame on Biden if he lets Kiev — no, encourages Kiev — finally and for all time to press the red button.

— This essay was completed and published hours before Ukraine began launching U.S.-made short-range ballistic missiles (ATACMS) into Russia following American approval of their use.