Retired Gen. Jack Keane told Mark Levin on Life, Liberty & Levin that Vladimir Putin has been pushing a deliberate, false narrative about NATO expansion to justify aggression, even as Russian forces have largely stalled and taken massive casualties. Keane argued that Russia’s battlefield performance after more than three years of fighting shows no decisive gains, and that Moscow’s propaganda is meant to paper over a strategic failure.
That assessment is a welcome rebuke to the Kremlin’s revisionist storytelling and to any American leaders tempted by the language of appeasement. Keane credited decisive policy moves — including renewed weapons flows and tougher sanctions — with helping to blunt Putin’s ambitions and forcing the dictator to recalibrate.
Putin’s talk about NATO “expansion” has long been a convenient pretext; historians and analysts note that the claim ignores key facts and treaties and is used as a propaganda cudgel. Keane’s blunt labeling of that line as a false narrative is an important reminder that Moscow manufactures grievances to justify aggression, not because it is actually threatened.
On the ground, Keane painted a picture of a Russian military that has poured men and materiel into an unwinnable slog, doubling down without the results it promised at home. That stark reality exposes Putin’s weakness: massive casualties, battered infrastructure, and an inability to roll up Ukrainian resistance despite numeric increases in forces.
Keane was clear-eyed about what works: arming allies, imposing crippling economic pressure, and keeping international resolve intact. He pointed to resumed deliveries of heavy munitions and systems like Patriot batteries and HIMARS as practical measures that change the calculus on the battlefield and at the bargaining table.
Conservatives should take Keane’s warning seriously: weakness invites risk, and messaging matters. When American policy is steady and forceful, it undermines dictators’ propaganda and preserves the peace through strength; when policymakers hesitate, tyrants smell opportunity and double down on bloodshed and lies.
If there’s a lesson here for Washington, it is simple and unpatriotic to ignore: back our partners, keep the sanctions tight, and invest in the military advantage that protects freedom. Keane’s sober, experienced judgment should guide both parties — the only real safeguard against Kremlin lies and imperial adventurism is unambiguous American strength.
