NATO countries put their people at risk by escalating with Russia

We're not allowed to know the details of what they're planning...

READ IN APP

President Biden has met Prime Minister Starmer in Washington with the apparent aim of escalating the war in Russia. It is reported the men are discussing whether to allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with Storm Shadow missiles - at present, Ukraine is only allowed to strike Russian soil near the Ukrainian border.

The calculation is basically this: will Putin dare respond by striking our soil, and if so, will the public let our leaders get away with it? I doubt either man cares much about public safety, this is about whether the public will blame them or Putin.

According to the Guardian, the decision on Storm Shadows has been made and is unlikely to be made public, so we will have no idea how close our government is taking us to World War III. Remember this moment, if there is any Russian attack on our soil.

Not long ago, there was widespread acceptance the war was going badly for Ukraine, but since the incursion into Kursk, we’ve been told things are going well and Ukraine is going to win. If that’s the case, why the sudden act of desperation? It has already been conceded that allowing Ukraine to use Storm Shadows offers only limited tactical advantage.

The concern is the war will be decided by whoever runs out of weapons first, and that will be Ukraine, given Russia’s enormous production capacity. If you can’t win a war of attrition, the only options are to hit your opponent harder or negotiate peace.

The harsh reality is Russia has launched its counter-offensive in Kursk and Ukraine’s small gains are rapidly being reversed. "The fighting is very tough and the situation is not in our favour as of now," one Ukrainian officer told the BBC. Those Ukrainian troops are being slaughtered and our leaders will just see it as another opportunity to criticise Putin. The problem with electing political lightweights who have no guiding principles is it costs lives.

Starmer’s helpful contribution to the conversation has been to point out: “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away”. Of course it could and that’s where negotiations come in. The idea that Russia stops fighting without a negotiated settlement is childish to say the least. It’s the type of thing you say when you’re not serious about peace.

Starmer added: “Ukraine has the right to self-defence and we've obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine's right to self-defence. We're providing training capability.”

In other words, we fully intend to drag this thing out as long as possible. The UK just agreed a £600 million lethal aid package, but it can’t afford the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners who might also be about to lose their bus passes. We are sacrificing British lives while pretending to safeguard Ukrainian lives that we are also sacrificing.

One common mistake people make is to assume the warmongering always comes from Washington and Downing Street follows along like a poodle. Anyone who plays close attention knows this is not always the case and sometimes the more hawkish voices are on our side of the pond. The media is reporting that Downing Street is keen on escalation and Washington is ready to go along with their crazy plan. In other words, the prime minister is the bigger warmonger here. That’s how low the Labour Party has sunk.

Ironically, one of the reasons the UK is not publicly calling for strikes on Russian soil is they don’t want their relationship with the US to deteriorate. The Labour government really is more hawkish than the Democrats, and given the Democrats are now more hawkish than the Republicans, you have to wonder how we got here.

The US looks set to give the go ahead for British and French weapons to be used deep inside Ukraine, but not US weapons. This would mean Britain and France could become targets for retaliation. Are you okay with this? Putin has already stated this would “mean nothing other than the direct participation of NATO countries […] in the war in Ukraine.”

This escalation comes shortly after we helped Ukraine plan the Kursk invasion, yet we are talking like the Russians are the ones who are escalating. “It’s a significant escalation that Iran has sent them weapons,” say the countries who’ve sent Ukraine $60 billion of lethal aid.

Ukrainian pilots have just started learning how to fly F-16s in Romania and given the training process normally takes five years, it appears they’re being rushed through training. I suspect this might just be a PR exercise and the jets are mostly for show, but either way, it shows just how wasteful this proxy war is.

It’s not even clear if Iran has sent ballistic missiles to Russia (a claim Iran strenuously denies) or if this is another one of those stories the West made up to justify escalation. The West claims Russia is providing Iran with nuclear and space technology - the implication being the war in Russia is tied to the Gaza genocide and you are supposed to support both. However, you could equally make the judgement we’re being lied to about both.

While it’s entirely possible the above is western propaganda, it’s also possible the so-called “axis of resistance” is strengthening it’s ties to stave off the NATO threat. Sergei Shoigu is currently visiting North Korea and could well be discussing the purchase of more weapons. The idea Ukraine can receive weapons from its allies, but Russia can’t seems bizarre. Russia might have enormous production capacity, but even Russia has its limits, and if everyone is struggling to build enough bombs, how about we sit down and talk?

The West is arguing that it’s wrong to supply weapons to a country that has illegally invaded another - it’s hard to believe they can make such an argument with a straight face. These people are as serious about peace in Ukraine as they are about peace in Palestine. Incredibly, there is talk of Ukraine targeting train stations in Moscow. Targeting civilian infrastructure is a war crime and would provoke a brutal response from Russia.

Jonathan Eyal from think tank Rusi said:

“The Russian response to Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk has been subdued because {Putin} has been able to tell Russians at home that even if he is not winning the war, he isn’t losing it. If train stations in Moscow go up in flames, the level of humiliation will skyrocket and his reply could escalate too.”

Given Ukraine has been responsible for multiple terror attacks on Russian civilians, letting them unleash Storm Shadow missiles like this could prove catastrophic. It’s the type of move that will only hurt Ukrainians.

It’s entirely possible this is a high-risk negotiation tactic: escalate to de-escalate. The thinking might be that if Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia, it will heap pressure on Putin to agree peace, but such a strategy would surely have the opposite effect and galvanise the Russian public. This is a strategy you come up with when you’re desperate and out of ideas.

Buy me a coffee

© 2024 Anti-imperialist News
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104
Unsubscribe