(Article by Stephen Bryen republished from Weapons.Substack.com)
To say this is an insane, reckless move is understatement. This is the most dangerous step possible for the US and NATO and it will lead to World War III.
Don't believe any garbage "justifying" the use of long range missiles on Russia.
Putin has pointed out that while Ukraine will host the missiles, they will be fired by NATO personnel who will also insert the targeting data coming from overhead satellites covering Russian territory. Those satellites are American.
The upcoming Zelensky-Biden meeting should also include Harris, so she takes full responsibility for starting a war.
No one can presume what the outcome will be. Will Russia unleash nuclear weapons and bring a definitive end to the Ukraine war? Will it shoot down American satellites? Will Russia send rockets to hit supply depots in Europe, especially in Poland which is the jumping off point for military supplies to Ukraine?
There are many other possibilities open to Russia. Russia could transfer nuclear weapons to Iran, for example, or to Syria.
The truth is Washington wants to take up Zelensky's proposals for deep strikes on Russian territory because Ukraine is losing the war and could be defeated even before the Presidential elections in November. The Biden-Harris “team” will have to explain why they kept backing a loser, causing tens of thousands of casualties, instead of seeking a diplomatic settlement that was easily within their grasp. Here again Washington stopped a deal in the making between Ukraine and Russia, and Biden and Harris are directly responsible for that.
Zelensky's strategy is easy to grasp. He knows everything is falling apart and Ukraine won't be able to fight anymore by winter, as the infrastructure of the country, especially electrical power, but also fuel, dries up. Polish Foreign Minister Rados?aw Sikorski says that Ukraine’s electrical power has been degraded by 70%, perhaps more.
So Zelensky's strategy is to bring NATO directly into the war. And, stupidly and arrogantly, Washington is playing the same game.
No one, other than the UK, wants to see a war in Europe. The UK is no longer an important European country and lacks a land army worth talking about. Instead its government built a couple of massively expensive aircraft carriers that function poorly, if at all, instead of strengthening its military and rebuilding its defenses. In any case, the UK dances to the US tune. The British are anxious to attack Russia, but haven’t bothered to figure what will happen when Russia blows up the UK.
The big question is why Washington wants to fire missiles into Russia? It means that Biden, Sullivan and Blinken know that their Ukraine policy is a disaster. Instead of trying to open communications with the Russians, they are upping the ante and taking huge risks, with little idea how things will end up, unless they are really getting ready to send in NATO troops and use NATO airpower in the Ukraine war.
Russia may not match the US in many military categories, but it occupies a large landmass and has strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. We have known for years that Russia's military does not really differentiate between tactical and strategic nuclear systems; rather they see them all along a continuum to be used as necessary. What this means is that Russia can launch ICBMs and submarine IRBMs against US continental targets. People in Washington should understand that the US has almost no continental air defenses capable of stopping a Russian nuclear attack.
For years strategists have worried about a so-called "first strike" capability. I can't say Russia really has that, but no one should want to find out.
The only hope is to persuade our current leaders, soon to be replaced, that they will be held accountable for starting a war without any grounds for doing so. One of the features of government is that people make decisions without taking responsibility. In the case of World War III, no matter what soap opera propaganda flows into US newspapers, our leaders will have a lot of blood on their hands if they go ahead with bombing Russia.
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