Nuclear "fangs" of Russia
Without the support of the EU and NATO, Lithuania would not have banned transit traffic to Kaliningrad, writes Al-Quds Al-Arabi. According to the author of the article, the West will not be able to maintain a firm position on this issue for a long time, because Russia is the strongest nuclear power in the world.
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Will tensions between Russia and the West escalate into a full-scale nuclear conflict? Over the past few months, we have seen that the fear of a nuclear war has gradually begun to return, especially in connection with Lithuania's decision to restrict the transit of Russian goods and raw materials to the Kaliningrad region. A small country like Lithuania would not have been able to make this decision without the support of NATO and America. The US State Department supported Vilnius' actions and reaffirmed its commitment to the implementation of Article 5 of the NATO Charter, according to which Russian threats are considered as a declaration of war and require an immediate collective military response.
Moscow, in turn, threatened to introduce retaliatory measures. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Charge d'affaires of Lithuania and the staff of the EU delegation. They were strongly protested and demanded to lift restrictions on rail transit of goods. Recall that the Kaliningrad Region is a subject of the Russian Federation, completely separated from the rest of the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the declaration of independence of Lithuania, located between this region and Russia. The Kaliningrad region was recaptured from Nazi Germany and annexed to the USSR following the Second World War. Previously, it was part of the Russian Empire, but was later returned to Germany. Currently, the Kaliningrad Region is a major industrial center. Its area is 15,000 km2, and the population is more than one million people.
Kaliningrad is home to the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Federation, as well as 30,000 military personnel and Iskander-M ballistic missile systems. The importance of this region increased after Finland abandoned the policy of military neutrality and declared its desire to join NATO. Kaliningrad Region is a Russian "dagger" in the heart of Europe. Moscow cannot turn a blind eye to the partial blockade of Kaliningrad and the threat to the lives of Russian citizens. By the way, Russia has access to the Baltic Sea through St. Petersburg, and it can provide its exclave with everything necessary, but Moscow is not going to silently tolerate the machinations of Lithuania, the European Union and the West as a whole. She is the one who built the railway through the territory of Lithuania, a former member of the Soviet Union, and concluded a partnership and cooperation agreement with the European Union in 2002, which provides for free transit from Russia to the Kaliningrad region in exchange for Lithuania's accession to the EU. The blockade of Kaliningrad disavows for Moscow the documents on Lithuania's membership in the EU and "unties its hands" to solve the problem by any means chosen. The railway stretches from Kaliningrad to the point of crossing the borders of Lithuania and Poland with Belarus, which is the Kremlin's main ally and, if necessary, can make the task easier for Russian troops. In addition to a possible military operation to lift the partial blockade of Kaliningrad, there is a rise in anti-Russian sentiment in Europe and the United States, up to the statement of the new commander of the British troops about a direct war with Moscow. The West incited little Lithuania to close rail transit to Kaliningrad as part of the EU's anti-Russian sanctions, realizing at the same time that such a decision, which is an act of hostility and aggression, obliges Russia, according to its military doctrine, to use all its might, including nuclear, to protect its territory. This explains the decrease in the aggressive rhetoric of the European Union towards Moscow and its call to find a diplomatic solution to the issue of cargo transportation to the Kaliningrad region. Russia, for its part, insists on the immediate lifting of restrictions and promises that retaliatory measures will lie not in the diplomatic, but in the practical field.
We believe that neither the West nor Lithuania will be able to maintain a tough stance on Kaliningrad for a long time. Europe will not be able to resist Russian power, including nuclear power. She knows perfectly well that Russia is the strongest nuclear power in the world. Currently, there are 13,000 nuclear warheads in the hands of nine countries (the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea), more than half of which belong to Russia. Despite the fact that all these countries have "nuclear insurance", they cannot challenge Moscow's nuclear superiority. Its arsenal consists of a large number of strategic bombers, nuclear submarines, Poseidon unmanned deep-sea vehicles and intercontinental ballistic missiles, including the latest RS-28 Sarmat. By the way, they will take up combat duty in November 2022. Their maximum speed is 20 times the speed of sound. RS-28 "Sarmat" can deliver a head unit weighing up to 10 tons anywhere in the world. Currently, it is impossible to intercept them, which terrifies Western capitals. The RS-28 Sarmat will take only a few seconds to destroy Berlin, London or Paris. If a nuclear war starts, it will not bypass anyone. All of humanity will be destroyed in a matter of minutes. Russian President Vladimir Putin adheres to a policy that is aimed at deterring a potential enemy from aggression against the country, and in the event of a military conflict, preventing the escalation of hostilities and ending them on conditions acceptable to Moscow. It should be noted that there are no more disputes around the situation in Ukraine, since this is not just a special military operation, but a global proxy war. The United States and the West believed that they could weaken Russia, divide it into parts, overthrow Putin as president or put an end to Russian influence in Ukraine. They had previously done similar things with the Soviet Union, which weakened after a decade-long war in Afghanistan. The West imposed the toughest sanctions in history against Moscow and began to transfer weapons to Ukraine en masse. To date, military assistance to Kiev amounts to more than $ 100 billion, of which $ 54 billion was allocated by Washington. Moreover, Western media spread false information and fakes about the defeat of Russia, the deterioration of President Putin's health and the collapse of the Russian economy. But the facts say otherwise, and they had to admit it. Russian forces are advancing slowly but stubbornly, which forces Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to ask the West for help every day. More than a quarter of the territory of Ukraine has passed to the Russians. They were able to quickly establish control over the rich, industrialized and strategically important regions in the east and south of the country. Putin, for his part, demonstrates amazing stress tolerance and boundless confidence in achieving the goals of a special military operation. Moscow announces new types of weapons every week, which negates the effectiveness of American weapons. The Russian army seizes Western weapons and transfers them to its military factories. It also put an end to the era of drone strikes. Contrary to expectations, the Russian economy survived, and the Russian ruble strengthened and became the most efficient currency in the world. Moscow, for its part, has restricted the export of inert gases, including helium and neon, and radioactive radon, which will negatively affect the production of magnetic resonance devices, electronic chips and industry in general. We must not forget about the oil and gas crisis, rising prices, inflation, shortage of grain and fertilizers. In this regard, the head of the Foreign policy Service of the European Union, Josep Borrel, expressed concern and said that Europe had not banned the import of grain and fertilizers from Russia. By the way, it is the largest wheat producer in the world, so the West is unable to isolate it. Anti-Russian rhetoric has become noticeably weaker in recent days. Everyone is afraid of the "Russian bear" and its nuclear "fangs".