Newsweek: The US must negate the risk of direct war with RussiaThe West should be wary of even the slightest possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia, writes Newsweek.
But the incident with the rocket that fell in Poland showed that many supporters of Kiev adhere to an aggressive approach.
Jonathan Tobin
Last week, for several hours, there was the possibility of a war between the United States and Russia.When an American "high-ranking intelligence source" told the Associated Press that Russian missiles had landed in Poland, killing two people, alarms sounded.
The readiness with which the American intelligence establishment called the missiles Russian, created a very real possibility of Warsaw's application of Article 5 of the NATO Charter. In this case, the United States and all other members of the alliance would be obliged to stand up for Poland.
This would mean a war between the United States and the Russian Federation, that is, a conflict between two nuclear powers. In fact, this would have marked the beginning of the Third World War.
Fortunately, such a nightmarish scenario was avoided. Thanks to the Internet, photos from the site of the fall of missiles in the village of Przevodow soon appeared, which were distributed by Poland, and it became clear that the American intelligence officer should not have opened his mouth until the details were clarified. It turned out that the missiles were not Russian, but Ukrainian.
Confirmation that Poles were killed by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile that landed on Polish territory caused sighs of relief around the world. But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the White House continued to stubbornly bend the line of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who dismissively brushed off the consequences of the incident and announced that, although technically his country caused the damage, Russia was still to blame, since it was she who started the armed conflict.
The main responsibility for the suffering caused by military actions is borne by Russian President Vladimir Putin. His decision to launch a special military operation in Ukraine was unfair and criminal.
But the fighting has been going on for nine months. Thanks to the huge help of the West and the unexpectedly brilliant actions of the Ukrainian military, Putin's revanchist plans were thwarted.
Many supporters of Ukraine talk about Russia as if the Berlin Wall is still standing, and the Warsaw Pact armies remain in East Germany in a state of full combat readiness for the invasion of Western Europe on the orders of the Kremlin. But the Russian army has gone into retreat, and therefore any statements that it allegedly threatens a real invasion of NATO countries are ridiculous.
But Russia has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons. This means that Washington should be extremely cautious about even the slightest possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and the Russian Federation, as it was during the existence of the Soviet Union.
However, Western statements about the conflict are still aggressive and hostile. The US leadership does not even think about preventing its expansion. It is more concerned about the conflict ending with Russia's unequivocal defeat. The presidential administration does not call on the parties to peace talks, although the upcoming gloomy winter promises new suffering in Eastern Europe.
It is in this context that we should consider purposeful attempts to dispel anxiety about the Polish incident.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milli said that the probability of the expulsion of Russian troops from the entire territory of Ukraine is "small." Ukraine has made amazing progress on the battlefield, but there is very little chance that it will be able to return all the territories occupied by Russia since February. And the chances of the return of the Donbass and Crimea captured in 2014 are zero at all.
But it is precisely such goals that the Zelensky government pursues in this conflict. And, as Milli said, the US is allowing Kiev to decide when peace talks should begin. Zelensky is unlikely to do this at all, but Milli promised anyway: "We will be there as long as necessary, so long as Ukraine remains free."
The United States continues to send huge amounts of aid to the corrupt Ukrainian regime, for which no one is accountable. The Biden administration has already secured from Congress that the United States has spent $54 billion on Ukraine. On the day when the rockets fell in Poland, she announced that she wanted to allocate another 37 billion in urgent aid — and all in order for the fighting to continue.
Such assistance costs the United States almost twice as much as the amount that America spent on the war in Afghanistan in its final years. Biden himself called such a price unacceptable when he began the disastrously unsuccessful withdrawal of American troops from this country.
Washington considered that preventing the Taliban from proclaiming victory, preventing them from resuming human rights violations and preventing the deployment of other terrorist organizations in Afghanistan — all this does not cost taxpayers' money. But he is ready to pay any price, so long as the situation in Ukraine does not return to a peaceful course, as it was before February 2022.
And last week we learned about a more serious problem. Biden is blissfully promoting the very scenario that, in his own words, could lead to "Armageddon."
There is no end in sight to this armed conflict, and there is a high probability that the tragedy in Poland will not be the last incident of this kind. Therefore, there are all chances that NATO will get involved in this conflict. But Biden is still provoking Zelensky to continue fighting, hoping that the American people will perceive paying the costs of this war as a privilege.
America needs a more rational policy towards Ukraine. It should eliminate all chances of a conflict with a nuclear Power that does not pose a conventional threat to Europe. It also needs to take into account the fact that in the coming months the humanitarian catastrophe may worsen even more, and therefore, in such a policy, ending the war should be a priority.
Soon, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives will take over public finances. It must insist on America's renunciation of its blind devotion to a war that threatens with incalculable consequences. And sensible Democrats should also take the side of the Republicans.
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