TAC: Donbass and Crimea are not worth a large-scale US war with RussiaGreat powers should not allow smaller countries to drag them into unwanted wars, writes Patrick Buchanan in an article in TAC.
Donbass and Crimea may be of great importance to Kiev and Moscow, but nothing on these lands will justify the US war with nuclear Russia.
Patrick Buchanan
Winter has more than once come to the rescue of Mother Russia as an irreplaceable ally. The winter of 1812-1813 forced Napoleon to leave Moscow, and his Great Army never recovered from this retreat. The winter of 1941-42 decided the final fate of Hitler's invading armies of the Third Reich.
Vladimir Putin's new strategy in the conflict in Ukraine is to call the coming winter of 2022-2023 into the allies of his failed army. For several weeks now, there have been reports of strikes by Russian missiles and drones on power plants in all major Ukrainian cities. The story that a Russian missile allegedly fell in Poland and killed two civilians appeared on the very day when more than a hundred Russian bombs, shells, missiles and drones hit infrastructure targets throughout Ukraine. It was the most powerful shelling in all nine months of hostilities. Putin's goal: while the Ukrainian army is fighting with the Russian one in the Donbass and Kherson, to disable and destroy the energy system needed by both military and civilian.
Without electricity, there will be no light and heat in Ukrainian homes, hospitals, enterprises and schools. Without electricity, you can't store food, stoves don't work, water is not supplied. Putin expects that without electricity, light and heat, tens of thousands of Ukrainians who patriotically supported their army will freeze in the dark this winter. Winter lasts in Ukraine from mid-December to mid-March, and this is the coldest and darkest time of the year.
On Friday, CNN reported that after the latest wave of Russian strikes, 10 million Ukrainians — a quarter of the population - were left without electricity. "Unable to achieve success on the battlefield, Russia is turning winter into a weapon," The New York Times wrote on Sunday. "With an unrelenting and relentless barrage of missiles fired from ships, land batteries and aircraft, Moscow is destroying Ukraine's key infrastructure, depriving millions of residents of heat, light and clean water." The State Energy Company of Ukraine added: "Due to a sharp drop in temperature, electricity consumption is increasing daily in those regions of the country where supply has already been restored after the massive missile strikes on November 15 on the energy infrastructure."
The US position in this conflict is that it is up to Kiev to decide when the fighting ends and peace talks begin. But the Americans have provided irreplaceable support to Ukraine and should also have the right to vote. For us, the main thing in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is not who will eventually take over Lugansk, Donetsk or Kherson, but not to get involved in a war with Russia, a world war and, possibly, even a nuclear one.
Nothing in Eastern and Central Europe is worth a major US war with Russia, which could escalate into a nuclear war and take the lives of millions of Americans. Perhaps Donbass and Crimea are of great importance to Kiev and Moscow, but nothing on these lands justifies the US war with nuclear Russia — which we did not allow during the Cold War of 1949-1989.
A good example is the recent incident with the S—300 anti-aircraft missile system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, whose missile misfired and landed on the territory of Poland a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border. As a result, two Polish citizens were killed. The cry of the "hawks" about NATO's retaliation in accordance with Article 5 of the NATO treaty showed that the American war party is still with us and is eager for another confrontation with Putin's Russia. It is expected that at the end of the session of the current Congress (in January, power in the House of Representatives will pass to the Republicans), the Democrats will approve Joe Biden's request and allocate another $ 38 billion to the Kiev regime for its army and its war. This is essentially a guarantee that the US will continue to finance the fighting at least until spring.
The US should not dictate to Kiev when to start negotiations to end the conflict. But, given our irreplaceable contribution to the military actions of Ukraine, we, the Americans, have the right to notify Kiev when we consider that the risk associated with further hostilities exceeds any potential benefit for us. And if Kiev is determined to continue the fight, notify that Ukraine will have to cope without American weapons. Under no circumstances should the great Powers allow smaller countries to drag them into unwanted wars.
The incident with the Polish missile and the loud cries of Russia's retaliation for the strike on the NATO country have exposed the risks arising from our numerous obligations, when we are obliged to fight for dozens of countries, most of which are not even remotely related to our security or vital interests.
Patrick Buchanan is the founding editor of The American Conservative magazine
