‘At War’ With NATO

Jake Johnson

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden appears close to allowing Ukraine to use western-supplied long-range missile systems to target military sites deeper inside Russian territory, as long as those weapons are not US-provided.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on September 12 that if the United States and the United Kingdom allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with Western missiles, “it will mean nothing less than the direct involvement of NATO countries”.

“This is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is a question of deciding whether or not NATO countries are directly involved in a military conflict”, Putin told Russian state TV. “This will be their direct participation, and this, of course, will significantly change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict”.

Perhaps this is a perilous new phase in a deadly war that has dragged on for two and a half years.

According to The New York Times, “President Biden appears on the verge of clearing the way for Ukraine to launch long-range Western weapons deep inside Russian territory, as long as it doesn’t use arms provided by the United States”.

“The issue, which has long been debated in the administration, came to a head on September 13 with the first official visit to the White House by Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer”, “Britain has already signalled to the United States that it is eager to let Ukraine use its ‘Storm Shadow’ long-range missiles to strike at Russian military targets far from the Ukrainian border. But it wants explicit permission from Mr Biden in order to demonstrate a coordinated strategy with the United States and France, which makes a similar missile.”

Ahead of the decision, the Pentagon pointed to Iran’s alleged transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia as further reason to bolster Ukraine’s military capabilities. A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said in response that “the publication of false and misleading reports about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is simply ugly propaganda to conceal the large illegal arms support of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in Gaza.”

Ukraine, which has received roughly $55.7 billion in military assistance from the US since February 2022, has already launched repeated drone attacks deep inside Russia, but Western permission for Kyiv to use long-range missiles could be a dire escalation.

As Politico noted, Moscow could retaliate against a long-range missile strike on Russia by hitting “a target inside NATO, such as the critical weapons supply hub in the Polish city of Rzeszów”. Such an exchange could result in direct conflict between the nuclear-armed powers.

“Military experts argue any guidelines agreed for the British weapons at the two-hour summit in Washington could also then pave the way for the Ukrainians to fire US-supplied ATACMS—a tactical ballistic missile system—at airfields and army bases deep inside Russia”, the outlet observed.

The potential intensification and spread of the war come as the prospect of a diplomatic resolution appears nonexistent, at least in the near term.

The war seems to be escalating further with devastating results for the people of Ukraine. Ukraine is not in a position to win the war, nor does it have a stronger bargaining position in talks than it did in late 2022 and yet they are trying to involve NATO countries, virtually endorsing Zelensky’s strategy. If NATO is involved at this stage the prospects of nuclear confrontation will be real. It won’t remain in the nuclear bluff game.

 [Source: Common Dreams]

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Vol 57, No. 14, Sep 29 - Oct 5, 2024