The one thing the Democrats are fervently hoping does not happen is a complete collapse of the Ukrainian armed forces. Such a collapse would further damage the Democrats’ chances in November. In order to avoid this, the neocons in NATO and in this country want to escalate the war again. This is crazy on any level but Zelenskyy has been publicly calling on NATO and the US to allow him to send missiles deep into Russia. Just what do they think would happen if that occurs?
Let’s look at the last attempt to escalate, the disastrous attempt to capture the nuclear facility near Kursk. What was the result? Thousands of Ukrainian dead. Russia broke through the Ukrainian defenses that had been thinned out in the Donbass and appear ready to make significant gains in that area. Pokrovsk may soon fall.
I have heard from some who claim that Ukraine could easily win if NATO weapons would be turned loose against Russia. The “vast superiority of the West’s technology” would win the day. Hogwash! There is no magic weapon that will turn the tide in Ukraine or anywhere else. This has always been true in near-peer conflicts around the world.
Certain supposedly great new weapons have been unleashed in this conflict. While there may have been some tactical successes early, Russia very quickly came up with defenses that worked. The idea that Russia is stuck in some 1960’s environment when it comes to war is just false.
Russia appears to be taking the gloves off. Mark Wauck, retired FBI, noted:
It appears that the Russian strikes on NATO personnel—most spectacularly in Poltava, but also reportedly in Lwiw and Krivoy Rog—are intended to send a message to NATO: Your talk of escalating, your actual escalations—all this has consequences. It can hardly be surprising that Russia would know the whereabouts of NATO personnel in Ukraine. Russian agents are probably everywhere in Ukraine, just as Ukraine has its agents in Russia—the blending of the nationalities makes this inevitable. So, Russia has always known, but the gloves are coming off. The message is that crazy behavior has consequences, and this is a sample.
What is clear with this is something that our vaunted intelligence services should have known for a long time. Russia knows where NATO personnel are in Ukraine. Our government’s insistence that there are no American boots on the ground is false. Russia is sending a message. That message is that all this talk of and actual escalation has consequences.
Lord Bebo had this to say:
The most obvious evidence of the effectiveness of the missile strike on Poltava was the swarm of NATO medical aircraft (USA, Germany, Poland, Romania). They were evacuating both wounded instructors and the dead bodies. In cities like Berlin, police guarded convoys of ambulances rushed to hospitals by the evening.
At the same time, the “legalization” of the dead NATO personnel began: US Army Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Kamara died suddenly in Poland. Ahead of us are many unexpected helicopter, yacht and private jet crashes or hiking incidents all over the world, with sudden passing of NATO personnel.
So, what is the overall message that Russia is sending? Despite the success of its war of attrition, Russia probably wants to end this war sooner rather than later. The on-going loss of life and loss of property are horrific. To that end Russia has targeted a crucial point in Ukraine’s ability to hang in the war.
The Russian strikes targeted NATO trainers who were teaching Ukrainians in the techniques for managing high tech weapons systems—AWACS type planes, air launched cruise missiles, and so forth. The killing of such large numbers of both NATO trainers and Ukrainian trainees is a devastating blow to both NATO and Ukraine.
Could other targets outside Ukraine come into play if the insane neocons who think Ukraine is on the cusp of winning this war continue with their escalation tactics? Has the time come when Russia is prepared to draw a red line and to insist upon it? These massive strikes, targeting NATO personnel in large numbers, is part of that message. Perhaps a quickly negotiated settlement is best right now.
Let’s be reminded that Russian as a language has a larger footprint in Ukraine than Ukrainian. Zelenskyy was elected on a platform of re-establishing friendly ties with Russia. Of course, that was before the West turned his head with oodles of money and a promise of an easy win over Russia.
Could ending the war and integrating most of Ukraine into Russia as a federated entity be easier than most people might think?