Sending F-16 planes to Ukraine will create a new Cuban Missile -style nuclear crisis.
| Andrew Thomas 23 May 23 The only saving grace here may be that F-16s are so different from the planes that Ukrainian pilots have flown before that they have no chance of being capable of retraining their minds to make the split-second decisions necessary to effectively operate them. The idea advertised is four months, which from what I have read is an absurd goal. However, if the NATO countries supplying these planes supply the pilots as well, that saving grace disappears. It is astonishing that there is no recognition at all in the US mainstream media or amongst its political class that we have created a situation analogous to the two-week long Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The only differences that matter are that it has been going on for fifteen months, and that every action and pronouncement of the US government during that fifteen months has escalated the crisis. We are on the brink of nuclear Armageddon, and the only person who matters who recognizes it, and has said so publicly, is Donald J. Trump. Of course, he says he could end the conflict the day he becomes president again, so he is as ignorant and deluded as he has always been. But, still… https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/biden-okays-f-16s-for-ukraine-us?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=123001716&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email |
Russia Claims Group Crossed Border From Ukraine In Attack
Radio Free Europe 22 May 23
Violent clashes erupted on the Russian-Ukrainian border with Moscow accusing a Ukrainian “sabotage group” of trying to make an incursion into the country, an allegation Kyiv rejected.
Explosions and sporadic gunfire could be heard on May 22 in the Belgorod region, with the local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, saying that fighting had spilled into Russia in the Graivoron district which borders Ukraine. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The governor said six people were injured in the clashes. The incursion into Russian territory may be the biggest since the Kremlin launched its war against Ukraine 15 months ago.
A group calling itself the Liberty of Russia Legion, which claims to be made up of Russians cooperating with Ukrainian forces, took responsibility for the attack. The Ukrainian government denied any role in the events………………………………………
Rishi Sunak ‘turns his back’ on UK’s nuclear test veterans a year after pledging support
The Prime Minister has refused to look at their evidence of a criminal cover-up within the Ministry of Defence, less than a year after pledging his support for a police investigation
By Susie Boniface, 22 May 2023 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-turns-back-veterans-30046288
It comes after the G7 summit in Japan when the PM visited a memorial honouring the 200,000 who died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the event that triggered Britain’s own atomic experiments.
Campaigner Alan Owen, whose father died after witnessing 24 nuclear bombs in just 78 days, said: “He was happy to take the headlines for getting us a medal, but now he’s turned his back on 22,000 men who suffered and died for the nuclear deterrent that he’s relying on to keep us safe from Vladimir Putin.”
Nuke veterans have waited 70 years for official recognition, and since the weapons trials have suffered a legacy of cancers, miscarriages, and birth defects in their children.
Sunak delivered them a medal just a month after taking office.
During the Tory leadership campaign last summer, a spokesman for Sunak told the Mirror: “Rishi supports the campaign for nuclear veterans to be recognised for their service.
“We are incredibly grateful for our nuclear veterans’ sacrifice which kept Britain safe during the Cold War… He would also back an investigation into whether the tests represented a criminal offence towards these veterans.”
After making the medal announcement at the National Memorial Arboretum last November, he briefly met Laura Morris, of Salford, whose grandfather John witnessed several H-bombs in 1958, later lost his son Steven to cot death, and developed pernicious anaemia before being refused a war pension.
He had multiple blood tests during the trials, but the results are not in his medical file.
Parliament has been told all such records are at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in “scientific data”, but veterans, widows, and next-of-kin have been refused access. Withholding or falsifying medical records is a crime. Laura asked the PM to meet and discuss it, and he told her he would.
Her MP, Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey, said: “It’s frankly soul-destroying that the PM made a promise in person to my constituent but now fails to keep his word. It has taken six months to decide that he just can’t find the time.”
“In the Tory leadership contest he promised he’d support a criminal investigation, and now he won’t meet us so we can show him the evidence,” she said.
“It’s appalling that after what these veterans have suffered, and I truly hope he changes his mind, and meets them as promised.”
In a letter to Laura, Sunak said the “extraordinary sacrifice” of veterans had been overlooked “for too long” and he had been “delighted” to announce the medal.
He added: “The significance and poignancy of the announcement was not lost on me.
“I was greatly moved to meet and speak with the veterans during the event, including your grandfather… I want to thank him, not only for his years of service and campaigning, but also for bravely sharing his experiences with others.
“Unfortunately due to diary pressures, I am currently unable to meet you.
G7 Desecrates Hiroshima A-Bomb Memory With Warmongering Summit
Strategic Culture Editorial May 19, 2023
The Group of Seven held a de facto war summit in Hiroshima, a place that is synonymous with the horror and evil of war.
The United States-led “Group of Seven” cabal held one of their increasingly meaningless jamborees this weekend in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The posturing of solemnity by these warmongering elites in a place that represents the ultimate barbarity of American imperialism is not only sickening in its hypocrisy and profanity. The evident lack of awareness and shame of these charlatans is a sure sign that their privileged historical charade is coming to an end……………..
The proceedings began with a cynical and disingenuous “dedication” at the Hiroshima Peace Park whose centerpiece is the Genbaku Dome, the iconic spectral ruin caused by the U.S. atomic bombing in 1945. The very gathering of leaders at this sacred place is the same people who are criminally pushing the world toward another conflagration.
Biden and his cronies soon dispensed with hollow talk about “peace” and “nuclear disarmament” to make the G7 summit a rallying call for more hostility toward Russia and China………. There were pledges of supplying more weapons to the powder keg that the U.S. and its NATO partners have created in Ukraine. There were high-handed dismissals of international diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, which have been proposed by China, and Latin American and African nations.
The U.S.-led G7 camarilla also made their hate fest a forum for drumming up more hostility toward China, accusing Beijing of building up nuclear arms and threatening the world.
In short, the Group of Seven held a de facto war summit in Hiroshima, a place that is synonymous with the horror and evil of war.
Seventy-eight years ago, on the morning of August 6, 1945, at 8.15 am, the US Air Force Enola Gay B-29 bomber dropped the atomic bomb on the city. The resulting death toll would be 140,000, mainly civilians, many of them instantly incinerated, others dying from horrendous burns and radiation poisoning. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later.
History has shown that there was no military need to use such weapons of mass destruction. Official American reasoning ostensibly about hastening the end of the Pacific War can now be seen as a flagrant lie. The bombs were deliberately used by the United States in a demonstration of state terrorism especially directed at its wartime ally, the Soviet Union. Arguably, these grotesque genocidal crimes sealed the beginning of the Cold War. This horrific demarcation was how the U.S.-led Western imperialist system would try to control the postwar world.
…………. The ideological projection also casts a narcissistic image of America and its Western allies as benevolent, peace-loving, democratic, law-abiding, and so on. It’s an almost incredible feat of global gaslighting and inversion of reality; made possible largely by mass disinformation via the Western corporate media/propaganda system.
Thankfully, that charade is becoming threadbare too.
One indicator this week was a study by the respected Brown University’s Cost of War project which estimated the number killed just over the past two decades from U.S.-led wars at 4.5 million. All told, since the end of World War Two estimates of deaths from American wars of aggression around the world are in the order of 20-30 million. No other nation in history comes close to the destructiveness of U.S. power, which laughably declares itself the “leader of the free world”, the “democratic upholder of rules-based order”……………………………………………………
In any case, the G7 is becoming a global irrelevance. It is a relic of former American imperial might. The “rich club” used to command half of the world’s economy, it is now down to 30 per cent and falling. The emerging multipolar world led by China, Russia, the Global South and many others, the BRICS, ASEAN, ALBA, EEA, SCO, are all testimony to the waning American Empire and its rapidly declining dollar dominance. The G7 doesn’t even make any pretence about helping the global economy and development. It has become a bellicose vehicle emitting desperate warmongering by a crumbling hegemonic system.
Only in the fairytale realm of Western media/propaganda could such a vile charade at Hiroshima be projected. To the rest of the world, it is utterly sickening. https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/05/19/g7-desecrates-hiroshima-a-bomb-memory-with-warmongering-summit/
Ukrainians forced by Russia to retreat from Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) , their supposed ‘fortress’ in Donbass
RT.com By Vladislav Ugolny, a Russian journalist born in Donetsk 21 May 23
The battle for Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut by the Ukrainians) began in August 2022, and gradually turned into the epicenter of fighting between Russia and Ukraine. While other parts of the front remained relatively stable, both sides actively brought forces to this small city. For Kiev, which in May 2022 suffered a defeat at Azovstal that helped undermine its image, Artyomovsk became the new Mariupol. Ukrainian propaganda labeled it ‘the Bakhmut Fortress’, and attempted to give an air of heroism to those fighting there.
………………………………………………………. The importance of the city grew tremendously after the start of Russia’s military operation in February 2022. Initially, when Russian troops broke the first line of fortifications in the area of Popasnaya, Zolotoye, and the Lisichansk-Severodonetsk agglomeration, Artyomovsk was an important transport hub. It kept the Ukrainian front line connected with the rest of the country.
After the Russians managed to break this line of defense and completely removed Kiev’s forces from the territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Artyomovsk went from being a transport hub to becoming Ukraine’s second line of defense around the Bakhmutka River. This strip ran from Ukrainian positions opposite Gorlovka – since 2014 controlled by the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) – in the south up to Seversk in the north, running straight into the Seversky Donets, the main river in Donbass.
Artyomovsk could not have been taken without this line of defense being broken. Since July 2022, PMC Wagner fighters have been focused on doing just that, preparing the ground for a successful encirclement of the city.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… the more than nine-month-long battle for Artyomovsk permanently changed the perception of the conflict, forcing both Ukraine and Russia to abandon any ideas of a fast-paced campaign or deep breakthroughs.
The battles discussed in this article took place barely 30 kilometers deep into the frontlines. In conditions of summer heat, fall mud, and winter frost, it largely resembled the First World War. According to Prigozhin’s estimates, the liberation of the entire territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic will take another one and a half to two years.
However, significant Ukrainian forces still remain to the west of Artyomovsk, having seized a number of positions during the May counteroffensive. They have established a foothold in Chasov Yar and hold the line between Krasnoye and Minkovka, thus preventing Russian forces from stabilizing the front along the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal. With the Russian flag flying over Artyomovsk and Russian soldiers in full control of the battlefield, the Russian priority now is to inflict maximum damage on the Ukrainian forces massed for the counteroffensive, and drive them out to the western bank of the canal. https://www.sott.net/article/480462-Victory-Ukrainians-forced-by-Russia-to-retreat-from-Artyomovsk-their-supposed-fortress-in-Donbass
US hopes to snatch victory from jaws of defeat in Ukraine
Indian Punchline BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR
The G7 Leaders’ 2700-word statement on Ukraine, issued in Hiroshima after their summit meeting glossed over the burning question today — the so-called counter-offensive against the Russian forces.
It is a deafening silence, since rumours are swirling about the disappearance of the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces. Significantly, President Vladimir Zelensky himself is making himself scarce from Kiev touring world capitals — Helsinki, Hague, Rome, Vatican, Berlin, Paris, London and Jeddah and Hiroshima. It does seem that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
As the G7 summit ended, the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on Saturday that the Russian operation to capture the strategic communication hub of Bakhmut in Donbass region of eastern Ukraine lasting 224 days, has been brought to a successful completion, overcoming the resistance by more than 80,000 Ukrainian troops.
It is a painful moment for Zelensky, who had boasted before US lawmakers in Capitol Hill last December that “just like the Battle of Saratoga (in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War), the fight for Bakhmut will change the trajectory of our war for independence and for freedom.”
Meanwhile, to distract attention, there is talk now about a subtle shift in the US policy regarding supply of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in an indeterminate future. In reality, though, no one can tell what the Ukrainian rump state will look like when the jets arrive. Unsurprisingly, the Biden Administration still seems to be in two minds. F-16 is a hot item for export; what happens if the Russians were to blow it out of the sky with their hi-tech weapons and rubbish its fame ?
The Russians seem to have concluded that nothing short of a total victory will make the Americans and the British understand that Moscow means business on the three objectives behind the special military operations that are non-negotiable: security and safety of the ethnic Russian community and their right to live in peace and dignity in the new territories; demilitarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine; and a neutral, sovereign, independent Ukraine freed from the US clutches and no longer a hostile neighbour.
……………………………. the big question is about the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The Russian forces enjoy overwhelming superiority in every sense militarily. Even if the hard core of the Ukrainian forces who were trained in the West, numbering some 30-35000 soldiers, manage to achieve some “breakthrough” in the 950-kilometre long frontline, what happens thereafter?
……………. If past American behaviour — be it Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq and Syria — is anything to go by, Washington will do nothing. The well-known American strategic thinker Col. (Retd.) David MacGreggor couldn’t have put things better when he said earlier this week:
“I can tell you that Washington is going to do nothing. And I’ve always warned… we (United States) are not a continental power, not a land power anywhere but in our own Hemisphere. We are primarily an aerospace and maritime power, much like Great Britain. And what does that mean? When things go badly for us, we sail away, we fly away, we go home… That’s what we always do. Eventually, we just leave. And I think, that’s on the agenda now.” …………………………………………………………………. https://www.indianpunchline.com/us-hopes-to-snatch-victory-from-jaws-of-defeat-in-ukraine/
Russian forces dig in at Ukrainian nuclear plant, witnesses say
Tom Balmforth and Sarah McFarlane, Fri, 19 May 2023,Yahoo! Lifestyle
LONDON (Reuters) -Russian military forces have been enhancing defensive positions in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine in recent weeks, four witnesses said, ahead of an expected counteroffensive in the region.
New trenches have been dug around the city and more mines have been laid. Surveillance cameras at the plant are pointing north across a wide reservoir towards Ukrainian-controlled territory.
The Russians have had firing positions set up atop some of the plant’s buildings for several months. Nets have been erected in a possible deterrent to drones.
The measures described by two Ukrainians who work at the power plant and two other residents in the city of Enerhodar underline the risks the war poses to the security of the facility.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for their safety in a city under Russian occupation.
Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom said any possible military action by Ukraine posed a threat to nuclear safety, and that the plant’s equipment was being maintained properly. The Ukrainian military intelligence agency and the Russian defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Some nuclear industry experts said they were alarmed and warned that any damage to the plant could have dire consequences for people, the surrounding area, the war and the global nuclear industry.
………………………………… there is concern in the international community that the six-reactor nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, could be caught up in fighting, particularly as military analysts expect Ukraine to try to push Russian forces back in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog says that the military presence and activity is growing in the region, underlining the need for urgent action. It has warned for months of the danger of a major accident at the plant.
The agency plans to present a deal between Russia and Ukraine to the U.N. Security Council later this month to protect the facility, four diplomats told Reuters…………………………………………………………… https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/russian-forces-dig-ukrainian-nuclear-060319771.html
Ukrainian diplomat fears ‘terrible summer’ ahead
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https://www.rt.com/russia/576550-terrible-price-ukraine-counteroffensive/
The country’s troops may have to pay a “terrible price” in a planned counteroffensive, envoy Vadim Pristaiko said
Ukraine could suffer heavy losses during its much-anticipated counteroffensive against Russia, Vadim Pristaiko, Kiev’s ambassador to the UK, warned on Thursday.
In an interview with British broadcaster ITV, the diplomat said: “I know that it can be a very terrible summer and the price is terrible.”
Pristaiko also said Kiev’s Western backers have piled “too much pressure” on Kiev and have built up “too much expectations” about the spring campaign.
When asked to comment on why Ukraine maintains its position on not revealing its losses in the conflict, Pristaiko replied: “internally, we understand how many of us are already killed and lost.”
“We understand that it will be extremely difficult to fight with a nation that is 16 times bigger than us,” the envoy said. “But we are determined to do it and we are not going to tell Russians how painful it is – they know it is painful and we know it is painful”.
The Ukrainian ambassador also acknowledged that while US President Joe Biden and his administration have emerged as one of Kiev’s most staunch supporters, his successor might prove to be less willing to help the country.
“One of the weaknesses of democracy is the cyclical nature, and we have the same… we have to take into account this cycle in politics,” he said.
“We understand that the time might come that we won’t enjoy such great support, that is why we have to put all the pressure right now”, Pristaiko said. “That is why we are asking our friends, can you bring everything to the table? Allow us to have a decisive push this time.”
For several months, Ukraine has been speaking about a counteroffensive against Russia to reclaim territories Kiev considers as its own, but some officials have complained about a lack of ammunition, weapons, and even adverse weather conditions.
Last week, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky stated that his country is basically “ready” for its launch, but “still needs a bit more time” as it waits for more Western weapons.
Last month, The New York Times reported that there are no guarantees that the Ukrainian counteroffensive will succeed, adding that an underwhelming outcome would likely prompt Kiev’s backers to press it to negotiate for peace.
G7 Hiroshima summit fails to deliver progress on nuclear disarmament
The G7 has just released its “G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament”, a joint statement which falls far short of providing any meaningful outcomes for nuclear disarmament. After months of preparation and amid high expectations, the leaders are missing the moment to make the world safer from nuclear weapons, instead of confronting nuclear threats with a concrete, credible plan for nuclear disarmament – like the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons- they are barely even paying lip service to the horrors of Hiroshima, the first city attacked by nuclear weapons.
The statement recalls the unprecedented devastation and extreme and inhumane suffering experienced by the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the atomic bombs were dropped and reconfirms the G7 leaders’ determination to realise a “world without nuclear weapons.” Yet it fails to commit to concrete measures towards that goal and even emphasises the importance of reserving the right to use nuclear weapons. The G7 are trying to sell decades-old and insufficient initiatives as a new “vision”, when at the same time they themselves are complicit in the rising nuclear risks and promoting mass murder of civilians as a legitimate form of national security policy.
ICAN’s Executive Director Daniel Hogsta responded to the statement “This is more than a missed opportunity. With the world facing the acute risk that nuclear weapons could be used for the first time since Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, this is a gross failure of global leadership. Simply pointing fingers at Russia and China is insufficient. We need the G7 countries, which all either possess, host or endorse the use of nuclear weapons, to step up and engage the other nuclear powers in disarmament talks if we are to reach their professed goal of a world without nuclear weapons”
In light of Russia’s unacceptable threats nuclear threats, the G7 leaders failed to offer a progressive and credible response, effectively walking back earlier language by the G20 that clearly condemned all nuclear threats, with equivocations meant to give the nuclear armed states in the group some cover: “ In this context, we reiterate our position that threats by Russia of nuclear weapon use, let alone any use of nuclear weapons by Russia, in the context of its aggression against Ukraine are inadmissible.” This is a step back from acknowledging that all nuclear threats are inadmissible, no matter who they come from.
The statement also refers to the importance of transparency. Again, this is something where some of the G7 states must look at the example they are setting- the UK, for example, decided in 2021 to be less transparent about their arsenal.
Failure to heed the survivors’ call
The statement fails to meaningfully acknowledge the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, and above all, it fails to meet the hibakusha’s demands for real action to eliminate nuclear weapons. Instead of rising to meet the urgency and weight of this moment, the G7’s inaction is an insult to the hibakusha, and the memory of those who died in Hiroshima.
Earlier in the day, the G7 leaders reportedly spent less than 30 min inside the Peace Memorial Museum before placing a wreath at the cenotaph. They also met briefly with atomic bomb survivors, but this statement shows they did not actually listen to what the Hibakusha are asking for. They intend to ignore the risks and the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and to continue to be complicit in the risks they pose.
Satoshi Tanaka, survivor of the atomic bombing and Secretary General of the Liaison Conference of Hiroshima Hibakusha Organisations said: “This is not the genuine nuclear disarmament that Hibakusha are calling for. This is an evasion of their responsibility. Prime Minister Kishida has said that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the final passage for a nuclear weapon-free world. No, it is not a final passage. It is the entry point. PM Kishida and other G7 leaders should accept the TPNW and start the real process of eliminating nuclear weapons.”
Nuclear weapons are illegal under international law.
The next opportunity for the G7 to show that they are serious about addressing the nuclear threat is to participate in the next meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. That’s where the responsible states meet to implement a plan for global disarmament.
$3 BILLION Pentagon ‘accounting error’ means more weapons for Ukraine
What’s a lazy couple of billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars when there’s a war in Eastern Europe to fight? That question was answered Thursday when the Defense Department revealed it can send more weapons to Ukraine without Congress spending approval after the Pentagon overestimated the value of the arms it has already sent Kyiv by some $3 billion.
AP reports the error was caused when officials wrongly used valuation for new equipment, rather than for used equipment drawn from U.S. stocks, to assess the cost of weapons already despatched to the war zone.
The poor accounting methodology has been exposed as the Pentagon faces increased pressure by Congress to show accountability for the billions of dollars it has sent in weapons, ammunition, equipment, and training to Ukraine and as some lawmakers question whether that level of support is sustainable.
In many of the military aid packages, the Pentagon has opted to drain stockpiles of older, existing gear because it can get those items to Ukraine faster. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh addressed the financial mess by saying:
During our regular oversight process of presidential drawdown packages, the Department discovered inconsistencies in equipment valuation for Ukraine.
In some cases, ‘replacement cost’ rather than ‘net book value’ was used, therefore overestimating the value of the equipment drawn down from U.S. stocks.
She added the mistake hasn’t constrained U.S. support to Ukraine or hampered the ability to send aid to the battlefield.
According to the AP report, a defense official said the Pentagon is still trying to determine exactly how much the total surplus will be.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the comptroller has asked the military services to review all previous Ukraine aid packages using the proper cost figures.
The result, said the official, will be that the department will have more available funding authority to use as the Ukraine offensive nears.
The aid surplus was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
To date the U.S. has provided Ukraine nearly $37 billion in military aid since Russia invaded in February 2022.
The rush of U.S. weapons to Ukraine has already sparked a warning that domestic military stockpiles have been pushed to “dangerously low levels” not seen for decades. https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/05/19/oops-3-billion-pentagon-accounting-error-means-more-arms-for-ukraine/
At Hiroshima, Leaders Should Choose to End All Nuclear Threats
In January 2023, Biden and Kishida made a joint statement “We state unequivocally that any use of a nuclear weapon by Russia in Ukraine would be an act of hostility against humanity and unjustifiable in any way.”
The caveat that such a judgment applies only to Russia in Ukraine is stunning.
Facing Russia’s nuclear threats, the U.S. and its allies must not whitewash their own
Scientific American By Zia Mian, Daryl G. Kimball on May 17, 2023
At a meeting of the G7 nations this week in Hiroshima, the first city destroyed by the bomb, President Joe Biden and other leaders have a chance to begin addressing the long-standing problem of states threatening to use nuclear weapons. Russia’s nuclear threats of the past year in support of its invasion of Ukraine have flashed for all to see a core purpose of nuclear arsenals: coercion and intimidation. At this historic gathering, Biden and his counterparts need to act on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s proposal that the G7 “demonstrate a firm commitment to absolutely reject the threat or use of nuclear weapons.”
To do so, the U.S. and its allies must acknowledge that any and all threats to use nuclear weapons, not just Russia’s, are unacceptable.
It is well known Hiroshima was destroyed without warning on August 6, 1945 by the U.S. Less familiar is that this devastation was followed that day by the first threat to use nuclear weapons. President Harry Truman threatened Japan “If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the likes of which has never been seen on this earth.” Another threat came on August 9 when a second atomic bomb had destroyed Nagasaki; Truman announced “We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan’s power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us.”
All G7 states (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.) have condemned President Putin’s February, April and September 2022 threats of Russian nuclear weapons use. But like Russia those states themselves have chosen military strategies that depend on threats of nuclear weapon use.
A statement from the G7 nuclear nonproliferation directors group, issued April 17, predictably asserts that, unlike Russia, their nations’ security policies “are based on the understanding that nuclear weapons, for as long as they exist, should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war and coercion.” Just as predictably, Russian officials claim Putin’s comments are simply a deterrent against direct U.S. or NATO military intervention in Ukraine.
Regardless of intent, the underlying nuclear logic is the same, however. It was described by defense intellectual Daniel Ellsberg in a famous 1959 lecture “The Theory and Practice of Blackmail.” Ellsberg observed:
“Nuclear weapons have one preeminent use in politics: to support threats. These threats recommend themselves, almost inescapably, as tools of policy not only to expansionist powers but to status quo nations.” He expounded: “Call it blackmail, call it deterrence, call both … coercion: the art of influencing the behavior of others by threats. The key here of course is that with nuclear weapons we are dealing with threats of force.”
…………………………………………….. In 2017, backed by NGOs, a group of 122 nations at the U.N. agreed to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Among its binding obligations is “never under any circumstances to … use or threaten to use nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” There are almost 100 signatories to the treaty so far. No nuclear-armed state has signed.
…………………….. In June 2022, at their first meeting, TPNW states declared that “any use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is a violation of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations,” and condemned “unequivocally any and all nuclear threats, whether they be explicit or implicit and irrespective of the circumstances.”
The scale of destruction implied by threats to use nuclear weapons is beyond any moral measure.
In January 2023, Biden and Kishida made a joint statement “We state unequivocally that any use of a nuclear weapon by Russia in Ukraine would be an act of hostility against humanity and unjustifiable in any way.”
The caveat that such a judgment applies only to Russia in Ukraine is stunning.
If we are to avert catastrophe, the nuclear use policies of the United States and the other nuclear-armed states need to acknowledge that any and all threats to use nuclear weapons need to be treated alike. G7 leaders should look to a statement organized by the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction, endorsed by more than 1,000 scientists, which states that “any threat to use nuclear weapons, at any time and under any circumstances, is extremely dangerous and totally unacceptable.” It goes on to “call on all people and governments everywhere to clearly condemn all nuclear threats, explicit or implicit, and any use of such weapons.”
As a first step, President Biden, along with the other G7 leaders, all of whose countries either have nuclear weapons or rely on U.S. nuclear weapons being used on their behalf, should declare that the U.S. and its allies will act as they demand others do, and will accept being judged by the same standards they apply to others. They must accept, without any self-serving caveat, that any use of a nuclear weapon, by any state, under any circumstances, would be “an act of hostility against humanity and unjustifiable in any way.”
If G7 leaders choose, the Hiroshima summit can mark their turning away from seeking to justify their own nuclear threats as acceptable tools of policy. It is time for a human-centered standard for judging nuclear threats, one that holds regardless of those making the threats, their targets or the political goal. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/at-hiroshima-leaders-should-choose-to-end-all-nuclear-threats/
Depleted uranium won’t end a war that has no winners
It is clear the great powers have no end in sight for the war: toxic munitions that will last even longer than the conflict are the last thing the territory needs, writes TOMASZ PIERSCIONEK
Morning Star, 16 May 23,
THE war in Ukraine is the most devastating conflict in Europe since World War II. As in most conflicts, and in the years leading up to the war, truth became the first causality.
The Western media simplifies the narrative to Nato good — Russia bad, while ignoring pivotal factors such as Nato’s eastward march towards Russia and the US-backed 2014 coup, which in turn set the scene for the war that unfolded in Feb 2022.
Non-mainstream media or independent bloggers who try to peer over the media iron curtain and question Nato talking points face being defamed as pro-Kremlin stooges.
Is the West scared of its citizens thinking independently or fearful that such “wrong think” might outshine pro-Nato propaganda? Do Europe’s citizens need “protection” from the risk of being exposed to unsanctioned thinking lest they draw different conclusions to the official narrative?
A year into the conflict and amidst the dreadful loss of life on all sides, it looks like war between Russia and Ukraine is really a conflict between Nato and Russia, in which the former seeks to challenge the emergence of a new Eurasian-centric capitalist bloc. Remember too that Russia is China’s ally and a defeat of the former would leave the latter in a more vulnerable position vis a vis Nato expansion.
It is clear too that (most of) the nations comprising the EU and Nato are willing to pull out all stops to defeat or greatly weaken Russia, regardless of the human costs to Ukraine, and have already handed over billions of dollars in military aid alongside vast quantities of weapons from their own arsenals. Britain provided £2.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine in 2022 whilst the US has given at least $46.6bn in military aid since the war began.
For the US, at least, this is a perfect war in which it can fight a key geopolitical opponent without getting its hands dirty and having to explain an influx of body bags to the US public like in Iraq and Afghanistan.
n the EU’s case however, reality hits a little close to home — despite its massive support for Ukraine and the 10 rounds of sanctions placed upon Russia, they have failed to bring the country to its knees in economic or military terms (as repeatedly promised), nor have they “inspired” the Russian people to overthrow their rulers. Instead, the anti-Russian sanctions seem to have caused a fair amount of self-harm to the EU whilst Russia is well on the way to finding new markets for its exports.
Hypocritically, despite singing from the pro-Ukraine hymn book, the EU continues to import billions of dollars worth of goods from Russia — $195.56 billion during 2022 and the greatest amount since 2014. Furthermore, despite the EU banning Russian crude oil imports, it purchases oil products from India (eg diesel and jet fuel) that have been refined from Russian crude oil. As Russia is now selling more crude oil to India and India in turn is selling more refined oil to Europe, this is a win-win situation for these two Brics nations.
n an unwise and unneeded escalation to the war in Ukraine, the British government announced in late April 2023 that it had sent Challenger 2 tank shells tipped with depleted uranium (DU) to Ukrainian forces. Such a move is a provocative and dangerous escalation that risks precipitating a regional or global war in which there will be no winner.
It is worth pointing out that at the end of March 2023, James Heappey, British Minister of State for the Armed Forces, responded to a parliamentary question about whether Russia had used DU munitions in Ukraine with the answer: “The Ministry of Defence is unaware of any credible open-source reports of Russia using depleted uranium in Ukraine.”
DU is a by-product of a process whereby uranium is enriched to make nuclear fuel. It remains radioactive, albeit 40 per cent less so than raw uranium. On account of its high density, DU is used to increase the power of armour-piercing munitions and has previously been used by US/Nato forces in several conflicts — the 1991 first Gulf war, Bosnia, the 2003 Iraq invasion, and against Isis forces in Syria in 2015…………………………………..
The Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks formed by the European Commission produced a report in 2010 which noted that “in combat zones, vehicles hit by DU should be made inaccessible to the general public and be properly disposed of. Used DU ammunition should also be collected and disposed of.”
This concurs with advice published by the US Air Force in 1975 which stated that DU ought to only be used against armoured vehicles. However, in Iraq, DU munitions reportedly were not only used against human combatants but also fired in or near to urban areas.
Consequently, hundreds of sites in Iraq were contaminated with DU. Similar consequences are possible in the case of Ukraine: funding a clean-up operation once the war ends is unlikely to be a top priority.
The US Environmental Protection Agency notes that with regards to DU “exposure to the outside of the body is not considered a serious hazard. However, if DU is ingested or inhaled, it is a serious health hazard.”
The risk that DU finds its way into the food chain ought not to be dismissed, alongside the long-term detrimental effects on the ecosystem.
Furthermore, introducing DU (radioactive) munitions into a high-stakes war such as the one in Ukraine breaks a certain psychological barrier whereby the risk of further escalation increases as we take another step down an ever-shortening and dangerous path that ends with the use of conventional uranium weapons — nukes.
Continuing to arm Ukraine so that it can fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian on behalf of Nato (and perhaps after that using Poles to do the job) sets the scene for the conflict to become a regional war or worse.
Realistically, the war is not going the way Nato hoped and promised. The Russian economy has not collapsed, Russia has not run out of missiles, the Russian people have not overthrown their government, and the majority of the world has not turned its back on Russia, which is in the process of securing new trading partners and even sympathisers to offset the effects of any Western sanctions.
The conflict has also shown that the world (including major players such as China, India, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia) is not united behind the West. Indeed, 19 more countries are now seeking to join the Brics group of emerging economies. It would be easy, even convenient, for the US to pull back on funding Ukraine should the upcoming Ukrainian offensive not deliver the promised gains.
After all, 2024 is an election year, a greater number of US politicians are becoming uneasy at Biden’s blank cheque to Ukraine, and frankly sending billions to fund a war abroad rather than investing the money at home is not exactly a vote winner.
It would be tempting for the US to say “mission accomplished” and make the war in Ukraine Europe’s problem, leaving the EU to sort out the mess and come to a disadvantageous settlement with Russia.
It is critical that the anti-war movement, the trade union movement, and more broadly the left work with peace movements within Ukraine, Russia and beyond to call for a swift and just settlement to the war, in which the grievances of all sides are acknowledged.
Concurrently we must condemn rhetoric or action by any world leader that seeks to prolong the war in Ukraine whilst the people of Russia, Ukraine and Europe bear the human and economic cost of the conflict.
We need to be wary too, of forces both within Nato and beyond that are seeking to prolong the conflict in Ukraine for ideological reasons, due to the lucrative nature of war (not least for the arms industry), or for personal ambition. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/introducing-depleted-uranium-ukraine-conflict-needless-escalation-war-has-no-winners
UK and Netherlands agree ‘international coalition’ to help Ukraine procure F-16 jets
Guardian 17 May 23
Rishi Sunak and Mark Rutte announced plans a day after Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv could soon receive fighter jets
Prime minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch leader Mark Rutte have agreed to build an “international coalition” to help procure F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, the British government has announced.
A Downing Street spokesperson said Sunak and Rutte “would work to build an international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F-16 jets”.
“The prime minister reiterated his belief that Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato and the leaders agreed on the importance of allies providing long-term security assistance to Ukraine to guarantee they can deter against future attacks.
“The leaders agreed to continue working together both bilaterally and through forums such as the European Political Community to tackle the scourge of people trafficking on our continent.”
The statement on Tuesday came a day after Ukraine’s president hinted that Kyiv could soon receive F-16 fighter jets, saying he was hopeful of “very important” decisions on the subject with the help of the UK……………………………
At the meeting, Britain also promised to supply “hundreds of attack drones”.
The UK said in February that it would begin training Ukrainian pilots in standard Nato techniques, and No 10 repeated that on Monday, saying the plan was to help “build a new Ukrainian air force with Nato-standard F-16 jets”.
Britain does not use F-16s, which are made by the US defence firm Lockheed Martin in South Carolina…………
Both countries will have to persuade the US if Ukraine is to receive F-16s. Asked later on Monday if the US had changed its position on supplying the jets to Ukraine, John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House’s national security council, gave a one-word reply: “No.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/16/uk-and-netherlands-agree-international-coalition-to-help-ukraine-with-f-16-jets
Zelensky plotted attacks deep inside Russia – Washington Post
https://www.rt.com/russia/576237-zelensky-hungary-russia/ 15 May 23
The Ukrainian leader reportedly wanted to “occupy” Russian cities to gain leverage over Moscow
Despite public assurance that he would limit military action to his own country’s 1991 borders, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky formed plans to conduct attacks deep inside Russia and suggested that Kiev “destroy” the industry of Hungary, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing leaked Pentagon documents.
Citing US intelligence reports recently published on a gaming server, the Post described how Zelensky suggested at a meeting in January that his troops “conduct strikes in Russia,” while moving across the border to “occupy unspecified Russian border cities” in order to “give Kiev leverage in talks with Moscow.”
Less than two months later, the Ukraine-based Russian Volunteer Corps launched a cross-border raid that left two civilians dead in Russia’s Bryansk Region. A member of the group told Western media that Kiev had approved the attack, and further assaults have taken place since.
With Ukraine’s Western backers reluctant until recently to provide him with long-range missiles for fear he would use them against targets within Russia, Zelensky suggested to his top military commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, that he use drones to “attack unspecified deployment locations in Rostov” in February, the Post reported.
Prior to and after the alleged meeting, Ukrainian forces used drones to attack infrastructure in Rostov Region, which borders the formerly Ukrainian territory of Lugansk.
In a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svridenko in February, Zelensky reportedly suggested that Ukraine “blow up” the Druzhba oil pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Hungary. According to the US report cited by the Post, Zelensky suggested that “Ukraine should just blow up the pipeline and destroy…Hungarian [Prime Minister] Viktor Orban’s industry, which is based heavily on Russian oil.”
American spies listening to his meeting with Svridenko concluded that Zelensky was issuing “hyperbolic, meaningless threats.” Nevertheless, the Druzhba pipeline has come under attack on several occasions since the meeting, most recently when it was hit by drone-dropped explosives on Wednesday.
The Post’s article corroborates a CNN report last month claiming that US spies have been intercepting Zelensky’s communications.
Contacted by the newspaper, Zelensky dismissed the incidents described in the report as “fantasies,” and claimed that “no one in our country has given orders for offensives or strikes on Russian territory.”
Contacted by the newspaper, Zelensky dismissed the incidents described in the report as “fantasies,” and claimed that “no one in our country has given orders for offensives or strikes on Russian territory.”
Britain leads the way in escalating the Ukraine war with long range missiles
Robert Stevens10 May 2023 WSWS UK deepens warmongering in Ukraine with plans to supply long-range missiles
The UK is again leading the way in a massive further escalation of the NATO war against Russia.
On Monday, the Washington Post reported that the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) had issued a call to weapons manufacturers, on behalf of the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), to supply missiles capable of striking Russian-annexed Crimea or cities deep inside Russia’s borders. Over £300 million in funding has been made available through donations from the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, plus Iceland and Lithuania.
The MoD’s notice referred to “Missiles or Rockets with a range 100-300km; land, sea or air launch” and “Payload 20-490kg”. Listed as “Desirable requirements” were: “Low Probability of Intercept (LPI); includes Mission Planning Capability; Assured navigation (with hardened Global Navigation Satellite System capability) in the face of advanced countermeasures and EM spectrum denial; Air defence penetration methods to increase probability of successful strike; Technical Readiness Level of at least 8”.
This fits the profile of the UK’s own Storm Shadow missile which has a range of in excess of 250km. Costing £2.2 million apiece, the weapon is manufactured by the UK/French/Italian arms group MBDA for the British and French armed forces. According to the Forceswebsite, the Storm Shadow was “developed primarily for stealth strikes,” is “capable of engaging the targets precisely in any weather conditions during day and night” and boasts “long-range low attitude paths combined with subsonic speed.”…………….
The Guardian reported Wednesday, “A British official, speaking anonymously, said the tender requirements were ‘rather consistent’ with the Storm Shadow.” An MoD spokesperson said that a final decision to supply Ukraine with long-range Ukraine would rest with the main five countries in the IFU.
This was just for public consumption. Everyone knows that it is Britain, acting in tandem with the United States, that will decide what gets sent. This was made clear by the statements cited in the Washington Post made by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in February in his speech to the Munich Security Conference:…………
Sunak added definitively, “The United Kingdom will be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer range weapons.”
His pledge was all but confirmed this week by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, in Washington to hold talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Atlantic Council think tank “on the United Kingdom’s role in an increasingly adversarial world.”……….
Cleverly commented, “Air defense missile systems became increasingly important over time, and in the next stage we’ll see another evolution of the support.”
Britain’s role as chief provocateur in the lead up to and during NATO’s war against Russia is a matter of record. It has also led the way in ensuring ever-more lethal military hardware has been flooded into Ukraine, with the resulting mass loss of life, both Ukrainian and Russian, not even an afterthought.
Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, told Reuters, “We would welcome it if the UK takes on a leadership role with the long-range missiles, in the same way they did with the Challenger 2 main battle tanks.”
Politico responded to the MoD’s announcement with a piece declaring, “The Biden administration has no plans to follow Britain’s lead in sending long-range missiles to Ukraine—with some officials saying the U.S. is now off the hook thanks to the U.K.’s planned delivery.”
……………………………………….. At every stage in the conflict, NATO has escalated the conflict with the supply of weaponry that US President Joe Biden himself and NATO officials had previously unconditionally ruled out. The Guardian noted, “Britain is unlikely to want to go ahead without US support, and getting to this point may have required diplomatic wrangling.”…………………………………………….. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/05/10/dvvj-m10.html
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PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
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