2024-09-13
Friday 13th may not be the most auspicious time to declare war on Russia, but NATO seems to think that war is what NATO is there for. What was once sold to the public as a purely defensive alliance will shortly likely morph into an offensive grouping, just as soon as Messrs Lammy and Blinken can put the appropriate words together into a formal statement.
" ... long-range arms for Kyiv would mean 'NATO countries at war with Russia'
Don't take my word for it, take Mr Putin's.
Of course, if the Russian president really is a demented madman bent on world domination (and it is true that he was once one of Klaus Schwab's "young global leaders") then assisting the Ukraine defend itself from an entirely unprovoked attack might make sense (although we've been "assisting" for so long now to apparently little effect that one must call into question whether our assistance has been of value).
Like the NHS however, the Ukraine conflict has become another quasi-religious dogma of the UK-US government-media machine, an unassailable dogma that must be prosecuted to the nth degree regardless of reality and cost no matter the consequences.
Nor does history show that Mr Putin's "special military operation" was unprovoked - it came after a US-inspired Maidan revolution of 2014 that displaced the properly elected President, and was followed by many years of Kiev shelling the ethic-Russian Donbass in Ukraine's east, causing indiscriminate casualties.
Shelling that was not brought to an end by the subsequent Minsk Agreements.
So if we do permit Zelenskyy to bombard Moscow with Storm Shadow or other ordnance provided by us, how long do we think the UK will retain its bucolic tranquillity, untroubled by the arrival of Russian retaliation?
The truth is that NATO has been comprehensively outclassed by Russian measures to ensure that they at least will be able to defend both themselves and their territory, including Kursk, the Crimea, and the Donbass - NATO would be wise to review its stance and refrain from acting impulsively.
That on current form seems unlikely.
