Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.
I woke to this disconcerting story from CNN:
President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use powerful long-range US weapons deep inside Russia.
Why now? Biden is a lame duck president, shuffling out the door, and now he decides to allow Ukraine to use American ATACMS missiles, with a range of roughly 190 miles, inside Russia. It’s also expected that these and similar longer-range missiles provided by the French and British will have no decisive impact on the war. They may kill and wound more Russians and inspire responses in kind by Russia against Ukraine, but their use won’t contribute to “victory” for Ukraine. So what’s the point?
My wife put it well when she learned of the decision: “stupid” and “ridiculous” were her words of choice. It’s amazing how well our “experts” feed the obscenity of war.
I take my title from a comment made by President-elect Trump’s nominee for National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, who said we should take the handcuffs off of U.S. missiles in Ukraine, as if those missiles were people being held prisoner.
Whether in the Biden or Trump administrations, the advisers at the top are moral midgets, murderously so. I wonder how they’d feel being targeted by ATACMS. Hey, we just took the handcuffs off, Mr. Waltz. Enjoy your time being bombarded by these liberated missiles.
At the end of September, I noted how Vladimir Putin had redefined Russian nuclear policy to include a possible nuclear response to the use of “tactical” missiles like ATACMS. Here’s what I wrote then:
Vladimir Putin is redefining Russian policy for the use of nuclear weapons. He’s sending a clear warning that Ukraine’s use of U.S. and Franco-British missiles like ATACMS and Storm Shadow deep within Russia could draw a nuclear response. To my knowledge, the U.S. has not yet approved of the use of ATACMS deep within Russia, though Ukraine is pushing for it.
It seems many brain-dead, zombie-like advisers and “experts” insist that Russia is bluffing. They’re willing to bet the health and safety of the world that Russia won’t respond with nuclear weapons. And for what? ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles aren’t war-winning weapons. The Russia-Ukraine War is a slog, an attritional struggle, featuring trenches and artillery and high casualties, a situation akin to World War I. It’s not going to be won by conventional tactical missile strikes.
Yet certain “experts” seemingly want it to escalate to World War III with nukes.
Just about 80 years ago, we humans entered the atomic age at the Trinity test site in July of 1945. We still haven’t come to grips with how the world changed when the first atomic “gadget” exploded in the desert in New Mexico. We had better hurry up and grow up before we all burn.
So, Putin has warned that deep strikes within Russia could draw a nuclear response, and Biden has now approved said strikes just before he leaves the White House. “Stupid” and “ridiculous” are indeed good descriptors here.
The obscenity of war knows no handcuffs in America.
William Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and history professor, is a senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), an organization of critical veteran military and national security professionals. He writes at Bracing Views.
So basically we are all screwed!
The CIA runs Ukraine and Zelensky is their puppet. So Biden has authorized the CIA to use American paid contractors to fire American supplied missiles at targets in Russia targeted by American satellites.
A few years ago, China demonstrated how easily China could eliminate one of our satellites by taking out one of their older satellites.
In an all out war, that is precisely what will happen.
In order to make such a demonstration, they must have been very good at math.
Which means they know that if they want to do a tit-for-tat taking out of satellites, the US will still have 4,500 still operating (as of last year it had 5,184) when China runs completely out (as of last year, it had 628).
So that’s not likely to be a path they would take.
Kessler Syndrome (cascading destruction due to debris) would screw EVERYONE over.
Very likely. Which is why even though the US has a lot more satellites than Russian and China combined, and could destroy all of theirs long before it lost all of its own, that’s unlikely to happen. It’s kind of like Mutual Assured Destruction is with nukes.
Our "leaders" are so smug, not having war on the cities in which they reside, not having neighborhoods shelled into rubble, seeing dead bodies in their streets.
Europe has been there. Experiences the stench of dead bodies, homes reduced to rubble, bombs from the air, soldiers with rifles invading their towns. Twice.
They think (interesting concept, right there) it cannot happen to them.