Words For The Wise

...or just listening

With a resume that includes work in Military Intelligence, occasional guest scribber, Brad Smith, has some obervations on the latest turn of events in Russia v. Ukraine/USA/NATO that somehow missed being reported on your Evening News.

BW

In case you missed the news, Russia updated its Nuclear Strike Policy. They now state that if a non-Nuclear power attacks them with missiles or drones with the help of a nuclear power they will reserve the right to use nukes.

This change was approved by their top military leaders and their top government officials. What does it mean? It means that if Russia believes that Ukraine is an existential threat due to the use of our missiles they can, according to their laws, nuke Ukraine or even the US, who they will consider a partner in the war against them.

Our dear leaders would be wise to understand that Putin doesn't bluff. He does still have several options that would allow him to escalate this war further before he drops nukes. But keep this in mind, if none of those options stop the missiles from flying towards his people, he will nuke Ukraine.

The US HOPES he does, yes that's right, we hope he nukes Ukraine. Why? Because the goal of this war has been to give Russia a black eye, if they resort to Nukes it means they will be a permanent Pariah and we will have successfully put a wedge between Russia and Europe.

Will this work? Will we get Russia to Nuke Ukraine? I'd say it's unlikely but far from impossible. They might feel they have nothing to lose at some point.

It would be nice if there were a tiny bit of diplomacy instead of endless brinkmanship. Sadly only Trump seems to want peace, the rest of the warmongers in Washington are willing to allow Ukraine to be destroyed before they back down. The scary part is that it's unlikely to only be Ukraine. Keep that in mind come November.

- Brad Smith