Update for Ukraine No. 6
Paul Craig Roberts
A few remarks before taking the day off. Nonsense reports keep appearing in the media. The New York Times reports: "In less than a week, the United States and NATO pushed over 17,000 anti-tank weapons, including Javelin missiles, across the borders of Poland and Romania." Https://www.nytimes.com/2022 / 03/06 / us / politics / us-ukraine-weapons.html
Blinken gives Poland a "green light" to send fighters to Ukraine, reports the Epock Times: https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-gives-poland-green-light-to-send-fighter-jets-to-ukraine- secretary -stanu_4320874.html? utm_source = News & utm_campaign = breaking-2022-03-07-1 & utm_medium = email & est = YGc0ZhWBFdC307vHxiOBdvpcopM4Id0bNjlJjcn9b8LAXA4F2% 3Djm3A%
The figure of 17,000 seems fantastic. It is much larger than the entirety of the Russian armored forces, reportedly 12,400, few of which are in Ukraine. While the weapon could get to Ukraine from Poland and Romania, which border the western part of Ukraine, how would it end up in the surrounding Ukrainian forces? Moreover, since Poland and Romania are already on the list of potential targets for Russia, because these countries have US missile bases, why would Poland and Romania want to cross the red line by engaging in conflict?
Blinken's "gift" for Poland of green light to send jet fighters to Ukraine does not make sense, since the Polish president has already said that Poland will not do something like that. This is not a NATO conflict, said the Polish president, and Poland is not getting involved.
The US government is trying to bribe the Polish president by telling him that if he sends old Soviet MiG fighters to Ukraine, which Poland is retiring, Washington will send Poland F-16s as a replacement. There are no airports to which the retired Polish MiGs could be sent, and the plane would not be effective against the new Russian planes. If Ukrainians were to operate from Polish airports, the Kremlin made it clear that these airports would be destroyed. As a demonstration, high-precision weapons were used to destroy Vinnitsa airport, which may be a launch site, in western Ukraine, where Russian forces are not operational.
Note also that Blinken, shedding crocodile tears over Ukraine, is doing everything in his power to widen the conflict.
Washington's efforts to widen the conflict illustrate the danger in the Kremlin's quest to wage war while minimizing civilian casualties. The delay gives Washington more time to stage the mischief. Since Ukrainian neo-Nazi militias exploited the Kremlin's noble goal by hiding among the civilian population, the Kremlin's noble goal is delaying the goal and maximizing Russians' losses, as Chechnya's leader and Putin's ally Ramzan Kadyrov stressed.
Entering into trouble where saving Ukrainian civilians means maximizing the loss of Russian soldiers' lives, the Kremlin has been forced to assume the position of supplicant promising to end the offensive "in the blink of an eye, if Kyiv meets the conditions." Zelenskiy is Washington's puppet, and Washington intends to extend the conflict in which the Kremlin's noble policy has imprisoned Russia. Once again, the Kremlin is wasting time negotiating.
It's a shame. A quick, decisive, and even brutal victory, after which the Kremlin dictates rather than negotiates the terms of Ukraine's independence, would convince Eastern Europe, and most likely Western Europe as well, that it is a disastrous policy to allow Washington to provoke Russia. It is even possible that NATO would collapse once members realized that NATO membership posed a threat, not security. As Washington's constant provocations will eventually cross the red line and result in a nuclear war, it is very unfortunate that the Kremlin has chosen such limited targets.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/03/07/ukraine-update-6/
