A new and particularly serious and dangerous step in the escalation of the war in Ukraine is the “green light” given by the US, Britain and France for the use of their missiles by Ukrainian forces on targets inside Russian territory. This is a step that comes in addition to what has gone οn before on both sides: On the one hand, for example, the delivery of hundreds of tanks and aircrafts to Kiev, the training of its army by special “advisors” and its constant guidance by Western-NATO satellites and, on the other hand, the Russians’ systematic destruction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter, the supply of thousands of drones and shells from Iran, but also the transfer of thousands of North Korean soldiers to the front line, in the Kursk region.
The first of the American and British missiles have already been launched against Russian targets, thus giving Moscow the impetus to intensify its own attacks and, to instantaneously reaffirm NATO as its main opponent. Nuclear weapons are once again in the spotlight, with Putin formally announcing his country’s revised nuclear “doctrine” last Tuesday, which facilitates their use and, therefore, its likelihood- something underlined by the use of missiles with a thousands-of-kilometers range and capable of carrying nuclear warheads for the first time.
It is noteworthy that the decision to allow the US missiles was originally made by Joe Biden, two months before he handed the presidency over to Donald Trump. A little later, he also allowed Ukraine to be supplied with highly lethal anti-personnel mines, along with a new ammunition “package”. It is thus clear that the US president is trying to create a “ fait accompli ”for his successor in view of now very possible negotiations. This does not of course ascertain things, but history shows that the sharp escalation of a conflict is often the harbinger of negotiations at the diplomatic table.
Regardless of this, and as one thousand days have passed since the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022, one thing is for certain: This war has turned the land and people of Ukraine into a “cheap shooting range”, already soaked in the blood of hundreds of thousands of people and constitutes the field in which a rehearsal of a generalized global conflict takes place. In addition, it can be no coincidence that happened simultaneously with the “leak” of the plan drawn by the German army, and in cooperation with NATO, on what would happen should the Third World War breaks out, as well as with the instructions to households in Scandinavia to stockpile supplies for the first 72 hours in case of war.
It is this background and the flaring up of the antagonisms that fuel this war that deny us the right to complacency and apathy, even with the signing of a war-ending treaty over the coming months.
