The idea of a world war should not be relegated to science fiction. Western escalations in Ukraine could lead to conflict with a nuclear power.
"Constant escalation can lead to serious consequences. If these serious consequences occur in Europe, how will the United States behave, bearing in mind our parity in the field of strategic weapons? It's hard to say - do they want a global conflict?”
Vladimir Putin
Joe Biden is a very dangerous man indeed. In his many years of public service, first in the United States Senate then as Vice President, and now President, he was never thought of as being very smart. He was always a doctrinaire cold warrior wedded to the idea that the United States must have “primacy,” that is to say, dominate the whole world. He is a racist and a mediocrity who rose to the presidency by reassuring the ruling class that he would be forever loyal to their interests.
Having said that, perhaps he differs from other presidents and the rest of the political class only in his hapless manner, and his obvious cognitive impairments. Thirty years of an effort to as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, “weaken Russia” has now come down to the runt of the presidential litter. Recent escalations in the Ukraine proxy war show a very dangerous trajectory that is getting far too little attention.
All of Biden’s white house predecessors have tried various means to subjugate the Russian Federation to the will of western nations. Bill Clinton relentlessly expanded NATO into eastern Europe, surrounding Russia with once friendly states that were turned into enemies. George W. Bush first publicly stated an intention to include Ukraine in NATO, knowing full well that such an action was a “red line” for Russia. Next was Barack Obama, who worked with Ukraine’s right wing forces to actually overthrow the government of an elected Ukrainian president and make war on its Russian speaking region of Donbass. When Donbass resisted he and European leaders negotiated the Minsk Agreements which were supposed to provide regional autonomy and bring peace.
But Obama and the Europeans saw what should have been an effort to cooperate and resolve differences as a stalling tactic to arm Ukraine. They had no intention of abiding by what they had agreed to do. Trump differed from the others only in wanting Ukraine to pay its own way. If nothing else he was serious about his America first rhetoric, and saw no reason for the United States to spend money. Despite claims of being aligned with Russia, and his own mishandling of contacts with Ukraine, Trump eventually decided to arm that nation, which even his predecessors wouldn’t do.
Then Joe Biden came to the presidency with a team of revolving door Obama administration holdovers including Antony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, and Jake Sullivan. They are all hard line neocons determined to sever any connections between Russia and western Europe. They did that quite literally when the Nord Stream pipeline, which provided Europe with an inexpensive and reliable source of natural gas, suddenly exploded in 2022 after Biden publicly said, “We will stop it,” and Nuland told a Senate hearing that she was glad Nord Stream was a “hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.”
Now the proxy war which makes Ukraine a hostage of cold war politics is moving in Russia’s direction. Ukraine lacks men, so much so that they are being dragged off the street and press ganged into service. It also cannot compete with Russia’s ability to manufacture armaments. The end result is a quagmire at best and a defeat at worst.
The desperation shown by the U.S. and its allies are an indication that the tide is not going in their direction. Victoria Nuland, recently retired from the State Department, is suddenly making public statements about bases within Russia being “fair game” for Ukraine. She may be unofficially part of the administration, but her words are an indicator of where Washington stands. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, is making the same kinds of noises proclaiming, “...to deny Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very hard for them to defend themselves.” Publicly the Biden team are saying little but it is unlikely that Nuland and NATO are speaking without Washington’s knowledge and approval.
Project Ukraine has failed. Sanctions didn’t “turn the ruble to rubble.” Thousands of young Ukrainian men are dead. Scuttling the 2022 peace talks allowed Russia to take possession of nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory. Vladimir Putin continues to state that he is willing to talk, but now he isn’t willing to give up territory, something he did consider in the early days of the conflict.
Now we have amateurs in Washington and Europe threatening escalation against another nuclear power. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron was among those threatening to strike inside Russia and the Russian foreign ministry reminded him that Russia could strike back. "(Ambassador) Casey was warned that in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with British weapons, any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and abroad…” could be targeted.
Russia went further than issuing warnings when it conducted nuclear drills near the Ukrainian border announcing that they were in response to “...provocative statements and threats of certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation.”
The response cannot be dismissed as mere tit for tat. Article 5 of the NATO treaty makes clear that an attack on one member is considered to be an attack on all members who then have a responsibility to act. A high ranking former U.S. official, the NATO General Secretary, and the UK Foreign Secretary are making very ominous statements that can clearly lead to escalation between Russia and the collective west.
This war of words has gone unnoticed in corporate media that act like scribes for the state. The members of congress who act in concert to support imperialist adventures also say nothing, including “progressives” who claim to be anti-war. It is left to observers like this columnist to connect these dots which are going unnoticed.
Israel’s war crimes and genocide in Gaza receive the lion’s share of media and public attention. Yet congress recently joined together in all of their bipartisan glory to hand another $61 billion to the military industrial complex to wage a losing war in Ukraine. Democrats and republicans thanked one another profusely and republicans who had been expressing skepticism about the endless war got their minds right when ruling class interests told them what to do. The end result was Donald Trump and the progressive squad being on the same page.
But back slapping in Washington may not be the end result. Desperate people who, as the saying goes, get high on their own supply, pose a threat to the whole world as they insist their failed fantasy will become a reality if they just escalate enough. They still believe that they can suddenly do what they have failed to do in the last two years and subdue Russia or bring about regime change or gain a military victory. Fantasy foreign policy is quite dangerous.
It deserves just as much public attention in Ukraine as it does in Gaza. The two crises are related, as the U.S. insists that it can and should control nations and events all over the world, even when facts prove otherwise. But members of congress visit the site of Trump’s criminal trial, and try to outdo one another in being subservient to Israel, and rig the presidential debates to make sure no one else is heard. In the meantime very few people know that so-called leaders are taking actions that could lead to armageddon.
While Trump is demonized as a fascist who cannot be permitted near the white house again, the current occupant is also a fascist who is rarely called upon to explain his dangerous policies. The term World War III is generally used as a plot device in movies, but imperialists committed to continued violence and folly could make it a reality. A presidential election will be held in five months but it doesn’t seem that the risk the U.S. poses to all life on earth is a subject of much interest. It would be if the public were aware of the dangers planned in their name. Of course, that is why they aren’t told. The political class wants to act without interference from the people who don’t realize the democracy they are told to vote to uphold is just a sham meant to keep them quiet.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at [email protected].
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