Since crossing the previous red lines have gone so well for NATO, the USA, and Europe over the last two years, Clown World has now decided to further antagonize both Russia and China. It’s certainly a bold move, anyhow. It’s not a smart one and it smacks of desperation. We’ll see how it works out for them…
ATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine has a right to use its Western-supplied weapons to defend itself against Russia, even if that includes striking targets within Russia’s borders.
“This is Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, which is a blatant violation of international law,” Stoltenberg told Radio Liberty during an interview on Tuesday. “And according to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defense. And it also includes strikes against legitimate military targets, Russian military targets outside of Ukraine. That’s international law, and of course, Ukraine has the right to do that to defend itself.”
A NATO official confirmed with Financial Times on Thursday that Stoltenberg meant that Kyiv’s right to self-defense included striking Russian military targets outside of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned against Ukraine using its Western-supplied equipment to launch attacks on Russian territory, saying that doing so could risk escalating the conflict. The warnings had originally made allies like the United States hold off on supplying Kyiv with long-range weapons capable of reaching Russia, but NATO allies have since given Ukraine such arms.
First, there is no “international law” and there never has been. It’s just a rhetorical phrase that is always applied to the enemies of Clown World and always ignored whenever it’s applied to the servants of Clown World.
Second, reality is reciprocal. Ukraine does have the right to defend itself. Ukraine does have the right to strike Russian military targets outside of Ukraine. But Russia has the right to defend itself too, and to defend itself by striking NATO military targets outside of Russia and Ukraine.
As we’ve repeatedly been shown since 2014, Russia is very, very patient and circumspect. It has no reason to strike back at NATO right away, because time, migration patterns, and economic pressure are on its side. This F-16 insanity is just a desperate attempt to bait Russia into giving the neoclowns in Washington an excuse to escalate from a losing proxy war to an all-out direct war that will permit it to declare martial law, mobilize the economy, and reinstitute the draft before China makes its move on Taiwan.
I doubt Putin and his generals will take the bait. Instead, they’ll just shoot down the F-16s and increase the pressure on Clown World in two or more fronts, beginning with Odessa.
Putin is reportedly on the brink of a new land grab to defy the West by possibly announcing soon that Russia is taking control of a breakaway Moldovan region. There is speculation that unofficial state Transnistria is poised to make an appeal to Putin to join Russia. The landlocked strip along the Dniester River is wedged between Moldova and Ukraine. Putin already has a ‘peacekeeping’ force of up to 2,000 troops in the territory which Russia says overwhelmingly wishes to be incorporated by Moscow. There are also likely thousands of Russian paramilitaries on the ground. A fear is Putin will use a speech at the Russian Federal Assembly on February 29 to green light annexation.
Hey, the USA is always supportive of democratic self-determination, right. But don’t be surprised if a new front is opened somewhere in Asia as well.
The European Union has placed tighter trade restrictions on Chinese companies that it claims are supporting Russia, the European Council said in a press release on Friday. The restrictions are part of a 13th round of sanctions imposed on Friday, a day before the second anniversary of Russia’s military operation against Ukraine.
But no worries. We are assured that in the event of war with China, Ukraine stands with the USA, and “Ukraine ready for war with China if US asks.” So the neoclowns have got that going for them, anyway, which is nice.
