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“War is simply the continuation of political intercourse with the addition of other means. We deliberately use the phrase ‘with the addition of other means’ because we also want to make it clear that war in itself does not suspend political intercourse or change it into something entirely different. In essentials that intercourse continues, irrespective of the means it employs. The main lines along which military events progress, and to which they are restricted, are political lines that continue throughout the war into the subsequent peace.” – Carl von Clausewitz
Running towards the US midterm elections is Zelensky carrying a dirty bomb. That’s the story that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has been telling his counterparts in the US, France, Turkey and Great Britain. They believe that Ukraine is about to use a dirty bomb and that this escalation is being facilitated by western powers.
A dirty bomb is a nuclear weapon made from mixing radioactive with conventional explosives. Though referenced in Hollywood movies and by US officials and pundits on the potential dangers of terrorists, there is no example of a dirty bomb ever being blown up. However there have been dirty bombs made by terrorists, a couple found and diffused. The technology and nuclear material is undoubtedly available to the Ukrainian government.
Shoigu isn’t the only Russian official calling for concern. This has been echoed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who said, “We have information regarding Ukrainian scientific institutes having technologies which allow them to make a ‘dirty bomb’.”
The foreign ministers of the US, the UK and France put out a joint statement which said in part, “we all reject Russia’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory.”
Zelensky has responded by accusing Russia of planning such an attack itself to blame on Ukraine. Claiming Russia of being “the source of everything dirty that can be imagined in this war”.
Despite these public rebukes of Russia’s message, Russia has responded with more attempts to talk. Top foreign and military officials within Russia continue calls to their counterparts in other countries. They are also having meetings in the UN. The level of diplomacy that Russia is showing right now indicates that they consider this a very grave and serious situation. The official statements by the west, on the other hand, seem to share nothing but scorn and a flippant reaction. This seems extraordinarily dangerous.
I’m outraged by the failure of the US leadership at diplomacy. Flippant three paragraph statements to international concerns of dirty bombs show no responsible or serious people leading the US Ukraine foreign policy. If anything it gives the worrisome appearance that the accusations aren’t false at all. That the west, called out on their treachery in support of a Ukrainian dirty bomb, is still wishing to pursue such a false flag operation.
Zelensky’s response, flipping the tables on Russia, saying that Russia is accusing Ukraine only to cover for themselves when Russia uses the dirty bomb in Ukraine so they can then blame Ukraine for doing it, certainly muddled the issue. As strange as this sounds to me, for many people I know, this thin sauce regurgitated across all media platforms would convince them. It takes no evidence to convince the Russophobic US of anything bad regarding Russia or Putin.
The problem is, if a dirty bomb does go off, and Russia is blamed, the US will use this to escalate in a big way. My bet is that Russia is right now telling the US that such an escalation will end up being a direct war. This is not something Russia wants. The US Plutocracy, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to care.
What I have come to believe, after listening to the think tanks of the war mongering US plutocracy, is that these folks aren’t just morally wrong, they’re fundamentally and factually wrong. I would be much less concerned if I felt that these neocons running our government who are steadfast in escalating to a direct war with Russia, were only morally wrong. The US has been morally wrong in arguably every war. The bigger issue is that they are fundamentally and factually wrong and this means that the results that they think they will get are wrong.
Most people would be shocked by me saying that the US knows that Ukraine can’t win against Russia. Before the war even started the US said that. The fundamentals of the war were too lopsided against Ukraine. Russia had four times the population, ten times the GDP and was the second biggest arms manufacturer in the world with highly trained and seasoned troops. Despite all that has happened, those fundamentals never changed.
The US weapons, money, training and intelligence made it tougher but it has never been enough to turn the tide. Russia has been fighting in Ukraine with only a fraction of it’s forces. It has conserved manpower and equipment while Ukraine’s army has been slowly ground down. Now, Russia has finally decided to come in with the force level to finish the job and complete their objectives. I understand that isn’t the story most hear in the media. I suspect though that the US government does know it.
What I don’t think they know is that the US cannot win against Russia. We can’t follow a dirty bomb, or any other excuse, into a direct conflict with Russia and come out of it stronger. In Russia they certainly understand that they are facing a potentially existential situation in a fight against the US. This is why they wanted NATO out of Ukraine. In the US though, there seems to be no awareness that it would be an existential fight for us as well. That makes us insanely dangerous. The hubris and American exceptionalism has absolutely rotted the brains of the people in charge.
To be fair, some in the US administration and NATO have put limits on their support for Ukraine. But those limits have been weakened even as the military and financial aid to Ukraine has started falling. The crisis that is happening now in NATO is that they either go all in or Ukraine will lose. NATO knows it. Unfortunately, going all in doesn’t mean Ukraine will win, it just means that NATO might lose more.
The question remaining is how should we respond? We the people.
The possibility of a dramatic dirty bomb escalation on the horizon, especially before midterm elections or the end of the year, is high. The US must be stopped from escalating no matter the excuse. This would be a good time for Port Military Resistance to come back, nonviolent direct action to prevent our military supplies and good soldiers being sent to die for this war. We need to contact all our representatives, they need to pay attention or pay a price. Boycott the companies that support the war effort like Musk’s Tesla because of Starlink. We make corporate media pay attention or pay a price as well. Share what you learn with others and build a big movement. We really need to do everything we can.
In my last article I laid out six positions that I am arguing for. These aren’t from a group or party platform. If some group comes up with as good or better I will gladly take their positions.
1. No US weapons or money without a return to negotiations!
2. New nuclear disarmament treaties!
3. End all illegal sanctions!
4. Negotiate a new European Security Agreement with Russia that replaces NATO.
5. Support a multipolar world, international law and diplomacy.
6. Russia and China normalization.
MEDIA WORTH WATCHING & READING
The IAEA inspectors are going to Ukraine to look for dirty bombs. This is a good thing.