Moving the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight, exactly 10 closer to a nuclear Armageddon, the Kremlin expressed concern blaming the ominous development on U.S. and NATO encroachment on the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, said the Russian Federation has no current plans of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine but said if the Russian homeland were threatened, all bets are off. President Joe Biden, 80, continues his deadly proxy war against the Kremlin, using Ukrainian troops to wage and existential battle against the Russian Federation. Never before in U.S. history has any U.S. president gone to war against the Russian Federation. Biden joined Ukraine’s war against the Russian Federation for invading its territory Feb. 24, 2022, claiming that Ukraine and the U.S.-NATO threatened Russian national security.
Once Biden decided to start arming Ukraine, Putin objected to a puppet U.S. state on the Russian border. Putin asked Biden to renegotiate new security arrangement since the current U.S. arms flooded into Ukraine threatened Russian national security. Biden ignored Putin’s requests in the months leading up to Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 “special military operation” designed to disarm the Ukrainian state. Biden denies provoking the Kremlin into taking defensive military measures, calling Putin’s invasion a naked imperial land grab. Calling Putin’s invasion an imperial land grab, Biden warned the European Union [EU] and NATO about Putin threatening to rewrite the map in Europe. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky often tells the U.S. and Western allies that Putin seeks to reestablish the old Soviet Union where the Kremlin expanded its territory into Western Europe.
Moving up the Doomsday Clock, the Kremlin expressed concerns about the growing prospects of a nuclear confrontation with Western powers. President Joe Biden talked about nuclear Armageddon Oct. 7, 2022, raising anxiety in the Western Alliance that something dangerous was brewing the longer the Ukraine War went on. Germany and other Western Alliance countries debated for months sending U.S., U.K. and German-made battle tanks to Ukraine. Sending more lethal weapons to Kiev moves the war closer to a wider conflict, where the U.S. and EU countries could be dragged into Ukraine’s battle. Deciding to send German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine escalates the conflict, giving Kiev the means to continue battling the Kremlin. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky promises with the new tanks he’ll drive Russia off Ukrainian sovereign territory.
Before the war started Feb. 24, 2023, Russia had troops in Donetsk, Luhansk in Crimea, all Ukrainian sovereign territory. Putin seized Crimea March 1, 2014 after a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed, pro-Western coup toppled the Kremlin-backed Kiev government of Viktor Yanukovych. Putin annexed Crimea to protect his naval base in Sevastopol. Once Russia annexed Crimea, Russian-speaking separatists in Donetsk and Luhansky battled Kiev forces, killing over 14,000 civilians in the industrialized Donbass regions of Southeastern Ukraine. So when Zelensky says he wants all Russian troops out of Ukraine, he’s setting a new precedent, now that he’s flush with U.S. cash-and-arms. Putin offered to settle the conflict in March if Zelensky recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky refused, going into a full war with U.S. and NATO backing.
Concerns over the Doomsday Clock seems obvious with the U.S. and NATO launching a proxy war against the Kremlin. “The situation as a whole is really alarming,” said Kremlin Spokesman Dimitry Peskov, saying U.S.-NATO relations with Russia have never been worse. Peskov said he sees no sign of détente with the White House and NATO waging proxy war against the Russian Federation. ”This impose on us a duty to be particularly careful, to be alert and to take appropriate measures,” Peskov said, referring to the state of the battlefield. Instead of moving the conflict to the peace table, the U.S. and NATO have escalated the war supplying Kiev with battle tanks to meet Zelensky’s objective of driving Russian troops off Ukrainian soil. Zelensky didn’t hold that view before Putin invaded Feb. 24, 2022. Armed with U.S. and NATO weapons, Zelensky has bigger ambitions.
All U.S. and world citizens should be concerned about the Doomsday clock, realizing that the Ukraine War threatens civilization. Zelensky wants to settle a score with Putin but the world, especially the European Continent, deserves peace and economy stability. Since the war started Feb. 22, 2022, the world has suffered with runaway inflation, creating market volatility around the globe. Zelensky has had a blank check from Biden but it can’t last forever. Giving Kiev battle tanks promises to escalate the war without any guarantee that it will drive Russian troops out of Ukraine. Biden and U.S. Congress must have a real plan, not just feeding unlimited cash-and-arms to Kiev. Zelensky must understand that there’s a specific time limit to completing its mission in Ukraine. U.S. taxpayers cannot be expected to foot the bills for the Kiev government too much longer.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma
