Above, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (right) with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg<\/p>\n
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has called to equip Ukrainian forces with enough weapons and gear to defeat the Russian military, arguing that Kiev must deal the blows as \u201cdirect confrontation\u201d between NATO and Moscow is still off the table.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters after hosting a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and several European leaders on Tuesday, Rutte said<\/a> a Ukrainian victory may still be attainable, if only the US-led military bloc provides sufficient \u2018lethal aid.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of weaponry, we stand united here that it is crucial for Russia to lose the war,\u201d he said, suggesting that Ukraine should serve as a conduit for Western arms in order to maximize pain inflicted on Moscow.<\/p>\n And as we cannot have a direct confrontation between NATO troops and Russia, what we need to do is make sure that Ukraine can fight that war, that it has access to all the necessary weaponry.<\/strong><\/p>\n The comments followed similar remarks from Stoltenberg, who said the alliance is \u201cstepping up\u201d to supply more arms to Kiev and that \u201cUkraine should have more heavy weapons.\u201d At an upcoming NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June, he said member states \u201cwill agree [to] a major strengthening of our posture,\u201d though did not elaborate on what that might entail.<\/p>\n Earlier on Tuesday, a senior Pentagon official told<\/a> CNN that Washington could announce new weapons shipments as early as this week, saying that could happen when 50 nations with the \u2018Ukraine Contact Group\u2019 meet in Brussels on Wednesday. While they did not give specifics on what arms would be provided, recent US transfers<\/a> have included heavy artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), thousands of anti-tank missiles and several helicopters.<\/p>\n Since Russia\u2019s invasion commenced in late February, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in the form of 11 separate aid packages to the Ukrainian government, flooding a chaotic battlefield with American weapons despite \u201calmost zero<\/a>\u201d ability to track where they end up.<\/p>\n During an event on Monday, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks declared<\/a> that Washington is ready to back Kiev for years to come, even suggesting that support could continue for up to two decades if needed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to think through the kinds of both equipment but also the kind of longer term training and defense establishment efforts that they will need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Though the US and its partners in the NATO bloc have stressed that backing Ukraine is a matter of upholding \u2018democratic values\u2019 under assault by a despotic Russian invader, officials from some member states have hinted at other motives. Western diplomats cited by the Washington Post in April noted<\/a> that the alliance would rather see Ukrainians keep \u201cfighting and dying\u201d over \u201ca peace that comes too early.\u201d More recently, Turkey\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said<\/a> that some NATO countries \u201csee the continuation of the war as weakening Russia\u201d and do not want the fighting to end, a view which appears to be in line with Rutte\u2019s statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source<\/a><\/p>\n Talk about tempting fate. The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s comments epitomises the sort of blindness and complacency of so many western politicians. Whether knowingly or not, he’s paving the way for war with Russia; because at some point Moscow will realise that its problems in Ukraine don’t actuallly originate there.<\/p>\n Russia’s problems have their origins further West and here we have the Dutch prime minister openly admitting as much.<\/p>\n Nor is he alone.<\/p>\n Neo-Conservative mouthpiece the New York Times has declared that the West wants to use Ukraine “to bleed Russia<\/a>” and it echoed another Neo-Conservative outlet, Foreign Policy, that announced<\/a> this even before Russia had embarked on military operations against Ukraine.<\/p>\n Other MSM mouthpieces may deny it, but prominent and powerful insiders are openly saying as much.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are engaged in a conflict here. It\u2019s a proxy war with Russia, whether we say so or not,\u201d<\/strong> said Leon Panetta, the former CIA director and defense secretary under Barack Obama. (The Intercept<\/a>)<\/p>\nComment — June 16, 2022<\/strong><\/h1>\n