{"id":288636,"date":"2024-06-01T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T06:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=288636"},"modified":"2024-06-03T07:03:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T07:03:05","slug":"to-avoid-nuclear-war-putin-needs-to-be-a-little-crazier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=288636","title":{"rendered":"To Avoid Nuclear War, Putin Needs to be a Little Crazier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Whitney \u2013 The Unz Review May 31, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

President Putin\u2019s press conference on Wednesday in Uzbekistan might have been the most unusual and extraordinary event in his 24-year political career. After addressing the Constitutional issues surrounding Ukrainian President Zelensky\u2019s decision to remain in office beyond his four-year term, Putin delivered a brief but disturbing statement on NATO\u2019s plan to fire long-range weapons at targets inside Russia. Putin made it clear that Russia would respond to these attacks and that the countries that provided the weapons systems would be held responsible. He also gave a very detailed description of how the systems work and how they require contractors from the country-of-origin be directly involved in their operation. What is so remarkable about Putin\u2019s comments is not the fact that they bring the world closer to a direct confrontation between nuclear-armed adversaries, but that he had to remind political leaders in the West that Russia is not going to sit back and be their punching bag. Here\u2019s part of what Putin said:<\/p>\n

With regard to the strikes, frankly, I am not sure what the NATO Secretary General is talking about. When he was the Prime Minister of Norway, (we had good relations) and I am positive he was not suffering from dementia back then. If he is talking about potentially attacking Russia\u2019s territory with long-range precision weapons, he, as a person who heads a military-political organisation, even though he is a civilian like me, should be aware of the fact that long-range precision weapons cannot be used without space-based reconnaissance. This is my first point.<\/p>\n

My second point is that the final target selection and what is known as launch mission can only be made by highly skilled specialists who rely on this reconnaissance data, technical reconnaissance data. For some attack systems, such as Storm Shadow, these launch missions can be put in automatically, without the need to use Ukrainian military. Who does it? Those who manufacture and those who allegedly supply these attack systems to Ukraine do. This can and does happen without the participation of the Ukrainian military. Launching other systems, such as ATACMS, for example, also relies on space reconnaissance data, targets are identified and automatically communicated to the relevant crews that may not even realise what exactly they are putting in. A crew, maybe even a Ukrainian crew, then puts in the corresponding launch mission. However, the mission is put together by representatives of NATO countries, not the Ukrainian military. Putin Presser in Uzbekistan<\/a>, Kremlin<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s summarize:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The long-range precision weapons (missiles) are provided by NATO countries<\/li>\n
  2. The long-range precision weapons are manned by experts or contractors from the country of origin<\/li>\n
  3. The long-range precision weapons must be linked to space reconnaissance data provide by the US or NATO<\/li>\n
  4. The targets in Russia are also provided by space reconnaissance data provide by the US or NATO<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The point that Putin is trying to make is that the long-range missiles are made by NATO, furnished by NATO, operated and launched by NATO contractors, whose targets are selected by NATO experts using space reconnaissance data provided by NATO. In every respect, the prospective firing of long-range precision weapons at targets in Russia, is a NATO-US operation.<\/strong> Thus, there should be no confusion about who is responsible. NATO is responsible which means that NATO is effectively declaring war on Russia. Putin\u2019s lengthy comments merely underscore this critical point. Here\u2019s more from Putin:<\/p>\n

    So, these officials from NATO countries, especially the ones based in Europe, particularly in small European countries, should be fully aware of what is at stake. They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to reckon with before they start talking about striking deep into the Russian territory<\/strong>. It is a serious matter and, without a doubt, we are watching this very carefully. Putin Presser in Uzbekistan<\/a>, Kremlin<\/em><\/p>\n

    Naturally, the western media has focused all its attention on the paragraph above, and for good reason; Putin is stating the obvious: \u2018If you attack Russia, we will retaliate.\u2019 That is the underlying message. Here are a few of Friday\u2019s (hysterical) headlines:<\/p>\n