North Korean troops<\/p>\n
The writer of the following, David Axe complains that a \u201cline has been crossed\u201d by Russia with its use of North Korean troops in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Crucially, Axe omits to mention that the West crossed that line years ago when it began assisting Ukraine militarily and not just with supplies of arms and munitions.<\/p>\n
There have been a number of reports of Western Special Forces being on the front line in Ukraine<\/a>. Although they are not part of any official deployment, so that if they are killed or wounded in action they are listed as \u201dex-Special Forces<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n In fact, Western Special Forces have been on the ground in Ukraine<\/a> almost from the start of the conflict.<\/p>\n Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is on record as saying that \u201chundreds\u201d of U.S. service personnel have been deployed to Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Moreover, this doesn\u2019t take into account NATO command centers reportedly taken out by Russian hypersonic missiles<\/a>. The number of NATO personnel and Western military contractors killed or wounded in one particular strike is estimated to have been \u201dhundreds\u201d.<\/p>\n Such is the extent of Western military involvement in Ukraine that even the BBC has been forced acknowledge covert Western participation<\/a> in the conflict.<\/p>\n Apart from omitting any mention of Western involvement in the conflict, Axe also grossly overestimates Russian casualties. His estimate of a thousand Russians \u201ckilled and wounded\u201d everyday might make sense if Russia were involved in a headlong rush West but it is not.<\/p>\n Russia is advancing slowly and methodically so as to avoid taking unnecessary risks and minimise casualties.<\/p>\n What follows is corporate media bull!!!!, which is aimed at a) demonizing Russia and b) paradoxically luring readers into complacency about the West’s chances in a military clash with Russia. While these may seem contradictory, together they serve to induce a mindset that will more readily accept war with Russia.<\/p>\n In fact I would not be surprised to find that David Axe works for one of the spook agencies and that he has been tasked with preparing his readers mentally for total war with Russia. Ed.<\/p>\n Sometime between October 8 and 13, seven ships from the Russian Pacific Fleet sailed from Chongjin, Hamhung and Musudan in North Korea, to Vladivostok, Russia. Aboard were 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers<\/a>.<\/p>\n They\u2019re the vanguard of an initial force of potentially 11,000 North Korean troops<\/a> that\u2019s set to reinforce Russia\u2019s wider war on Ukraine. And they\u2019re the latest and most chilling reminder that the war isn\u2019t just between Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n The line has been crossed and third-party troops will soon be on the ground. Other nations on both sides may follow suit: such action has already been suggested by British<\/a> and French politicians<\/a>. It\u2019s now a global war, potentially a world war. It\u2019s clear Russian leaders, and their allies in Iran, North Korea and \u2013 to a lesser extent \u2013 China understand the stakes. It\u2019s less clear that Ukraine\u2019s allies in Nato understand it.<\/p>\n Those 1,500 North Korean commandos aren\u2019t Pyongyang\u2019s first contribution to Russia\u2019s war effort. North Korea has also sold artillery ammunition, KN-23 ballistic missiles<\/a> and anti-tank missile vehicles to Russia. Alongside Iran, North Korea is Russia\u2019s industrial backer \u2013 and the main reason the Russian armed forces haven\u2019t already run out of critical equipment as their wider war grinds into its 32nd costly month.<\/p>\n But in sending men in addition to weapons, Pyongyang is making overt what was, before now, largely covert. And it\u2019s helping to solve one of Russia\u2019s most serious wartime problems: a growing manpower shortage. The Russian military has been losing more than a thousand people a day killed and wounded on average for around a year now. At the same time, the Kremlin has been able to recruit around 30,000 fresh troops a month.<\/p>\n The difference between losses and recruitment amounts to a steadily growing troop deficit. The Russian government could add a special draft to its usual annual conscription, but that\u2019s so politically toxic that even the autocratic regime of Russian president Vladimir Putin is reluctant to order it.<\/p>\n Replacement troops have to come from somewhere. That somewhere, it seems, is North Korea.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean those 1,500 North Korean special forces, or the 9,500 additional North Korean troops following behind them, are going to man the trenches along the 700-mile front line of the wider war. It seems more likely that, at first, they\u2019ll play a support role behind the line.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s a distinction without a meaningful difference, as 11,000 North Korea support troops could free up 11,000 Russians to fight as infantry. Of course, 11,000 extra troops is barely two weeks\u2019 worth at Russia\u2019s current casualty rate. That raises an ominous prospect: that many more North Koreans might be coming.<\/p>\n North Korea\u2019s growing role in the Russia-Ukraine war threatens to draw South Korea into the conflict, too. While South Korea already supports Ukraine with humanitarian aid \u2013 and reportedly sold the United States a million artillery shells for onward transfer to Ukraine \u2013 Seoul has been reluctant to ship weaponry directly to Kyiv.<\/p>\n That could change<\/a>. In an emergency National Security Council meeting this week, top South Korean officials described North Korean support for Russia\u2019s war effort \u201ca grave security threat,\u201d and vowed to escalate their own involvement in Ukraine in response.<\/p>\nThe war in Ukraine is about to become World War Three<\/strong><\/h2>\n
David Axe \u2013 The Telegraph Oct 22, 2024<\/strong><\/h3>\n