Posted on 04/05/2023 6:04:33 AM PDT by hardspunned
MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Russia and the United States have "already passed through" the Cold War stage in their relations and are now in the phase of a hot conflict, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on the Sputnik radio station on Wednesday.
"I think we have already passed this period (of the Cold War - TASS). Now we are in the phase of a hot conflict with the United States. We are witnessing the direct involvement of that country in a hybrid war with Russia on various fronts," Ryabkov said in response to a question.
He called some forms of this hybrid war, being used by the US, completely unprecedented, which had not existed during the Cold War.
"Unfortunately, there has been much talk about the risk of a nuclear conflict. It's a rather dramatic issue," Ryabkov said. "I must stress that the Russian side is fully committed to the well-known postulates, which have been repeatedly stated recently, including at the highest level, to the effect there can be no winners in a nuclear war and that it must not be unleashed. But the way our American opponents are recklessly, provocatively, and in many respects absolutely carelessly moving up the escalation ladder, the way they are blinded by their absolutely absurd certainty about their ability to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia makes one doubt their mental faculties and their common sense."
Ryabkov emphasized that Russia's opponents were "playing with fire in the truest sense of the word."
"They ought to be aware what any encroachment on our sovereignty, our territorial integrity and our statehood [will entail]. If this trend persists, we will be ready to take all measures and to use all means at our disposal in order to defend ourselves and ensure that our sovereignty be guaranteed. Underestimation of this resolve of ours is perhaps the worst thing that can happen or, conversely, not happen in the minds of our adversaries. We caution them against making fatal mistakes," Ryabkov concluded.
The US, NATO and Europe no longer care what Russia says, they care about what action Russia takes. If Russia wants to call this a hot war between NATO and Russia, that is their call. Neither side is going to escalate that far.
If that wasn't an act of war against the USA in the 1960s, then whatever the Russian are saying it is now is hyperbole.
That's OK, rooskie - we Americans sorta doubt it, too, in our leadership".
I was posting this almost daily in March of ‘22, pleading that people think about what was happening. Kahn called how it would go down 50 years ago.
“In this this widely discussed and influential book, Herman Kahn probes the dynamics of escalation and demonstrates how the intensification of conflict can be depicted by means of a definite escalation ladder, ascent of which brings opponents closer to all-out war. At each rung of the ladder, before the climb proceeds, decisions must be made based on numerous choices. Some are clear and obvious, others obscure, but the options are always there.
Thermonuclear annihilation, says Kahn, is unlikely to come through accident; but nations may elect to climb the ladder to extinction. The basic material for the book was developed in briefings delivered by Kahn to military and civilian experts and revised in the light of his findings of a trip to Vietnam in the 1960s. In On Escalation he states the facts squarely. He asks the reader to face unemotionally the terrors of a world fully capable of suicide and to consider carefully the alternatives to such a path.
In the never-never land of nuclear warfare, where nuclear incredulity is pervasive and paralyzing to the imagination even for the professional analyst, salient details of possible scenarios for the outbreak of war, and even more for war fighting, are largely unexplored or even unnoticed. For scenarios in which war is terminated, the issues and possibilities of which are almost completely unstudied, the situation is even worse. Kahn’s discussion throws light on the terrain and gives the individual a sense of the range of possibilities and complexities involved and are useful.”
On Escalation, Herman Kahn
The first step was clearly Russia attacking Ukraine. No question. So, "Russia started it". I do understand that.
But Ukraine is Ukraine and it is not NATO. So that initial conflict was isolated. It's Russia and Ukraine.
But currently every country in NATO is supplying money and arms and ammunition to Ukraine in order to fight the Russian military. German Leopard tanks have arrived. You have German armor tangling with Russian troops.
I understand that you don't want to see this as "NATO attacking Russia" but from where I'm sitting, this is NATO attacking Russia.
Attacked Ukraine without UN sanction (for whatever that’s worth).
And yet they sit on the UN Security Council still.
And some folks think naked aggression and violent territorial acquisition is A-OK, in a very Neville-y manner.
Even corrupt craphole countries have the right to their sovereignty, and you’d think people would have learned the lessons of history about wars of annexation.
And somehow, this Russian mouthpiece doesn’t seem to credible when decrying ‘proxy warfare’.
I suggest you go to Tass and look at what was being quoted from Russian leadership in January and February of ‘22. It’s not as if we haven’t seen this movie before.
Give me a little time and I'll think of some more. Off to work for now...
Racial vengeance. One almost forgot racial vengeance.
All that’s left is for our troops to wear skulls on their caps.
“What the hell does this country even stand for anymore?”
That’s really easy to answer. We stand for woke, green, pervo globalism.
You’ll know if NATO ever attacks Russia.
Which, of course, leads to the question of was Ukraine worth all that...
**************
It was never worth the risk of sparking WWIII. Once the nukes start flying where does it end? The answer is no one knows, but it would certainly have catastrophic global consequences.
Have we ever been at war with them while having the greatest offensive military machine in history sitting on their border, a days tank ride from Moscow, while all NATO leaders are screaming for immediate forced regime change in Russia?
Gotta go.
So we can send 2 1/2 million men 10,000 miles, get 56,000 of them killed, kill countless locals and ravage 3 countries for a decade to prevent the first domino from falling. But the Russians can’t react when the largest offensive military machine in history is sitting on their border, a days tank ride from Moscow, screaming forced regime change in Russia? To date, 16 dominoes have fallen and Ukraine is the very last one and it is falling. I have two words for you, FRiend, Alas Babylon!
Right everyone was "screaming for immediate forced regime change in Russia" while Putin was peacefully doing nothing. Okay
Classic!
Oh, now you put conditions on it.
Nope, you don’t get to “qualify” things like “hot war.” It’s NOT OK when they do it. It’s not OK when we do it. But we all keep doing it.
There is a phrase bandied about these days: “F___ Around and Find Out.”
Russia is learning the meaning of that phrase. Their actions have resulted in NATO expansion, hundreds of thousands of deaths, a big dent in their prime generation, a big dent in their economy, and most of the top countries in the world don’t want anything to do with them.
I think in the next two months, they will “Find out” even more.
and what about China, Iran, and North Korea helping Russia?
are they “all attacking NATO” too, according to your loopy logic?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.