The New Dark Age

Saturday, 23 November 2024 — New Atlas

• Russia has retaliated against the use of Western-manufactured missiles inside Russian territory by firing an intermediate-range ballistic missile with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles at military industrial targets in eastern Ukraine;

• The missile had previously been prohibited under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with such missiles constituting the primary means of nuclear exchange between the Soviet Union and NATO in Europe during the Cold War;

• The stark warning comes at a time when Ukrainian forces are rapidly deteriorating and the prospect of a widespread collapse increases;

• US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has acknowledged that weapon deliveries aren’t Ukraine’s primary problem, but a lack of trained manpower, unrealistically urging Ukraine to mobilize more men;

• The US is attempting to continue exhausting Russia, raising the costs of the conflict as much as possible, including through the possibility of wider direct intervention before Ukrainian forces completely collapse;

• The prospect of Russia and NATO exchanging conventional long-range strikes continues to rise, thus also raising the risk of a nuclear exchange;