By Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Substack, 5/8/24
Apologies for the multiple posts recently but a lot is happening and I’m trying to keep up with it. – Natylie
As indicated in my previous post, Russia has reacted sharply to reports over the weekend that France had already sent troops into Ukraine, was about to send more, while the House leader of the Democratic Party of the US indicated that the US would have to send in troops in the event that Russia broke through Ukrainian fortifications (which it has been doing, regularly).
The Kremlin (1) hauled in French and British abassadors to Moscow for a dressing-down, (2) threatened retaliatory action outside of Ukraine on those who would send weapons to Ukraine that could be used to fire on targets in Russia (which, in effect, has been happening for some time, ond now augmented with the upsurge of Storm Shadows, ATACMS and other long-range missiles, perhaps soo to include German Taurus, in the inventories so kindly provided by the West to Ukraine), and (3) initiated exercises for the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
The Russisan reaction appeared to have some immediate effect. France claimed (either falsely or misleadingly, nor both) not to have any French foreign legionnaires in France, nor any plans to do so. Further it said that it recognized Putin as legitimate leader of Russia (so too did the White House, which has previously said that it does not consider the recent elections free or fair) and even sent its ambassador to the Presidential inauguration ceremony that took place yesterday May 7th. Interestingly, Greece also did, and Malta; Russia’s “NATO” allies, Serbia and Hungary also sent their ambassadors. The USA and Germany called their ambassadors home to avoid having them attend.
Since Macron has been the most aggressive NATO leader in his threats of pushing towards a direct war between NATO and Russia, it was appropriate that Macron did most of the backing down. Dima of the Military Summary Channel sees this less in terms of France backing away from nuclear war and more about negotiation between Russia and France about the prohibition of the Russian flag at the upcoming Olympic Games. Since this would put Russia in a position of weakness, I think the former explanation is by far the more convincing.
The Italian foreign minister has disassociated Italy from Marcon’s tactics saying, even, that it would not send troops to Ukraine. I don’t know about Britiain, other than noting what is now a customary “free” media silence about anything that might remotely embarrass the ever-Churchillian British wannabess of the boomer generation. The Independent, however, did float a story about how destruction of the Kerch bridge was now no longer necessary, given that satellite photos had confirmed that the bridge was no longer being used for military ordnance. Interestingly, and perhaps in anticipation of the alliance’s total collapse in the event of a catastrophic failure in Ukraine, not unlikely, it is reported today that Austria will not be joining NATO.