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June
22
2023

We Must Act Now
Brian Maher

This we are told by Kyiv Post correspondent Jason Jay Smart, American by birth.

Who are “we”? Why must we act — now? How must we act? Against whom must we act?

And how might this fellow’s counsel wreck us all?

These are the central questions we tackle today.

This Smart fellow is heart and soul for Ukraine. He harbors powerful beliefs in its “democratic” ways.

For the same reason he is heart and soul for Ukraine… he is heart and soul against Russia.

It is captained by a “mafia-dictatorship.” Thus it represents a fantastic menace to be scotched at all possible hazard.

Time to Rid the World of This “Monkey With a Grenade”

The Ukrainian forces have recently undertaken offensive assaults upon Russian defenses. Alas, all available evidence indicates these assaults have failed.

These failings have evidently set Mr. Smart upon apoplectic fits and rages:

It is time for us, the West, to concentrate on solving one question: how to rid the world of this ‘monkey with a grenade,’ Putin, as quickly and effectively as possible. Every day Ukrainians die. The best-of the-best; Crime-after-crime; Terrorist attack-after-terrorist attack: Impunity only fuels the terrorists. We are becoming hostages of this situation. Putin’s goal is to impose his conditions on the West and to become the winner of this Third World War. To prevent this from happening, we must put an end to this monster, so that neither Russia nor any other mafia-dictatorships will have any recourse to try to take us ‘by the [male reproductive organs],’ and squeeze them at their own discretion.

Just so. And as an individual possessing the male reproductive organs here referenced… your editor does not care to be taken in the described manner.

Thus WE MUST ACT NOW!

The Solution

Yet a question presents itself: How must “we” act? This Smart fellow holds out the solution:

1. Inflict an all-out defeat on Russia in Ukraine.

By an “all-out defeat” we hazard he has in mind the forcible ejection of all Russian army men from the territory of Ukraine.

We do not know if this includes the Russian-operated territory of Crimea — the jewel in the Russo-Ukrainian crown.

Yet we believe he likely demands it. Yet how are we to work this all-out defeat on Russia?

Russian forces squat upon some 20% of Ukraine’s territory. They are very deeply entrenched in several locations — as Ukraine is presently discovering.

It will take a herculean combined effort of men and materiel to root them out.

Dare we suggest the proposal is right next to impossible at the present rate?

We are strongly inclined to believe it is impossible at the present rate, yes.

The Russian entrenchment is too deep, too formidable.

Russia’s Winning the Arms Race

What is more, our spies inform us that Russian arms factories are vomiting prodigious quantities of product.

Meantime, the armed forces of Ukraine depend nearly exclusively on Western welfare donations of arms to keep them up and doing.

And these donations are by all accounts… inadequate to needs.

The United States and its NATO understrappers have heavily run down their own weapon stocks.

They have very nearly been cleaned out.

Reuters — for example — informs us that the Germans are presently left with a mere 20,000 high-explosive artillery shells.

That is, the Germans are presently left with the ability to sustain one day of heavy battle — perhaps two — three at most.

The Russians heave 20,000 such objects at Ukrainian forces on a nearly daily basis.

How the Ukrainian team can prevail in this arms race, we do not know.

We do not believe it can, in fact.

A conundrum!

Who Cares About Consequences?

Mr. Smart’s world-saving manifesto continues:

2. Eliminate Putin and his entourage, perhaps physically, without any consideration for the possible consequences. The consequences with further rule of Putin’s mafia will be worse for all mankind.

Again, how is this accomplished? Shall we aim a missile through the hellcat’s sleeping quarters as he snoozes?

Shall we insert SEAL Team 6 behind the Kremlin walls?

We are not told. Yet this to be done “without any consideration for the possible consequences.”

Would one possible consequence be direct war with Russia? Yes it would.

Knocking over a nation’s president represents a war declaration. What would the United States do if Mr. Putin sent an American president over the rainbow?

It would do much more — we are confident — than write a sharp note of protest. Yet we allow an exception…

That exception would be a President Donald John Trump.

If this man undertook the journey, the Democratic Party — and substantial elements of the Republican Party — would invite the Russian to a state dinner and nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

And following that, canonization into the Russian Orthodox Church.

Yet the overall point stands. War with Russia is one possible consequence of the proposed assassination.

A likely consequence — in fact.

That appears to be swell with this Smart character. As long as the Russian hellcat is dispatched it is worth it… because if he endures… the result will be war with Russia.

There you have a masterwork of logic. We stand in awe, gobsmacked, shaken, floored and blinded by the brilliance.

We must initiate war with Russia — else we face war with Russia!

Don’t Be Such a Chicken!

Manifesto item No. 3 flows naturally and inevitably from manifesto item No. 2 just discussed:

3. Stop fearing Russia’s threat of the use of nuclear weapons. If they are used, respond in such a way that no one will ever have the desire or ability to use them again.

“If they are used.” Can you believe it?

Here you have a reincarnated Curtis LeMay. He was of course the one-time United States Strategic Air Command director who took a very, very casual attitude to nuclear weapons usage.

Kennedy rejected his counsel during 1962’s famous missile crisis. Again, the reincarnated LeMay says:

“If they are used, respond in such a way that no one will ever have the desire or ability to use them again.”

Does Mr. Smart understand that “no one” includes the United States?

He seems to advise that:

If the other fellow bites into a cyanide pill… you must bite into yours… in order that neither of you can bite into cyanide pills ever again.

The Russian nuclear stockpile is vast. Vaster, in fact, than that of the United States.

This stockpile can be shipped wholesale to these shores by intercontinental missile, submarine-launched missile and strategic bomber aircraft.

They cannot all be stopped. The delivery man will get through.

Is Jason Jay Smart… smart? We begin to harbor doubt.

Let’s Give Ukraine Nukes!

You may counter that this Smart fellow is a mere bedlamite whose ravings occur far beyond the rings of consensus.

His existence occurs beyond the farthest fringe. Yet have another guess…

Mr. Michael Rubin is a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute.

The American Enterprise Institute is a “center-right” outfit. It is housed in Washington — not Kyiv.

This Rubin fears that Mr. Putin may cook off nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Why he would remains dark to us. His men are, after all, in the process of turning away a substantial Ukrainian offensive.

They are likewise advancing on other fronts. On no front are they absorbing a trouncing.

Why then would he let loose the nuclear genie from its sealed bottle?

Yet Mr. Rubin believes he would. The solution is to hand Ukraine the bottle:

If nuclear weapons use changes the war’s momentum, leads a fearful West to impose partition or even hands Putin a complete victory, the long-term consequence for international security would be dire…

What Biden should instead do is tell Russia clearly that any use of nuclear weapons of any size against Ukraine will lead to U.S. provision of the same types of nuclear weapons to Ukraine without any controls on where and how Ukraine might use them.

Consequences

What if Ukraine nears the verge of defeat and lets the genie out to work its mischief upon the Russians?

Desperate times demand desperate measures — after all.

Vladimir would respond… and then some. How long until general nuclear cataclysm is upon us?

Not long we hazard.

Alas, we have reached the point where nuclear arms usage is under discussion. Not in asylums — but in newspaper offices and “think” tanks.

Recall, Mr. Rubin exists in Washington. He likely has the ear of certain politicians.

Some of these may be seduced by his nuclear coos. We have some in mind in fact.

Yet we are not in the least surprised we have arrived at this pass.

We are fond to quote the mightily insightful Mencken:

“Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.”

Will anyone stop this war… before the nuclear genie takes flight?

 

 

Brian Maher is the Daily Reckoning’s Managing Editor. Before signing on to Agora Financial, he was an independent researcher and writer who covered economics, politics and international affairs. His work has appeared in the Asia Times and other news outlets around the world. He holds a Master’s degree in Defense & Strategic Studies.

 

 

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