Canada’s Trudeau Says He Would Arrest Netanyahu, on ICC’s Orders

WATCH: Canada’s Trudeau Says He Would Arrest Netanyahu, on ICC’s Orders

Joel B. Pollak

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested in accord with a controversial warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier that day.

As Breitbart News reported, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza, which was started by Hamas, the Iranian-backed Palestinian terror organization.

Israel called the decision antisemitic, and the Biden-Harris administration denounced the ICC for the decision — though it was that same administration that reversed sanctions that President Donald Trump slapped on the ICC.

At a press conference, Trudeau responded to a reporter’s question about whether Canada would enforce the warrants:

First of all, as Canada has always said, it’s really important that everyone abide by international law. This is something we’ve been calling on from the beginning of the conflict. We are one of the founding members of the International Criminal Court, and International Court of Justice. 

We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts. 

This is just who we are as Canadians. At the same time, we need to keep working to solve this terrible situation. We need to see aid flowing in to people who are facing famine [sic] and disease. We need to see all the hostages released. We need to see Hamas lay down its arms. We condemn Hamas for its continued actions. We need to see a ceasefire that protects civilians. We need to get back on track towards a two-state solution with a peaceful Israel living alongside a peaceful Palestinian state. These are the things that Canada has been working on, and at the same time we have to recognize as Canadians that it’s been very, very difficult for members of different communities in this country. We have to remember who we are, be there for each other, understand that people are angry and grieving, but remember that we are all pushing for peace and stability as hard as we can.

Trudeau repeated his remarks in French, saying that everyone needed to respect the decisions of international institutions.

He was wrong about claims of “famine” in Gaza, as well as about Canada’s obligations under international law to respect the decisions of the ICC; Canada could simply withdraw from the Rome Statute that established it.

Trudeau also mentioned the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where South Africa has brought a charge of “genocide” against Israel, allegedly after donations from Iran and Qatar to South Africa’s ruling party.

Ironically, the ICJ, while critical of Israel, has declined to find that Israel’s war in Gaza constitutes “genocide,”

Putin calls secret meeting TONIGHT after threatening UK with new missile…as Brit military chief says we’re ready for war

Putin calls secret meeting TONIGHT after threatening UK with new missile…as Brit military chief says we’re ready for war

Annabel Bate

PUTIN has called a secret meeting for tonight after threatening the UK with his new deadly missile as tensions between the West and Russia spill over.

It comes as a top military chief told MPs that Britain would be ready to fight "tonight" should Vladimir Putin strike another Eastern European nation.

A Telegram channel run by journalists from the Kremlin pool chillingly shared that Putin would be holding a secret meeting tonight.

It added that the Kremlin has yet to disclose what it would be about as fears of all-out war loom across the world.

The channel also disclosed that there has been no contact between Russia and the US with hostilities between the two reaching boiling point.

Meanwhile Lieutenant General Rob Magowan made an unsettling statement to the House of Commons defence committee that Britain would be ready to fight.

The military chief said Britain's armed forced would be ready to fight their Russian counterparts "tonight" if mad Vladimir Putin were to invade another Eastern European nation.

The deputy chief of the British defense staff told the committee: "If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight.

"I don't think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight, then we would meet them in that fight."

He also labelled Russia the "aggressor" and said that the "war could end today if Putin stopped being aggressive".

It comes as the UK gave Ukraine the green light to use British-made Storm Shadow missiles to strike inside Russia.

Ukrainian MPs are preparing for a Russian missile attack on their parliament building after one of the country's ex-top generals eerily claimed World War Three had officially begun.

Putin said on Thursday that his war in Ukraine was escalating towards a global conflict after the US and Britain allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles.

He has since warned the West that Moscow could devastatingly strike back.

In direct response to Ukraine's strikes, he said Russia had launched a new kind of hypersonic ballistic missile dubbed "Oreshnik" at a defence enterprise in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

This deadly missile, according to Putin, travelled at 10 times the speed of sound and therefore couldn't be intercepted.

More...

A new hypersonic missile, conflict escalation and a warning for NATO: What you need to know from Putin’s latest address

A new hypersonic missile, conflict escalation and a warning for NATO: What you need to know from Putin’s latest address

RT

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a televised address from the Kremlin on Thursday evening, outlining Moscow’s response to recent escalations of the Ukraine conflict. 

He revealed that Russia had deployed a new hypersonic missile system in a strike on Ukrainian territory, criticized the United States for escalating tensions, and reiterated Moscow’s willingness to engage in peace talks while blaming Washington for the conflict becoming global in nature.

Putin’s address comes after recent Ukrainian strikes inside Russia’s pre-2014 borders using Western-made long-range missiles, which mark a significant escalation of the conflict. His comments reflect growing tensions between Russia and the NATO countries, and signal the dangers of a potential shift toward a broader confrontation.

Deployment of the new Hypersonic Missile ‘Oreshnik’

Putin confirmed that Russia has used its latest hypersonic ballistic missile system, nicknamed ‘Oreshnik’ (Hazel in English), during a strike on a Ukrainian defense industry facility in Dnepropetrovsk on Thursday morning. The missile is part of Moscow’s new generation of medium-range weapons and reportedly travels at speeds of up to Mach 10 (2.5-3 kilometers per second).

Putin emphasized that no existing air or missile defense systems, including those deployed by the US in Europe, are capable of intercepting the Oreshnik. “There are no means of countering such weapons today,” he said, adding that the strike successfully hit one of Ukraine’s largest Soviet-era industrial complexes producing rocket technology.

The Americans are making the Ukraine conflict global

Putin accused the US and NATO of deliberately escalating the crisis by providing Kiev with long-range, high-precision weapons capable of striking Russian territory. This week, Ukraine used American-made ATACMS missiles and British Storm Shadow systems to strike targets in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk Regions. 

Putin said these attacks demonstrate the West’s intent to transform the Ukraine conflict into a global war. He stressed that these weapons could not be used without the direct involvement of US and NATO military specialists. “This regional conflict provoked by the West has now acquired global elements,” the president declared.

US defenses helpless against Russian hypersonic weapons

Putin highlighted the strategic advantage of Moscow’s new missile technology, stating that Western defense systems, including those at US bases in Europe, are powerless to intercept them. He framed the deployment of the Oreshnik system as a response to NATO’s increasingly aggressive actions, including Washington’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019. “Missiles like Oreshnik are our answer to NATO’s plans to deploy medium- and shorter-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific,” he said.

Americans destroyed the system of international security

The Russian president placed blame squarely on Washington for dismantling global arms control agreements and eroding international security. 

“It was not Russia but the United States that destroyed the system of international security,” Putin said, referring to the collapse of the INF Treaty and other agreements. He accused the US of clinging to its “hegemony” at the expense of global stability, stating that the Americans are “pushing the whole world toward a global conflict.”

Russia’s position on the deployment of missiles

Putin announced that while Russia has refrained from deploying medium- and shorter-range missiles globally, it would reassess this policy in response to US actions. He warned that future targets for Russia’s advanced systems would be chosen based on perceived threats to national security. As a “humanitarian”gesture, he stated that civilians in targeted areas would be warned in advance to evacuate.

A call for Peace, and a warning to the West

Despite his tough words, Putin reiterated that Russia remains open to talks, but warned of decisive retaliation against escalating aggression. “We have always preferred, and are still ready, to resolve all disputes through peaceful means,” the president said.

However, he cautioned Western leaders, particularly in Washington, to take Russia’s warnings seriously. “There will always be an answer,” to attacks on Russia, he concluded.

Russia’s key ally warns of World War III

Russia’s key ally warns of World War III

RT

The world is teetering on the brink of World War III, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned, sounding the alarm about the recent escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

Lukashenko made the remarks on Friday during an address to university students in Minsk, days after Ukraine launched several strikes using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles, into territory internationally recognized as Russia, something Moscow had previously strongly warned against.

Moscow responded with its own strike on a defense complex in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, using its latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range missile.

“We have been talking a lot lately about how, God forbid, World War III might start, that we are on the brink of that terrible event. But, thank God, somehow humanity is still restraining itself and has not yet plunged into World War III,” the Belarusian leader said, adding that the “information war,” however, is now in full swing.

He added that the Ukraine conflict should be settled through talks involving Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. “No Americans, no Europeans – they won’t do anything good for us... We have to sit down and come to an agreement,” he stressed.

Instead, however, the conflict continues to escalate, Lukashenko noted. “Under no circumstances should [Belarus] get involved. If it comes to a clash between Russia and NATO, it will not be easy for us either. We don’t want war on our territory, we don’t want other people’s interests to be decided here at our expense,” he stressed.

Belarus is an ally of Russia under the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The two are also part of the Union State, an entity aimed at bringing Moscow and Minsk closer together economically and geopolitically.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Belarus has supported Russia, but has not directly engaged in hostilities. It also hosted several rounds of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, which failed to lead to a decisive breakthrough. Despite this, Lukashenko has repeatedly urged the two countries to negotiate, while offering his mediation.

Take Putin’s warnings seriously – Orban

The West should not ignore Russian President Vladimir Putin's warnings  regarding Moscow’s response to long-range Ukrainian strikes, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

On Thursday, Putin announced that Russia had used its new Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile to destroy a military-industrial facility in Dnipro (formerly Dnepropetrovsk) in Ukraine. The strike was carried out in response to Kiev’s attacks on internationally recognized Russian territory using US-made ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles, he said.

“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow the use of their weapons against our facilities, and in case of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond decisively and in mirror-like manner,”the Russian leader warned.

In an interview with Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orban, who is one of the few European leaders to maintain contact with Moscow during its conflict with Kiev, said the communication system in Russian society was significantly different from the one in the EU.

“Sometimes we, Western European decision-makers, do not take this into account” when dealing with Moscow, he stated.

The Hungarian prime minister cautioned that “if the [Russian] president says something, it is not chatter, it has weight and consequences.”

He added that politics in the West is 80% talk and just 20% action, with even the most high-ranking officials often making statements that are not followed by concrete moves.

It is not like that in Russia, he explained, warning that Putin’s words must be taken seriously and interpreted in the logic of war.

Orban urged the nations that are supporting Ukraine in the conflict to “act out of common sense or there might be problems.”

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the US “will not be deterred” by what Moscow described as a “combat test” of its new intermediate-range ballistic missile. “We will continue to ensure that Ukrainians have what they need on the ground,” she said.

On Thursday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also called on the West to heed Putin’s warnings. “If you think you can attack everything on Russian territory with Western logistics and weapons without getting a response, and that Putin will not use whatever weapons he deems necessary, then you either don’t know him or you’re abnormal,” Vucic said.

Germany Gears Up For Potential War With Russia

Unhinged Germany Goes Ballistic, Gears Up For Potential War With Russia – Reports

Sputnik

Previously, a scenario for a hot war between Russia and NATO was imagined in a classified Bundeswehr document cited by Bild in winter. It envisioned an escalation of tensions culminating in potential clashes by the summer of 2025.

Germany is implementing contingency protocols in preparation for a large-scale war with Russia, German media reported, citing a classified strategy paper. 

Fueled by hyped allegations of a “Russia threat,” the Bundeswehr has reportedly developed comprehensive plans for responding to a potential “maneuver” by Moscow on NATO's eastern flank in its Operation Plan Germany (Operationsplan Deutschland).

Here are some details: 

It identifies infrastructure facilities deemed “particularly worthy of protection for military reasons”; 

Involves possibly moving 200,000 military vehicles across German territory if needed; 

Details the logistics of national defense mobilization, highlighting the significant challenges Germany would face if it became a hub for “tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands” of soldiers, along with military equipment, food, and medicine that would need to be transported east to the front lines; 

Advises businesses to work out plans for crisis scenarios that include stockpiling of diesel generators, securing alternate energy sources such as wind turbines, and stocking up on supplies; 

Tasks territorial command centers with implementing the plan developed by government officials and military leaders, a Bundeswehr spokesperson was cited as saying.

Third time the charm? Germany draws up contingency plan for war

As NATO continues to stoke tensions in Europe by arming the Ukrainian conflict, Germany has drafted a plan for a possible war in the region. Dubbed Operationsplan Deutschland (Operational Plan Germany) or OPLAN DEU for short, the plan deals with issues ranging from “homeland security and the protection of defense-critical infrastructure to deployment planning and national territorial defense,” German Brigadier General Thomas Hambach said as quoted by Abendzeitung Munchen. The plan also addresses the possibility of rapid NATO troop movements through Germany. "In the event of an acute threat on the alliance's eastern flank, German and allied forces would have to be moved throughout Germany, including Bavaria, within a very short time," Hambach said. OPLAN DEU is drafted by military and civilian experts, including people affiliated with federal ministries, local administrations and emergency services. The exact contents of the plan are classified, though German media already surmised that the document outlines procedures to be enacted if Germany finds itself in a war.

Operation Plan Germany first surfaced following the COVID pandemic, and then earlier in the year, with German Brigadier General Thomas Hambach quoted as saying that the plan deals with issues ranging from “homeland security and the protection of defense-critical infrastructure to deployment planning and national territorial defense.” 

It also addresses the possibility of rapid NATO troop movements through Germany.

Russian officials ridiculed the Bundeswehr’s rich imagination at the time, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova comparing the leaked plan to a “powerful horoscope,” saying she wouldn’t be surprised if the scenario was provided to the German military by the Foreign Ministry and its notoriously Russophobic chief, Annalena Baerbock.

Israel Preparing to Attack Iranian Nuclear Facilities ?

Israel Preparing to Attack Iranian Nuclear Facilities - Reports

Sputnik

The Israeli authorities reached a consensus at all levels of the security system and political echelon on the need to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, Israeli news portal Walla reported, citing a high-ranking source. 

Israel also allegedly has the technological capability to carry out such an attack, the report said on Thursday. Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, the source noted. 

Economic sanctions against Tehran serve only as a deterrent and are not intended to eliminate Iran’s nuclear project, the source added. 

Last week, the Axios news portal reported that Israel's attack on Iran that took place in late October destroyed an active top secret nuclear weapons research facility of the Parchin military complex and affected the country's capability to resume nuclear arms research. The destroyed facility reportedly was a part of Iran's Amad nuclear weapons program, which Tehran is believed to have halted in 2003.

In late October, the Israel Defense Forces said that they struck military targets in Iran in response to the October 1 attacks on the Jewish state. Media reported that the Israeli attack on Iran was limited to military assets and did not target nuclear or oil facilities.

3000% spike in campus antisemitism post-Oct. 7

Flunked out: 3000% spike in campus antisemitism post-Oct. 7

Adi Nirman

A disturbing new report from StopAntisemitism reveals an unprecedented surge in antisemitic incidents on US college campuses in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, with Jewish students facing increasing harassment, exclusion, and safety concerns.

The organization's 2024 College Report, which evaluated 25 higher education institutions across the nation, documented a staggering 3,000% increase in antisemitic incident reports compared to the previous year, forcing the watchdog group to triple its staff size to handle the flood of submissions.

The report paints a troubling picture of campus life for Jewish students, with more than half reporting direct experiences of antisemitism at their schools. According to the survey, 55% of Jewish students have been victims of antisemitism, while 43% feel compelled to hide their Jewish identity from classmates out of fear. Perhaps most concerning, 72% of students reported feeling unwelcome in certain campus spaces simply for being Jewish.

The institutional response to these challenges has been notably inadequate, with only two out of 25 surveyed schools responding to requests for information about their handling of antisemitism – a sharp decline from seven respondents the previous year. The report also found that 67% of Jewish students say they are completely excluded from their school's DEI initiatives, while 69% report being blamed for Israel's actions.

Several prestigious universities received failing marks in the report's grading system. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) saw its grade drop from a C to an F following multiple incidents, including a three-week pro-Palestinian encampment where participants called for violence against Jewish students. The evaluation considered multiple criteria: protection measures, allyship initiatives, identity support, and policy implementation.

"These higher education institutions have utterly failed to protect its Jewish students, allowing harassment, exclusion, and violent antisemitism to thrive unchecked," organization Founder and Executive Director Liora Rez said.

StopAntisemitism is proposing a comprehensive reform package for universities, suggesting that campuses adopt standardized definitions of antisemitism, expand their diversity and inclusion policies to explicitly include Jewish students, and establish clearer protocols for responding to antisemitic incidents from both students and faculty.

Some institutions have demonstrated more effective responses to these challenges. Baylor University and Clemson University received higher grades for their stronger support systems and more proactive responses to antisemitic incidents. However, the overall findings suggest a systemic failure in protecting Jewish students across American higher education.

"Jewish students should not have to consider their own safety when choosing which school to attend," the report concluded, emphasizing the urgent need for institutional change. The study found that 43% of current Jewish students would not recommend their school to fellow Jewish students, highlighting the depth of the current crisis.

Do Biden, Starmer & Co Want World War Three?

Do Biden, Starmer & Co Want World War Three?

Rhoda Wilson

The war in Ukraine didn’t start in 2022 and it wasn’t started by Russia. It was started in 2014 when Ukraine started to attack a breakaway pro-Russian province.

It has for some time been clear that Western leaders who are running this war through NATO are desperate for it to go nuclear.

Why? The Great Reset includes a depopulation plan and that might have something to do with it.

By Dr. Vernon Coleman

On 3 May 2022, I made a video entitled `Why they need World War III’.

In February 2023 [see HERE and HERE], I explained how the Americans had destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline. Biden boasted that he’d do that. And, as planned, blowing up the pipeline forced a freezing Europe into the war with greater enthusiasm. It also meant that Europe had to buy American gas. The lunatic conspirators claim the pipeline was destroyed by unknown saboteurs – probably, they say, two teenage boys in a rowing boat whose fishing tackle got caught in the pipeline and damaged it.

In March 2023, I made a video entitled `Nuclear War is Coming’ [watch HERE].

I wonder if they are still laughing now that Biden has given Ukraine permission to use American missiles on Russia. (Ukraine wasted no time in firing American missiles into Russia.) And it seems likely that Starmer will soon be using Ukraine for a proxy attack on Russia. Neither leader is supported by the voters but both countries will be at war with Russia.

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Putin Launches Mass-Production of Nuclear Shelters for his People

Putin Launches Mass-Production of Nuclear Shelters for his People

Martin Armstrong

Russia has begun mass production of mobile nuclear bunkers. This is in response to Ukraine’s use of Western US and British missiles to attack deep inside Russia to destroy its conventional capability so NATO can launch an invasion by March/April 2025

This has coincided with Mr Putin’s change of Russia’s doctrine to lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons to include the use of conventional weapons by Ukraine. Russia’s defense ministry said Ukraine attacked an ammunition stockpile in the Bryansk region using missiles supplied by the US military’s MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).

Russia has also ordered the production of its mobile nuclear bunkers to protect citizens. They are shelters capable of protecting people from the light radiation of a nuclear explosion and radioactive contamination of the surrounding environment. These are known as “KUB-M” and will protect 54 people for 48 hours from the air shock wave and light radiation of a nuclear explosion; penetrating radiation and radioactive contamination of the area; high-explosive and fragmentation effects of conventional weapons; falling debris from building structures; dangerous chemicals; fires. Unlike traditional, stationary bunkers, mobile bunkers are built to be easily moved from one location to another, often on vehicles or trailers. They can be equipped with advanced shielding, air filtration systems, and other necessary survival equipment to withstand the harsh conditions of a nuclear event.

The Western press keeps putting out the Neocon and NATO propaganda that Russia will never fire a nuke and Ukraine can win the war. But this is all a smoke screen for NATO will invade Russia, and they are using Ukraine as our Hesbolla, the same as Iran is using Lebanon. Zelensky claimed he invaded Russia to force Putin to peace. But they had a peace deal. Boris Johnson ran to Kiev and instructed Zelensky he was not allowed to sign a peace deal, and now far more than 1 million Ukrainians have been killed so Europe can invade Russia.

Just as Robert McNamara said about Vietnam and the Weapons of Mass Destruction that did not exist in Iraq, what if these people are wrong AGAIN? There goes Europe! Not a single European leader cares about their own people.

Either the Ukrainian people rise up and take their country back, or Putin needs to nuke Kiev to show the world he is serious. Otherwise, we are sleepwalking into World War III. Our press will NEVER write a single word for peace. It is always Putin is bluffing. What if you are wrong again?

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev was just shut down after Biden gave the go-ahead to use long-range missiles. Hm. If this was to win the war, then why flee Kiev? They know Putin will respond forcefully against Zelensky. Russians get nuclear bomb shelters, and we get Fake News – Don’t worry – he’s bluffing.

US missile base is a priority target for destruction, says Russia

US missile base is a priority target for destruction, says Russia

Joe Barnes

Russia has said it has identified a US missile base in Poland which it claims raises the prospect of a nuclear war between Moscow and Nato.

Moscow branded the facility in the town of Redzikowo near the Baltic coast a provocation on Thursday, just days after Washington permitted long-range missile strikes by Ukraine against targets on Russian soil.

“This is another frankly provocative step in a series of deeply destabilising actions by the Americans and their allies in the North Atlantic Alliance in the strategic sphere,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry’s spokeswoman, said.

“This leads to undermining strategic stability, increasing strategic risks and, as a result, to an increase in the overall level of nuclear danger.”

The US missile facility, which was commissioned in 2009, was opened on Nov 13 as part of a broader air-defence programme by the Nato military alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has sought to ratchet up the prospect of a nuclear war after Joe Biden authorised the use of Western missiles in strikes inside Russia by Ukrainian forces.

Shortly after news of the decision was leaked to The New York Times, Russia claimed that US-supplied Atacms rockets were used to hit a target inside Russia.

The accusations were followed up by claims that UK-provided Storm Shadow cruise missiles were launched at a target inside Kursk, a Russian region partially occupied by Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin then signed into law a decree which broadened the use of its nuclear arsenal.

The new doctrine states an attack from a non-nuclear state, if backed by a nuclear power, will be treated as a joint assault on Russia.

Experts say the threat is largely a desperate attempt by Moscow to prevent strikes on its territory using Western weapons.

Poland has claimed the base mentioned by Russia poses no threat.

U.S./NATO Crosses The Line Between Proxy And Direct War With Russia

A mentally unfit Joe Biden has crossed the line between proxy and direct war with Russia

RT

The discussions in the West about authorizing long-range missile strikes on Russia are profoundly dishonest and misleading. The political-media elites present deeply flawed arguments to support the conclusion that attacking Russia with these weapons doesn’t cross the line between proxy war and direct war. 

NATO may be successful in deluding itself, yet for Moscow there is no doubt that this is an act of war.

The argument that Ukraine has the right to defend itself as a justification for NATO to authorize long-range strikes into Russia is very manipulative. The public is pulled in with a very reasonable premise, based on the universal acceptance of the right to self-defense.

Once people have accepted this, then it’s presented as a foregone conclusion that Ukraine should be supplied with long-range missiles to attack Russia. The extent of NATO’s involvement in the war, as the main issue, is subsequently eliminated entirely from the argument.

The point of departure in an honest discussion should start with the right question: When is the line between proxy war and direct war crossed? These are US long-range missiles, their use is entirely dependent on American intelligence and targeting. They will be operated by US soldiers and guided by US satellites. 

Washington didn’t use these weapons against Russia for three years as it knew it would amount to a direct attack, yet now the media is attempting to sell the narrative of this merely being uncontroversial military aid to enable Ukraine to defend itself.

The US and some of its NATO allies have decided to attack Russia directly, and they should be honest about this intention. Attempts to present it as merely giving military aid to Ukraine to defend itself constitute an irresponsible effort to shame any dissent and avoid a serious discussion about attacking the world’s largest nuclear power.

It is imperative to place oneself in the shoes of opponents and ask how we would interpret a situation and what we would do if the situation were reversed. The US and NATO have invaded many countries over the years, so we do not need to delve too deep into our imagination to set up a hypothetical scenario.

How would we have reacted if Moscow had sent long-range missiles, dependent on Russian intelligence and targeting, operated by Russian soldiers and guided by Russian satellites, to attack NATO countries under the guise of merely helping Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen of another country to defend itself? 

We are deluding ourselves if we pretend that this would not have been interpreted as a direct attack, and despite the great risks involved, we would be compelled to retaliate to restore our deterrent.

President Putin warned in September 2024 that Russia would interpret this as a direct attack and the beginning of a NATO-Russia War, and Putin argued that Russia would respond accordingly. The clarity in his language makes it nearly impossible to walk back the commitment to strike back at NATO, which is a deliberate tactic in the game of chicken, as Russia cannot swirl away.

Stories about thousands of North Korean soldiers fighting in Ukraine or Kursk are used to legitimize the attack on Russia. This is most likely NATO war propaganda as there would be some evidence if thousands of North Korean soldiers were fighting. The North Koreans allegedly training in Russia are likely intended as a deterrent in case NATO would go to war against Russia. However, even if North Koreans involve themselves in the fighting, it does not make NATO any less of a participant in the war by attacking Russia.

“Russia would not dare to retaliate against NATO”

The reluctance by Moscow in the past to sufficiently retaliate against NATO’s incremental escalations has been presented as evidence for the false conclusion that it wouldn’t dare respond. There is no doubt that Russia’s restraints have emboldened NATO. President Biden once argued that sending F-16s would result in a Third World War, such warnings now are denounced as ”Russian propaganda”. Russia’s failure to respond when the US crossed that line meant that the US could argue it did not amount to a direct attack. The rules of proxy war subsequently changed.

Russia’s dilemma over the past three years has been to either respond at the risk of triggering a Third World War, or to gradually abandon its deterrent and embolden the US. With every NATO escalation, Russia is facing an ever-higher price for its restraint. Russia has been under pressure to set a final red line, and NATO attacking Russia directly is simply too dangerous to go unanswered.

How will Russia respond? 

There are several more steps on the escalation ladder before pushing the nuclear button. Russia can intensify strikes on Ukrainian political targets and infrastructure, possibly introduce North Korean troops, strike NATO assets in the Black Sea and logistic centers in Poland or Romania, destroy satellites used for the attacks on Russia, or attack US/NATO military assets in other parts of the world under the guise of enabling other countries to defend themselves. 

Russia’s response will also depend on how these missiles are used. The New York Times has suggested that the use of these missiles would be limited and primarily used to assist Ukraine with the occupation of Kursk, which also makes the US an even more involved participant in the occupation of Russian territory. However, Russia must respond forcefully to any breach of its red lines to counter NATO’s incrementalism – salami tactics that aim to chop away at its deterrent. The purpose of such incrementalism is to avoid an excessive response from Russia. The US will predictably impose restrictions on how these weapons can be used as it engages in direct attacks on Russia, but gradually these restrictions will be removed.

The extent of Russia’s response will depend on the extent to which these weapons are effective. The war is evidently being won by Russia, which is why Moscow is cautious about any escalations, as it only needs time. However, if these weapons would actually turn the tide of the war, then Russia would consider itself compelled to launch a powerful attack on NATO as Moscow considers this to be a war for its survival. NATO should therefore hope that these weapons are not effective, which undermines the reasoning for using them at all.  

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Putin touts Russia's new missile and delivers a menacing warning to NATO

Putin touts Russia's new missile and delivers a menacing warning to NATO

The Associated Press

The new ballistic missile fired by Russia struck a military-industrial facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, but its real mission was delivering a deadly new message to NATO.

Hours after Thursday's strike touched off a debate over whether the Ukrainian plant was hit by an intercontinental ballistic missile, President Vladimir Putin made a rare and surprise appearance on Russian television to clear up the mystery.

He described it as a new, intermediate-range ballistic missile that raced to its target at 10 times the speed of sound.

“Modern air defense systems that exist in the world and anti-missile defenses created by the Americans in Europe can’t intercept such missiles,” Putin declared in an icy and menacing tone.

The attack marked the first time that such a missile was used in the war — or in any conflict.

The dramatic events came in a week of soaring tensions as Ukraine struck targets in Russia with American-made longer-range missiles after the U.S. eased restrictions on their use and Putin responded by lowering the thresholdfor using Moscow's nuclear arsenal.

What is the new missile?

Putin said the missile was called “Oreshnik,” which in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” and that this first combat test of it “has gone successfully.”

He said in July that Russia would start producing intermediate-range missiles to “mirror” U.S. plans to deploy such weapons. In his speech Thursday, he said Russia developed Oreshnik in response to the U.S. development and deployment of missiles with a similar range.

Intermediate-range missiles, or IRBMs, can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Ukrainian military officials said the missile was launched from the Russian region of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea, 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the east.

While Russia has launched cruise missiles at Ukraine from even longer ranges, the new intermediate range missile marked the first such use of this kind of ground-launched ballistic missile, which can carry a much heavier conventional payload and could also be fitted with multiple nuclear warheads.

Putin boasted that the missile, the latest in Russia’s arsenal of hypersonic weapons, reaches its target at speeds of Mach 10, rendering Western missile defenses useless.

Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, noted that the missile used Thursday has a range “way beyond any of that seen in this conflict so far and possibly the first ever use in combat.”

He said the missile was capable of releasing multiple warheads at extremely high speeds, even though they are less accurate than cruise missiles or short-range ballistic missiles.

Video of the strike showed six fiery trails followed by powerful explosions -– an apparent sign of the multiple warheads being used. The authenticity of the videos couldn’t be independently confirmed.

As for Putin's claim that the Western systems could not intercept the missile, Savill said "these are quite hard to defend against” even for advanced U.S. Patriot systems.

“You’re dropping multiple independently targetable warheads, MIRVs, at extremely high speed, so even Patriot will struggle to basically intercept those,” he said.

What's Putin's message to the West?

Putin has described Thursday's use of the Oreshnik as a response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian military facilities in Bryansk and Kursk regions earlier this week with Western-supplied weapons.

One of those strikes killed and wounded an unspecified number of Russian servicemen, which the Kremlin leader said added “elements of a global character” to the conflict.

Putin has warned previously that use of the Western weapons would mean that Russia and NATO are at war.

“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” he said. “And in case of escalation of aggressive actions we will respond resolutely in a mirror way.”

If Russia launches more strikes on Ukraine with the new missile, it will warn of its use in advance to allow civilians to reach safety as a “humanitarian” gesture, Putin said, adding that Moscow isn't worried about tipping off the enemy since it cannot stop the attack

“I would recommend the ruling elites of the countries that are hatching plans to use their military contingents against Russia to seriously think about it,” Putin said.

The larger message to the West is that "we’re happy to enter into a competition around intermediate-range ballistic missiles. P.S. These could be nuclear tipped. Do you really want to take that risk?’”

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council that is chaired by Putin, stepped up the rhetoric by posting a video of the missile attack on Ukraine and chastising the West.

“So, that’s what you wanted? Well, you’ve damn well got it! A hypersonic ballistic missile attack,” he posted on X.

What was the response of Ukraine and the West?

In a speech to the nation, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the attack and accused Moscow of using Ukraine as a testing ground for its new weapon.