Consequences, Warnings?
During recent NATO war “games” in the Baltic region the US simulated a nuclear attack on St. Petersburg (for a time, “Leningrad”) using B-52 bombers. It was a needlessly and aggressively provocative act, conducted at very close range, in Russia’s backyard.
In possibly related news, Russia is reported to have utilized at least six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in its latest massive missile strike on Ukraine. When this news broke it caught my attention. The original reports suggested that the Kinzhals had been used to take out NATO supplied Iris-T and NASAMS surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). This would be logical, since the hypersonic Kinzhals might be able to strike at these mobile SAMs before they could re-locate and elude Russian counter strikes. This use of the Kinzhals seems certain, including the deaths of NATO personnel.
On the other hand, there is another very obvious use for the Kinzhals in the context of the conflict in Ukraine. That would be to target command and control centers of various types. While some of those centers are located outside Ukraine (Poland, Germany), others are known to be located in Ukraine, especially near Kiev (which was heavily targeted in the most recent strikes). These command and control centers are heavily staffed by NATO personnel. They are also typically hardened sites far below ground to protect them from most attacks, since the equipment they contain is not mobile. However, they are highly vulnerable to hypersonic missiles, which generate far more kinetic energy than conventional missiles. It struck me as quite possible that the Russians had, indeed, used the Kinzhals not only against SAMs but also against command and control centers. To this point it does not appear that the Russians have targeted these sites.
Today Will Schryver cites some reports that claim that the Russians did, in fact, target command and control centers and that numerous NATO officers were killed. He speculates that this was a response to NATO provocations like the simulated nuclear attack on St. Petersburg:
More on those “mock” B-52 attacks—which the Russians claimed, in 2020, were happening at the rate of 33-40 per week:
Note that Gotland does not appear in the map above—it appears in red, below:
This is all I’ve seen so far. If true it’s a considerable escalation. Two additional points.
First, American “exceptionalism” dictates that simulated B-52 close range nuclear attacks on Russia are perfectly OK, just because. On the other hand, it’s evil for Chinese jets to pick up on US military flights near China’s coast.
Second, in addition to the B-52 provocations, Victoria Nuland has engaged in some provocations of her own which may relate even more directly to the matter of command and control centers. Nuland has openly stated that Russian command and control centers in Crimea are legitimate military targets and that the US will assist Ukraine in targeting them. Her statement, of course, relies upon NATO’s narrative that Crimea is part of Ukraine—in fact, Crimea has been Russian since the time of Catherine the Great. For the US to assist Ukraine in such attacks—which are unlikely to make it through Russia’s air defense system—would be a direct attack on Russia. If Russia did take out command and control centers in Ukraine, was this a severe warning that there are consequences for loose talk as well as recklessly provocative actions?
Speaking of cannon fodder: When will nuland move her HQ to Kiev? One of those hardened locations?
The Two Alexes made the excellent point that while the neocon nutjobs are obsessing about Ukraine, the Middle East and 70 years of diplomacy have just slipped away from them, probably forever. The China-Saudi-Iran deal may well be looked back on (if we are allowed that privilege) as the point when US unipolarism died. And the neocons were completely blind-sided by this crazed fixation with a country of little consequence. They make Jimmy Carter seem like Bismarck.