Has Putin thrown down the gauntlet to NATO?

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip fired two pistol shots at Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, fatally wounding the Archduke and his wife Sophie, who both died. This assasination set WW1 in motion. (Wikipedia)

World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. (Wikipedia) (image left: Gavrilo Princip and Adolf Hitler)

Fast forward to the 15 November 2022 and Nikkei Asia reported that,

"5:40 a.m. (Tokyo time) Poland's government has convened an emergency security after two people were reportedly killed by a missile strike near the border with Ukraine. Local media reports say a Russian missile is suspected in the deaths near the village of Przewodow. (Nikkei Asia (1) : 16 November 2022) (my emphasis)

"Poland's government convened an emergency security meeting on Tuesday evening after two people were reportedly killed by a missile strike in the Polish countryside near Ukraine.

Polish media said the two died close to Przewodow, a village next to the border with Ukraine." (Nikkei Asia (2) : 16 November 2022) (my emphasis) (cf also: Wall Street Journal, CNN, SABC, to name but a few other outlets reporting this critical event)

 CNN : 16 November 2022

This critical event happened whilst the 2022 G20 Summit was in full swing in Bali.

As reported by the Financial Times,

"Poland has convened emergency talks with its Nato allies after what Warsaw said was a strike by a “Russian-made missile” in the village of Przewodów at 3.40pm local time on Tuesday.

Leia Paxton : Express : 15 November 2022

“There was total unanimity around the table [in Bali]” in support for Poland, Biden added after the emergency meeting with the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, plus the presidents of the European Council and European Commission." (Financial Times : 16 November 2022) (my emphasis)

Given the singular events of an assasination in 1914 (Gavrilo Princip), and the invasion of Poland  in 1939 (Hitler), that sparked off WW1 and WW2 respectively, politicians are reacting extremely cautiously in jumping to conclusions about who is responsible for a Russian missile killing 2 Polish citizens on Polish soil.

Putin, however, immediately denied responsibility for this missile strike on Polish soil.

As reported by Oliver Slow (right),

"Russia has denied it was to blame for the missile that landed in

Przewodow, on the Ukrainian border... " (BBC News : 16 November 2022) (my emphasis)

Oliver Snow goes on to report that,

"While Russia condemned as a "provocation" initial suggestions that it had fired the missile into Poland, President Biden told reporters at the G20 Summit in Bali that "preliminary information" contested those reports." (ibid Oliver Snow)

However, 

"Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said earlier that any claim that Ukraine was responsible for Polish deaths was a Russian "conspiracy theory" and that anyone amplifying the message was spreading "Russian propaganda". (ibid Oliver Snow)

What this event throws into stark relief is the continuous pleadings of Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, for the West to supply him with more radar systems to protect the people and infrastructure of Ukraine from the continuous onslaught of Putin's Iranian made drones and his cruise missiles.

As Snejana Farberov reported on 27 June 2022,

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday urged the Group of Seven world leaders to supply modern air defense systems to his nation to better protect it from daily missile strikes — and to toughen economic sanctions against Russia.
...
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Zelensky’s top request was for further air defense systems. Sullivan said most of the conversation was “about the way forward and how President Zelensky sees the course of the war.” (New York Post : 27 June 2022) (my emphasis) 
 

New York Post : 27 June 2022

Has Putin now thrown down the gauntlet to NATO?

Only the result of an investigation into the missile that  is responsible for the death of 2 Polish citizens on Polish soil will be able to tell us.

(to be continued)