Putin has opened the "Pandora's Box" of WW3.

In my last blog entry (20/11/2024 11:25 GMT) I stated that,

"Putin is opening the "Pandora's Box" of WW3.".

As  Mikey Smith (right) now reports,

"Vladimir Putin has threatened the UK with strikes from a “new” kind of missile - as Russia warned Britain it was now “directly involved” in the war.

It comes in a week where Russia has repeatedly stoked fears that the war could extend beyond Ukraine - dragging Western allies including the UK in to the fighting." (Mirror: 21 November 2024 : 21:26 GMT) (my emphasis)

In an interview on Sky News, Andrei Kelin (left), Russian Ambassador to the UK, stated that,

"Britain is now "directly involved" in the Ukraine war after its Storm Shadow missiles were used to strike targets inside Russia, according to Moscow's ambassador.

Speaking to Sky News, Andrei Kelin also warned the West to carefully consider the lower bar Russia has established for using nuclear weapons." (Sky News: Friday 22 November 2024 07:49, UK) (my emphasis)

He further stated what Putin threatened viz.,

"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," Mr Putin said." (ibid Sky News)

Sky News: Friday 22 November 2024

 

And whilst the UK and France have stated that,

"The UK and France will do "everything that is necessary" to support Ukraine and achieve lasting peace, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said in a newspaper piece co-written with his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, external." (BBC News: 22 November 2024) (my emphasis),

whilst German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz (left) is maintaining that,

"‘I refused to supply Taurus to Ukraine' – Scholz is trying to gain votes, telling the Germans that they are not in danger of the Hazel Bush [Putin's recent ICBM missile used on Ukraine in Dnipro].

"Anyone who gives audacious interviews and makes audacious demands should understand that when you provide assistance to Ukraine, you need to do it judiciously, to do so in order to prevent the war from escalating into a war between Russia and NATO." (Pravda EN: 22 November 2024) (my emphasis)

As I wrote in my blog entry of  18 November 2024,

"This 'threat' of Putin scared German Chancellor Scholtz to such an extent that he steadfastly refused suppplying Ukraine with German Taurus missiles and, more recently, sought to appease Putin by having a tête-à-tête  with him. (Remember the former Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel (right), and Putin's 'Minsk Agreements' in 2014 and 2015? )

We should not forget that Putin's prints are all over the 2014 and 2015 Minsk Agreements, together with those of Angela Merkel.

As the Economist wrote in 2014,

"When Germans add the word Versteher (one who understands) to a term, they generally mix flattery with irony. So a Frauenversteher (one who understands women) is usually a man who boasts excessively about his knowledge of the opposite sex. The label is now being attached to so-called Russlandversteher or Putinversteher: members of the elite or intelligentsia who gush with empathy for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, on talk shows, in journals and at dinner parties." (The Economist: May 8th 2014)

Fast forward to 2024 and the "Putinversteher" mentality is still alive and well in Germany.

Now that Putin has used an ICBM in all but name in Ukraine, as Matthew Dooley (left) reports,

"According to North Korean state media, Kim [Jon Un] (right) said: "Never before have the warring parties on the Korean peninsula faced such a dangerous and acute confrontation that it could escalate into the most destructive thermonuclear war."

The fiery rhetoric comes just hours after Vladimir Putin announced the test of a new Russian  missile on Ukraine. Ukraine claimed the weapon was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). However, Pentagon officials believe the weapon was more likely an intermediate-range ballistic missile." (Express: 22 November 2024) (my emphasis)

Putin has opened the "Pandora's Box" of WW3.

UPDATE: 23 November 2024: 13:40 (GMT)

 Laura Kuenssberg (left), (13:13 GMT 23 November 2024) reports that,

"There are no "red lines" when it comes to support for Ukraine, the French Foreign Minister has told the BBC.

 Jean-Noël Barrot (right) said that Ukraine could fire French long-range missiles into Russia "in the logics of self defence", but would not confirm if French weapons had already been used.

...
Barrot, who held talks with Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London on Friday, said Western allies should not put any limits on support for Ukraine against Russia, and "not set and express red lines".
...
Barrot hinted at inviting Ukraine to join Nato, as President Zelensky has requested. "We are open to extending an invitation, and so in our discussions with friends and allies, and friends and allies of Ukraine, we are working to get them to closer to our positions," Barrot said. (BBC News: 23 November 2024) (my emphasis)

 

BBC News: 24 November 2024

 

This comes after  Ruth Comerford yesterday  reported that,

"In an unscheduled TV address, the Russian leader said the Oreshnik missile could not be intercepted and promised to carry out more tests, including in "combat conditions".
...

This week's escalation has also prompted several warnings from other world leaders about the direction of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the war was entering a decisive stage - with a real risk of global conflict.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban meanwhile said the West should take Vladimir Putin's warnings "at face value" because Russia "bases its policies primarily on military power". (BBC News: 22 November 2024) (my emphasis)

Putin's 'end of line'?

UPDATE 2: 24 November 2024: 08:44 GMT

Rebecca Robinson (left) reports that,

"A senior Russian official has warned that Vladimir Putin is within his rights to target NATO countries backing Ukraine amid rising tensions over military aid to Kyiv.

...

He hailed the strategy as "an appropriate and long-awaited response," accusing the US and its European allies of "using missiles to strike Russian territory."

He added: "Our country has the right to target military facilities of states that attack us. Despite Western claims that Russia will not dare to act, it will-and it has every right to do so." (Daily Express on MSN: 23 November 2024) (my emphasis)

The Times of India on MSN: 23 November 2024

Rebecca Robinson further reports that,

"Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the West for seemingly capitulating to Putin's strategy: "What is needed are strong actions that will force him to peace, not persuasion," Zelensky demanded." " (ibid Rebecca Robinson)

And as Dr. Sergey Suleni (left) points out,

"So Putin is afraid, he's weak, but he believes that the West is more ...is than he is and he threatens the West with nukes" (WION on MSN: 23 November 2024) (my emphasis)

He further states that,

"Well, the division between ICBM and IBM is purely ... purely numbered divisions. Like does missile come from further than 5000 kilometers or does it not. So that practically it's the same missile, the same technology of the same, the same principles." (ibid WION)

WION on MSN: 23 November 2024

 

 

 

(to be continued)