Starmer backpedals on permission to Kiev on use of Storm Shadow in Russia
On this afternoon's edition of The Great Game, host Vyacheslav Nikonov made use of a cleverly rhyming Russian _expression_ for today's backpedaling by the British Prime Minister on his bold and, shall we say rather stupid, assertions of late that Britain is ready to allow unrestricted use of its precision long range Storm Shadow missiles against the Russian heartland:
To wit: ' Я не трус но я боюсь' This translates into non-rhyming English as 'I am no coward, but I am afraid.'
The point is the apparent salutary effect of Vladimir Putin's clear statement yesterday that such 'permission' is considered by Russia to place NATO in the position of co-belligerent with Ukraine in its war on Russia. Under these conditions, the Russian president will retaliate in accordance with the level of threat he perceives in any Ukrainian strikes on his country. What this means was left to the imagination of those it was addressed to, namely Joe Biden and Keir Starmer.
We already knew that in advance of Starmer's arrival in Washington, Biden had reiterated the American prohibition on Kiev's using its high precision offensive weapons inside Russia until further notice but that he is amenable to the British doing so. Now Starmer seems to have done the arithmetic and understood that the Americans were playing him for a fool. So he, too, seems to be backing off from his would-be solidarity with Kiev,
This, of course, cannot be taken to be a definitive decision by the Brits and Americans, but it is a move in the right direction that should cheer all those of us who would like to survive at least to year's end so that we may celebrate St. Sylvester in peace. Of course there may still be some new convulsion of Russia hatred that prompts these actors to flip flop yet again. And in the meantime it is possible that they will back a planned appeal by Zelensky to the UN General Assembly during its September session to vote a resolution endorsing Ukraine's use of such weapons against Russia as it continues its war of self-defense. Such a resolution, if passed, would have no legal weight but would be just the sort of Public Relations coup that is mistaken for a foreign policy and also for a military victory by the shallow personalities who populate the State Department.
Time will tell...
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024