The United States and its allies have sent tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Ukraine over the past nine months, ignoring Moscow’s warnings that the arms flow escalates the conflict, and results in the uncontrolled spread of Western weaponry to terrorists and criminal groups across the planet.
As chief sponsor to Kiev in the ongoing Ukrainian security crisis, Washington has the right to tell Kiev when enough is enough as far as US arms deliveries are concerned, and that time is right now, says staunch anti-interventionist and veteran paleo-conservative commentator Pat Buchanan.
Pointing to the $38 billion in new assistance requested by the Biden White House last month ahead of the convening of a new Congress where Republicans will control the House of Representatives, Buchanan, a former advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, asked what interest Americans have in granting the request, besides possibly igniting a war with Russia.
“The US ought not dictate to Kiev when it should move to the negotiating track to end this war. But we Americans do have, given our indispensable contributions to the Ukrainian war effort, the right to tell Kiev when we believe that the risks of further fighting exceed any potential gain for us; and, if Kiev is determined to fight on, to give notice that Ukraine will be doing so without any more US munitions,” Buchanan wrote in a recent op-ed.
“Great powers should never cede to lesser powers, unconnected to their vital interests, the capacity to drag them into unwanted wars,” Buchanan emphasized, pointing to the risks posed by Washington continuing to finance the Ukraine conflict with $38 billion in new aid, which would “virtually guarantee” that fighting continues into the spring, as the suffering of ordinary Ukrainians grows.
The commentator stressed that given the US’s decisive financial contribution to propping up the Kiev government, Americans “also need to have a voice” in saying when the conflict ends, and that for the US, the “greatest” interest lies not in who controls the Donbass, Kherson, or Central and Eastern Europe as a whole for that matter, but in avoiding being drawn directly into situation “that would put us on the escalator to a war with Russia, a world war and perhaps a nuclear war.”....more below
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is preparing to leave the Trump administration after what a new report has described as months of tension with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, potentially triggering another change at the army’s top echelons.
According to the Friday report by The Wall Street Journal, Driscoll is expected to step down before the end of the year and could leave his post earlier. The newspaper cited people familiar with discussions over his departure.
The Journal reported that Driscoll and his family vacated the official residence assigned to the army secretary at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall this summer, a move that could indicate he was preparing to leave the position.
The reported departure would come at a time of continuing uncertainty at the top echelons of the army.
Hegseth abruptly removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April, while Trump has not yet nominated a permanent successo....more below
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warns the enemies that any act of aggression against the Islamic Republic will not go unanswered.
In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC issued a “stern warning” to the enemies after US forces launched strikes against the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Following the US military attack on a point on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport with aerial projectiles, the IRGC carried out new strikes targeting the US air base from which the attack originated in the wee hours of Thursday, it added.
“This response is a serious warning to the enemy that they should know the act of aggression will not go unanswered,” the IRGC emphasized.
The elite military force warned of a “more decisive” response if the enemy repeated any act of aggression.
It also said the responsibility for the consequences of any IRGC response lies with the aggressor.
The statement comes after the IRGC Navy on Thursday forced an American tanker to turn back. The tanker ...
