Director of National Intelligence James Clapper today confirmed what analysts have been warning about the possibility of providing arms to the Ukrainian military, saying it would trigger retaliation from Russia, who would likely send more sophisticated arms to the eastern rebels.
The Pentagon had insisted the arms would just scare the rebels into surrendering, and those arguing that it would lead to a buildup of a proxy war with Russia were arguing against the plan. Except Clapper.
Clapper, by contrast, sees the escalation of the Ukraine war as a good thing, and says he personally favors it, though he says it “does not represent an official company policy of the intelligence community.”
Throwing weapons at Ukraine to try to escalate the civil war there seems particularly inopportune right now, with Russia having worked with EU nations to negotiate a ceasefire which is holding up very nicely. The US opposed those negotiations in the first place, and to sabotage the Minsk ceasefire with arms shipments would surely not only spark Russian retaliation, but likely irk France and Germany, who worked hard on the deal.
Next question should have been what personal $take does he have in the war / on supporting US involvement in that war. Just who do these people work for?
I believe Scott Rickard described Clapper
to Ryan Dawson* in an interview(one of only two that I know of). Sounded just like a Zionist ideologue in a speech to current and ex-spooks. Seems like an answer, there. *Whoops, could've been to Mark Glenn…Hmm, giving neo-nazis enough weapons to take on a superpower. Wonder what new terrorist organization that move would create.
There should be no doubt in people that the USA and its allies have become today what the axis powers were in WW2.
Don' t froget that Kiev governement call Washigton every day saying that Russia is invading.It would interesting to count how much times Russai has already "invaded" Ukraine since the beginning of the civil war.
Another deadly US spat
If Clapper deviates from President Obama's policy he must be fired for this. If he is not fired then this is official policy notwithstanding the weird statement of “does not represent an official company policy of the intelligence community” which begs the question "what is company policy"? I have the perhaps naive view that policies are made at the White House and not in the intelligence community. If that is no longer the case then our nation is in really deep doodoo.
"The Pentagon had insisted the arms would just scare the rebels into surrendering … ", once again we are graced w/the avarice motivated wisdom of our procurement specialists in the Pentagon who use buying and reselling US weapons as employment interviews w/the MIC.
Incidentally, which adversary has the Pentagon "scared" since WWII?
Never seems to be any shortage of people who are willing to fight amongst themselves as the behest of AmeriKa. People who will kill their brothers and sisters and do irreparable damage to their nation for some US shekels and a whiff of power.
Amazing how people do not see and learn from the tragedies of other victims of the past.
Here again, what stands out is Mr Ditz's palpable anxiety that the ceasefire might not hold. The reality is, though, that the US has little choice but to arm and train the Ukrainian military up to NATO standards. Putin has made that inevitable. Even if Putin pulls his mercenaries out of Donetsk and negotiates seriously about Crimea, he will never again be trusted by the international community. Thus, as long as he remains president, the need to protect Ukrainians being labelled "pro-Russian" against their will and seeing their country invaded and parts of it annexed will be there. Even if the astrologers are right and Putin loses power sometime this summer, there will still be a period of years before anyone trusts his successor. I would guess therefore that this is an "authorised" comment and Obama may well have said the same thing privately to Putin.
Define "holding up nicely" because there is still fighting and shelling going on. What's the endgame of the ceasefire, a Ukrainian flavored East Germany? Another Belarus in Europe? Awesome. That's going to ensure peace and stability in Europe for sure.
Antiwar gets this one wrong. There's no possibility of escalation with the Russians because they have already decided what they are going to do in a cynical move to keep their gas pipeline and grab defense infrastructure in Eastern Ukraine. That's what the fighting in the East is about, it's not about political freedom and the people fighting are fighting for Russian shekels.