Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown has claimed arming Ukraine with long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMs) isn’t as risky now as it was earlier in the war.
“The risk of escalation is not as high as maybe it was at the beginning,” Brown told reporters last week, according to Defense One.
ATACMs are missiles that can be fired from the HIMARS rocket systems the US has been providing Ukraine. According to media reports, the US has secretly armed Ukraine with an older cluster bomb variant of the ATACMs, which have a range of up to 100 miles.
But Ukraine is still seeking the newer version of the missile, which can hit targets up to 190 miles away. US officials have previously said they couldn’t send Ukraine ATACMs because there aren’t enough in US military stockpiles.
Another reason for not sending them to Ukraine is the risk of escalation since a 190-mile range would give Ukraine the ability to hit targets deep inside Russia. According to Defense One, top US military officials have said ATACMs could provoke a nuclear response from Russia or a Russian attack on a NATO country.
But as the war has dragged on, concerns about escalations have waned, and NATO countries have taken several steps they previously ruled out due to concerns of provoking Russia.
“Those are the things that we…pay attention to. You know, what is the likelihood of escalation based on…different capabilities and different actions,” Brown said.
In recent months, Ukraine has significantly escalated its attacks inside Russia, including drone attacks, artillery shelling, and ground raids launched by militias from inside Ukraine. Russia has also accused Ukraine of being linked to the recent terrorist attack at a concert hall outside of Moscow, which killed over 140 people.
Is that the most interesting news you could find on Ukaraine today, Dave? Or is it the only thing you could spin to make Ukraine look like the aggressor? Jake Broe has the real story. It’s Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s power plants and Biden’s reaction:
Ukraine is NOT the aggressor; the US is.
Ukraine is the US proxy.
As Ollie North put it recently, referring to Ukrainians, “Our bullets; their blood.”
I feel bad for the hapless Ukrainians. They have been duped. Their leaders on the other hand are criminals for leading their people into a bloodbath. But they are minor crooks compared to Genocide Joe and his gang of Dems and other neocons.
The US invaded Russia? No. Call out the correct aggressor.
“Ukraine is the US proxy.”
He did.
No. He didn’t.
Yes. He did. He just didn’t go back to when the cold war ended. That’s when the aggression started. “Not one inch eastward” was like “gentleman, start your
enginesaggression”.No. Who attacked whom?
We were talking about aggression. The war started on Feb 24, 2022. The aggression started on the day after the cold war ended. And it was going to continue on until Russia took the bait.
Which they did — making them the aggressors. (Anything else is just trying to justify that aggression.)
If Russia took the bait then the West is also responsible for beginning the war in Ukraine.
We’ve been baiting Russia since the end of the Cold War as wars r u.s. said. Thus this war is an intentional fabrication by the West.
You can’t justify the west’s role in starting this war no matter how guilty Russia may be.
I didn’t. This was a discussion of who the aggressor was. Please try to keep up.
The real aggressor was the Nuland Piatt duo who did the 2014 coup.
DRINK!
The joint chiefs is a real closet fan of Russian culture, particularly Russian roulette.
Yep. Great idea.
Let’s give the Kiev psychos long range ATACMS, which can carry nuke warheads. What could possibly go wrong?
Honestly, after popinjay Milley I thought it couldn’t get any worse. Seems I was wrong. Where does America find these total morons?
They are abundant in the rank & file of the US military.
Bootlickers. Follow a superior officer, nose up his *ss, to get an increase in rank, not be an efficient soldier, just a bootlicking, *ss kissing moron. Eventually becoming a General, like Lloyd Auston.
From where would Ukraine get the nuclear warheads? You guys just spit out whatever pops into your heads.
They would get the nukes same place & suppliers as their entire kit, from U.S., U.K. or the Frence. But this is a fatally bad idea. It would give Russia the chance to demonstrate one of it’s HUGE nukes which are 4000 times the blast & explosive force of the ones deployed by the U.S. & NATO!!!!!! Such retaliation would end NATO and the Ukraine war in one day. None of the NATO countries would be willing to take one of such a blast.
Oh, boy! HUGE nukes! Tankie wet-dreams!
“Such retaliation would end NATO and the Ukraine war and Russia in one day.”
Fixed, no charge.
Charlie Brown is a Diversity Equity Inclusion DEI appointment. Not the sharpest tool in the shed!
I hope they agree that the risk of escalation is limited when the Russians start dropping Zircons on Brussels, London, and Washington. Poland and Romania will be first once the F-16’s start flying from there. The Russians have already said airfields there will be legitimate targets. So far they haven’t hit them even though Ukrainian aircraft have been flying from those countries, but will change if F-16s do.
Not that Russia needs to hit those airfields. Read this (translated from the Russian from:
https://cont.ws/@sam8807/2770878
Great analysis, thank you!
“The risk of escalation is not as high as maybe it was at the beginning,” Brown told reporters last week, according to Defense One.
What’s he basing that on? Does he think that Russia will retaliate in the same way if their asses are backed up against the wall and there is an actual existential threat? I’m not a military expert but it would seem to me that everything is relative to what position Russia is in as to what their response will be. Keep pushing the envelope.
Here’s the problem wars, you’ve got common sense and the general doesn’t – that’s why you sound like Mearsheimer
and he sounds like a moron – ntm we’re currently in 2 losing wars.
Didn’t Russia hack them and make them go everywhere but where intended…???? I distinctly remember all the talk around the time they were delivered that THEY would be a “Game Changer”…
And then a few months later or a bit more time later reading that Russia had hacked them. So what is the story now, that they were never hacked, that they have found a way to stop future hacks, or that the Russians never did hack them effectively…??????!!!
JCS Chief is a Diversity Equity Inclusion – DEI appointment nothing more.
Strategy and international affairs are not his forte. He is an Air Force guy with aviation as his main background.
He is NOT well versed in Russian studies, language, culture, and thinking.
Statements like: “The risk of escalation is not as high as maybe it was at the beginning,” will get us all killed in World War III!