Ukraine
Fig. 1. “The atomic cloud over Nagasaki 1945.” Photograph from Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Overseas Operations Branch, New York Office, News and Features Bureau, (12/17/1942 – 09/15/1945), by Charles Levy, August 9, 1945, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Ukraine continues to kick Vladimir Putin’s delusional ass.[1] So as I have previously noted, it’s the perfect time for tankies, who think any imperialism is just fine and dandy as long as it isn’t U.S. or North Atlantic Treaty Organization imperialism,[2] to send a letter to Joe Biden urging him to consider direct diplomacy, bypassing Ukraine, to stop the war.
On Tuesday, [Pramila] Jayapal said the letter had been drafted several months ago and “released by staff without vetting.” She also sought to distance Democrats from recent comments by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who suggested that a GOP-led House would not support additional aid to Ukraine.
“As Chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this,” Jayapal said in a statement. “The proximity of these statements created the unfortunate appearance that Democrats, who have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people, are somehow aligned with Republicans who seek to pull the plug on American support for President Zelensky and the Ukrainian forces.”[3]
Whether or not this was indeed a staff error, the fact is that back in June, several so-called “progressive” members of Congress signed it.[4]
And because even the macho critics of the Russian army’s lackluster fight can’t win on the battlefield against Ukraine,[5] now is the perfect time for Putin and his lackeys to claim that Ukraine will detonate a so-called “dirty bomb” in a “false flag” attack to blame Russia. But apparently Vladimir Putin doesn’t have any nuclear scientists available to dummy up the claim such that it might at least be plausible.[6]
The letter [to the United Nations] was delivered at a time when Russia is still suffering battlefield losses in Ukraine and anxious to reverse the momentum. Nato has entered its second week of annual drills rehearsing for nuclear war, and Russia is expected to launch its own annual exercises this week.
The Russian UN letter presented no evidence for Moscow’s claim that Ukraine was preparing to detonate a dirty bomb, an explosive device designed to disperse radioactive materials over an area to render it at least temporarily uninhabitable.
Instead, it lists all the possible sources of radioactive isotopes to which Ukraine could conceivably have access, but makes several mistakes, suggesting whoever drafted the letter had no grasp of the science involved, experts said. . . .
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Russia’s accusation was a sign that Moscow – which has threatened to use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine – was planning such an attack and preparing to shift the blame to Ukraine.[7]
U.S. officials said that Moscow’s allegations raised a risk that Russia itself was planning to carry out a radiation attack, potentially as a pretext to justify further escalation of the war amid its continuing territorial setbacks.
In a statement Tuesday, Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, Energoatom, issued a similar warning, citing the Russian military’s control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar. “Energoatom assumes that such actions of the occupiers may indicate that they are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at the ZNPP site,” the statement said.[8]
Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont, “Russia steps up Ukraine ‘dirty bomb’ claim in letter delivered to UN,” Guardian, October 25, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/25/russia-to-raise-ukraine-dirty-bomb-claim-at-un-security-council
Mary Ilyushina and Emily Rauhala, “Ukrainian forces advance against Russian fighters in Kherson and Bakhmut,” Washington Post, October 25, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/25/bakhmut-kherson-ukraine-war-russia/
Amy B. Wang, Yasmeen Abutaleb, and Marianna Sotomayor, “Liberal Democrats withdraw letter to Biden that urged him to rethink Ukraine strategy,” Washington Post, October 25, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/25/democrats-ukraine-letter/
- [1]Mary Ilyushina and Emily Rauhala, “Ukrainian forces advance against Russian fighters in Kherson and Bakhmut,” Washington Post, October 25, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/25/bakhmut-kherson-ukraine-war-russia/↩
- [2]Roane Carey, “Don’t Be a Tankie: How the Left Should Respond to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” Intercept, March 1, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/03/01/ukraine-russia-leftists-tankie/↩
- [3]Amy B. Wang, Yasmeen Abutaleb, and Marianna Sotomayor, “Liberal Democrats withdraw letter to Biden that urged him to rethink Ukraine strategy,” Washington Post, October 25, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/25/democrats-ukraine-letter/↩
- [4]Amy B. Wang, Yasmeen Abutaleb, and Marianna Sotomayor, “Liberal Democrats withdraw letter to Biden that urged him to rethink Ukraine strategy,” Washington Post, October 25, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/25/democrats-ukraine-letter/↩
- [5]Mary Ilyushina and Emily Rauhala, “Ukrainian forces advance against Russian fighters in Kherson and Bakhmut,” Washington Post, October 25, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/25/bakhmut-kherson-ukraine-war-russia/↩
- [6]Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont, “Russia steps up Ukraine ‘dirty bomb’ claim in letter delivered to UN,” Guardian, October 25, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/25/russia-to-raise-ukraine-dirty-bomb-claim-at-un-security-council↩
- [7]Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont, “Russia steps up Ukraine ‘dirty bomb’ claim in letter delivered to UN,” Guardian, October 25, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/25/russia-to-raise-ukraine-dirty-bomb-claim-at-un-security-council↩
- [8]Mary Ilyushina and Emily Rauhala, “Ukrainian forces advance against Russian fighters in Kherson and Bakhmut,” Washington Post, October 25, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/25/bakhmut-kherson-ukraine-war-russia/↩