Dumping tonnes of this especially vicious dynamite on the Ukrainian army looks like a good sticking plaster for what is in reality a gaping wound.
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The news that NATO, or rather that the U.S., has chosen to unload its aging stock of cluster bombs should not actually come as a surprise to those following the Ukraine War. From the first day, western elites have been confused about what they are doing, what their objectives are and what completion game should be. NATO has actually shifted the goalposts a lot of times, in terms of customs, that it is becoming rather tough to see a clear image. Even Stoltenberg himself seems flustered at a press conference when he is tackled on the nuts ‘n bolts of the current strategies.
Cluster bombs are now to be utilized against Russian forces in particular to stop tanks. The reason why this decision has been taken is clear though: the West requires to purchase time for EU countries in specific to build up their military stocks which are running dangerously low. The West needs at least six months prior to it can even think of preparing Ukraine for a new “offending” and so disposing tonnes of this particularly terrible dynamite on the Ukrainian army appeared like a great sticking plaster for what is in reality a gaping injury.
However are these the same cluster bombs which the majority of NATO members signed a treaty to prohibit? Are these the very same bombs that the west used to take the high moral ground with when accusing Russia of using them against Ukrainian forces? The hypocrisy, or rather desperation is spectacular however it highlights a point which keeps raising its unsightly head. The more time that passes with no modification to the fortified line, the more Russia wins and the more the West loses. And NATO employers and maybe Biden understands this and so the effort of cluster bombs to me personally, as a reporter who has actually seen what they carry out in battle zone, is a determined strategy of a side which understands it’s losing and wishes to slow down the speed of its own death on the battleground.
What individuals don’t tell you about cluster bombs is their amazing ability to kill civilians– generally kids– rather than change the course of history on a battleground. And what most western reporters won’t mention in their copy is that America has actually been using such dirty bombs considering that the Vietnam war, when, during the late sixties 270 countless these tiny “submunitions” were dropped in Laos which still eliminate children to this day who find them in fields and play with them.
However it’s no video game for the soldiers who on the Ukrainian side are anticipated to feel much better now that the howitzers, HIMARS, Javelins not to mention the Bradleys have all stopped being provided. Now, they are expected to have their spirits raised by the impending arrival of the cluster bombs which I would question very much will be used to assault Russian forces on the Russian side of the strengthened line. No, what is far more likely is that they will be used in a protective capability when the Russians choose the penetrate the line and enter the Ukrainian side and make a move on cities like Odessa. The cluster bombs will be used versus the Russian tanks and utilized in such massive amounts that thousands of these little explosives will be left in rural areas hidden under the soil for kids in years to come to discover. On the battleground, the photos of civilians being blown apart by them as well as soldiers, will be ubiquitously distributed no doubt by the Kiev propaganda system– the very same unit which helps British reporters with their salacious stories about Russian bombs being “seen” on the sides of the Zaporizizhya nuclear power plant, as just one example.
NATO has a crisis on lots of levels. Not just does it not believe it can defeat the Russians, it likewise has a financial problem which its secretary basic hinted at recently in a press conference. It is expecting more of its members to spend more on defence or at least reach the 2% GDP threshold but it’s as though Stoltenberg understands that with EU economies flat broke– the German central bank so broke that it requires to request for a bailout from the ECB– that it is difficult to picture that the levels of military help are going to be anything like before. The cluster bomb initiative is so desperate therefore pathetic on many levels that Zelensky needs to see where the future lies. The best-case circumstance for him is that the dispute halts for an indefinite period of time in what experts are calling a “freeze” although this appears unlikely on the Russian side. However even with a freeze, the reliability of NATO collapses as increasingly more western citizens get up to a reality that NATO itself does not own hardware. Its member states who own this and contribute it when it can. Now this supply line is rapidly drying up and what we are witnessing now at Vilnius with the offer of a Ukraine NATO council is simply smoke and mirrors. Just more postponing strategies while Joe Biden scratches his head and works out his next move, which will most likely involve personal professionals fighting for the West which the U.S. president will just have to hope that Russia doesn’t treat as NATO soldiers. There are rumours that retired flying force pilots are being approached in America and being asked if they would fly F16s in Ukraine. If Zelensky is about to turn on the west and problem final notices, this is what he will probably request. Once again, shifting goal posts. The only method in Ukraine which has any consistency.
The views of specific contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Structure.