Putin promises Germany military response if NATO deploys hypersonic missiles

Although Ryabkov did not want to specify further what the Putin regime had in mind in the face of such a banal action (remember that Russia has recently placed nuclear missiles in Belarus and has even undertaken exercises for the use of tactical nuclear weapons, right in front of Poland and the Baltic countries), he did want to make it clear that the Ministry of Defense has been working on such a response for some time, which clearly reflects the climate of paranoia that prevails right now in Moscow.

As the chain has revealed , This is not the first time that Russia has set its sights on Germany and is trying to influence its aid to Ukraine by using force. American intelligence, in collaboration with German police, earlier this year thwarted a plan conceived in Moscow to assassinate businessman Armin Pappergerpresident of the Rheinmetall arms company, one of the companies responsible for manufacturing ammunition and bombs for the Ukrainian front.

According to sources consulted by the newspaper, the attempted murder of Papperger would be one of many planned by Russia, never in person, but through mercenaries and related criminal gangs.

At that point, it would be impossible to directly link the Russian secret services to the murder. Such attacks have even been seen in Spain, when the former Russian pilot, Maxim Kuzminov, He was shot in Malaga after defecting from Putin’s army. The affair was initially treated as a settling of scores, but suspicions about Kremlin involvement have always been present.

F-16s finally arrive in Ukraine

Despite Russia’s insistence on a strategy of provocation by NATO (in fact, it was the Kremlin itself that withdrew practically all its troops from the borders with member countries, believing that there was no danger of attack), the truth is that the Alliance has shown itself to be little intimidated at its meeting this week in Washington DC.

Beyond the unanimous support for Ukraine and the promise of a preferential relationship that could lead to the inclusion of the country presided over by Volodymyr Zelensky in the near future, practically all members have shown their willingness to send more weapons and more money to kyiv.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinkenconfirmed the shipment by his country, Holland and Denmark of the First shipment of F-16 aircraftIt is part of fulfilling the promise Joe Biden made more than a year ago and the process of training the pilots has been much more complicated than initially anticipated.

There is no consensus on whether the weapons received can be used on Russian territory. The United Kingdom has given the green light to use the Storm Shadows wherever Ukraine wants, as long as they are military targets. However, the United States still refuses to allow ATACMS to penetrate beyond border bases.

Separately, the Atlantic Alliance has wanted to remind China that it must maintain its promised neutrality in the conflict. According to NATO, the Chinese regime Xi Jinping would be helping Russia in practice in its war against Ukraine, even if it denies it in public. This tough stance towards Beijing must be understood as a logical concession to the United States: if Europe wants its ally to get involved in a possible continental war, it will have to commit to helping it in the event of a conflict in the Pacific that may be closer than it thinks.

The enemy within

The public confrontation with China also has a lot of message for Donald Trumpwhom many are beginning to see as an inevitable evil in the face of the drift of the Democratic Party and its questionable candidate.

The former president insisted again on Thursday that NATO not only served the United States no purpose, but also cost them money and put their safety at risk. In February, he had already declared that he intended to let “Russia do whatever it wants with its European enemies,” which naturally sparked controversy.

Now, if anyone in this world is willing to launch into a direct confrontation with China, it is Trump. In fact, his foreign policy is based on the economic clash with the eastern power, which he blames for all the ills of his country… and on the hostility towards Iran and the ayatollahs.

He has a lot to settle with them since, near the end of his mandate, he personally ordered the assassination of General Soleimani, Khamenei’s right-hand man in the army. Iran then promised revenge and Trump is not one to shy away from combat when it becomes personal.

This dialectical escalation of NATO with respect to China may serve to make Trump understand that it is good to have allies in his fight, although, in passing, it may confront him with the great enemy of the West within the West itself: the Hungarian Viktor OrbánThe far-right president jumped to the defence of Beijing: “I refuse to allow NATO to become an anti-Chinese bloc,” Orbán said in Florida, shortly before meeting Trump himself at Mar-A-Lago.

Orbán, who has visited both Putin and Xi in the last week despite holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, to the outrage of the other member countries, also expressed his opposition to Ukraine joining NATO: “It would give us more instability.”

It will be interesting to see how the two great leaders who want to end NATO and who share admiration for Putin manage their antagonistic relations with China. Something will occur to them. The common enemy is the liberal project of the West and, for decades, the Atlantic Alliance has been precisely in charge of defending that project from all threats. Ending NATO is giving free rein to totalitarianism. Both seem delighted.