This article appears in the May 26, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Britain’s Provocative Role in Pushing
Nations Toward Nuclear Confrontation
[Print version of this article]
May 19—Throughout each phase of the war between Russia and NATO in Ukraine, and prior to it, the British oligarchy and British governments have been instigators of provocative new policies and actions, escalating confrontations when other NATO nations hesitated at crossing over new lines.
Here is a quick and partial survey of what the deliberately provocative British initiatives—apparently taken without prior consultation with the United States—have pushed through:
• In 2015, immediately after the signing of the Minsk Accords had threatened to institute peace, the British initiated Operation Orbital for British armed forces to train Ukrainian troops inside Ukraine. According to an August 18, 2020 posting on the United Kingdom government’s website, gov.uk,
Since the training mission began in 2015, British troops have trained over 18,000 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF). Their efforts have made a real difference and saved lives as Ukraine faces down Russian aggression and threats to its sovereignty. Last year the Defence Secretary extended Operation Orbital until 2023.
The British set up a parallel Maritime Training Initiative, involving sending Royal Navy vessels to Ukraine, to train Ukrainian naval personnel.
• Further deepening the British Empire’s penetration of Ukraine’s armed forces, in 2016 the British deployed Gen. Sir Gordon Messenger as “Special Defense Adviser” to sit on Ukraine’s Defense Reform Advisory Board. For part of this time, from 2016 to 2019, Messenger was Vice Chief of the British Defense Staff.
Why would the British be doing all this training of Ukrainian forces if not leading the drive for a “Ukrainian” war against Russia? This long preceded the Feb. 24, 2022, Russian Special Military Operation. The 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements were supposed to be in effect.
• When the sending of battle tanks to Ukraine was considered off limits, on Jan. 17, 2023, the UK Foreign Office announced that the UK was sending 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks, self-propelled artillery, and thousands of rounds of ammunition to Ukraine. After Britain broke the taboo, other NATO nations pledged tanks.
• On March 23, 2023 the UK Ministry of Defense announced that the United Kingdom, first of any nation, would provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds for those tanks, containing depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process needed to create nuclear weapons. The rounds retain some radioactive properties. Some of these rounds have already been destroyed in combat and radiotoxic metal particles released into the atmosphere.
• On May 12, senior Western officials told CNN that the United Kingdom had delivered multiple “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles to Ukraine, providing Ukraine with a weapon with a range of 250 km. Such missiles are meant to strike deep into Russian territory, and on May 12 they hit two manufacturing facilities in Lugansk.
• On May 15, the United Kingdom announced that it will start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets and is already working with other countries to push the United States to provide F-16s to Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry—on May 12, the day that the UK announced that it would deliver Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine—stated that London’s decision to supply Kiev with long-range cruise missiles was a “serious escalation” of the conflict in Ukraine. The ministry called the announcement an “extremely hostile move by London,” which “graphically confirms the unprecedented level of Britain’s involvement in the conflict.” It continued:
Getting absorbed in geopolitics and trying to assert itself as NATO’s informal leader on the Ukrainian track as Russia’s implacable opponent, Britain is apparently prepared to cross any line and raise the conflict to a completely new level in terms of destruction and human loss. Russia reserves the right to take any necessary measure to neutralize the threats that may be created through the use of British cruise missiles by Ukraine.
Since UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson rushed to Kiev in early March 2022, to demand the Zelensky government reject negotiated peace and fight on, the list of British “firsts” has escalated the potential for a nuclear war that destroys civilization.
