EDITORIAL

Now Even Closer to Nuclear War

June 25—As of nighttime in Moscow Saturday, June 24, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, a Russian private mercenary army, had given the “turn back” order to a column of his armed forces and equipment that was heading north from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow, which he called his “march for justice.” This was, in fact, an armed insurrection; and Prigozhin is reportedly under investigation for possible prosecution for treason.

Prigozhin’s audio announcement midday June 24, stating that the Wagner forces should “turn around,” came after negotiations brokered by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who had earlier conferred directly with President Vladimir Putin for joint action. More details are to be learned on the conditions.

This sudden turn of events may mark a pause in the episode, but not a pause in the danger from the West’s continuing idiotic escalation of provocations against a nuclear power, which can trigger a nuclear conflagration. Think of the dangerous irony, as reported by Italy’s La Reppublica, that leaders of the biggest NATO nations, fearing an incident with nuclear weapons, contacted the Russian Defense Ministry June 24 for reassurance during the crisis, because Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is “considered the most reliable interlocutor.” This, while the same NATO nations’ military experts cheered on Prigozhin and his mercenaries who were trying to overthrow Shoigu!

A strong warning on this extreme danger was given by former UN weapons inspection specialist Scott Ritter, who termed the Prigozhin rebellion incident an attempted “Maidan in Moscow Moment,” contrived by collective Western special forces—especially the British—and Ukraine military intelligence. Ritter’s article on his website today is titled, “Prigozhin’s Gambit—Treason by Any Other Name,” and reviews in more detail the prepping of the mercenary group for insurrectionary action.

The rhetoric of Prigozhin is right out of the playbook for color revolutions. In one audio issuance, he ranted, “We don’t want the country [Russia] to continue to live in corruption, deceit, and bureaucracy.”

Prigozhin’s name has come up in various ways in past shady domains of known Western intelligence special operations; for example, in the bogus claim of Russian state interference during the 2016 Trump-Clinton election campaign. In recent times, there were reports of Prigozhin having regular Ukraine military intelligence connections, in the classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked by Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, known as the “Discord” documents, referring to the social media platform Teixeira used to post them.

According to a May 15 write-up in the Washington Post, referring to alleged events in January 2023, and reporting on what it claimed to have seen in the Discord documents:

Prigozhin said that if Ukraine’s commanders withdrew their soldiers from the area around Bakhmut, he would give Kyiv information on Russian troop positions, which Ukraine could use to attack them. Prigozhin conveyed the proposal to his contacts in Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, with whom he has maintained secret communications during the course of the war, according to previously unreported U.S. intelligence documents leaked on the group-chat platform Discord.

An EIR investigative team is preparing an overall strategic assessment for early release.

Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out the stakes very starkly in his televised address to the citizens of Russia the morning of June 24:

Today, Russia is waging a tough struggle for its future, repelling the aggression of neo-Nazis and their patrons. The entire military, economic, and informational machine of the West is directed against us. We are fighting for the lives and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to be and remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history….

A blow like this was dealt to Russia in 1917, when the country was fighting in World War I. But the victory was stolen from it: intrigues, squabbles and politicking behind the backs of the army and the nation turned into the greatest turmoil, the destruction of the army and the collapse of the state, and the loss of vast territories, ultimately leading to the tragedy of the civil war…. We will not allow this to happen again.

Even as the details are just being made known of this insurrection, what is dramatically clear is the necessity for citizens, groups, and nations to activate without delay, to stop the dynamic toward nuclear holocaust, and undertake joint actions for national sovereignty, development, and dignity for all. The newly-formed International Peace Coalition has, among other initiatives, set August 6, the 78th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, as a day for coordinated international joint efforts for peace.