PRESS RELEASE
Gen. Ivashov on Cuban Missile Crisis in Reverse
June 5, 2015 (EIRNS)—U.S. charges that Russia has violated the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) treaty are “nonsense and lies,” wrote retired Russian Gen. Leonid Ivashov today on the website, wwww.nakanune.ru. He added that the threat of “a Cuban missile crisis in reverse” is an “absolutly real prospect.”
The accusations of INF violations "are a kind of informational preliminary artillery volley, being conducted against Russia. And I am concerned that this preliminary artillery shelling may be the harbinger of the launch of a hot war,” Ivashov said (emphasis in in the original).
“The USA needs some way to justify the build-up of its nuclear forces in Europe, in the form of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Therefore they are accusing Russia of every possible sin.”
“Military psychosis is being fanned,” in the current NATO behavior, said Ivashov, who was former head of foreign military ties at the Russian Ministry of Defense and is now with the Academy of Geopolitics. As examples, he listed,
“preparations for combat [that] have become very active in the recent period: training, exercises, demonstrations of military equipment, transfer of military equipment with U.S. personnel closer to our borders, statements by NATO generals on preparedness for war with Russia. NATO flight training for the use of nuclear bombs has also been renewed, and military spending increased....
“In general, this entire situation does have some similarity with the Caribbean Crisis [Cuban Missile Crisis]. Back then, we were emplacing missiles right under their nose; now they are doing that to us...."
To defend against these threats, Ivashov called for politically strengthening the BRICS and SCO, and reviving the effectiveness of the UN and OSCE. Also, the need to show people in Europe, that the USA intends for a destructive war to be fought there, in Europe. Military countermeasures are also needed, including, indeed, renewing IRBM programs; but, also, more intensive work to develop Russia’s own high-precision weapons and weapons based on new physical principles. This “non-nuclear deterrence factor” is allowed, under the revised Russian Military Doctrine of December 2014.
Ivashov also blasts the 1992 Cheney/Wolfowitz National Security Strategy. "The West’s methods may vary, but their persistent, more than century-long goal is permanent conflict. Just look at the U.S. National Security Strategy: in the early 1990s, they announced the goal of preventing any state whatsoever from such a revival, as would challenge the USA. They adjusted this in 1995, leaving that part unchanged, while weaving into their National Security Strategy the matter of control over key regions of the world, strategic lines of transport, and global resources.” This is the doctrine of a unipolar world.
“Today Russia is depicted as the main enemy of mankind, and the main threat to U.S. security. The fact that Russia did not submit, but started seeking its own sovereignty—and, even more so, doing this together with China—of course frightens the United States. This is why Russia is being attacked from all sides .... we are target #1 today. They’ll deal with us, then turn their attention to China. The threats stated by the USA are real; they may go for broke.”
The article in Russian:
http://www.nakanune.ru/articles/110529#sthash.WBkHbCVa.dpuf
