Caitlin Johnstone Roasts New York Times’s Reckless Dance with Nuclear War

Jan. 19, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Today Caitlin Johnstone’s “U.S. May Help Ukraine Launch An Offensive On Crimea “ tore into the Jan. 18 New York Times article, “U.S. Warms to Helping Ukraine Target Crimea,” with a voice of morality and maturity tragically missing from Western warriors.

First she cites Responsible Statecraft’s Anatol Lieven from October, who wrote that, if “Ukraine goes on to try to reconquer Crimea, which the overwhelming majority of Russians regard as simply Russian territory, the chances of an escalation to nuclear war become extremely high.”

Then she hones in on the specious argument that, since Russia has not resorted to nuclear weapons up to now, the West can up the ante with a military assault against Crimea. Not only are the logic and facts wrong, but Crimea is “the reddest of all of Russia’s red lines in this standoff....”

She concludes with appropriate and righteous anger:

“Any assertion that Russia will not use nukes under such-and-such a circumstance must squarely address this question: ‘Are you willing to gamble the life of every terrestrial organism on that claim being true?’ If you can’t answer this question, your claim isn’t serious or valid. Are U.S. officials willing to bet the life of every terrestrial organism that the course of action they’re considering won’t trigger a chain of events leading to the end of the world? This needs to be addressed fully, head-on, with all the weight it entails, because otherwise they’re just not weighing the risks responsibly. And something tells me that they are not.”