International tensions heat up as the Ukraine crisis has taken a different route. In reaction to the Kremlin’s threats against Ukraine, 3,000 American troops are on their way to Europe, with thousands more on standby.
President Joe Biden is considering additional moves, and as tensions between the United States and Russia escalate, a new American nuclear war plan looms in the background. The tensions came instead of the Russia and Ukraine tussle that has been going on for a long time.
The administration has divulged material that could only have been gained by entering Russia’s military and intelligence networks. If not to the whole of it but at least to some extent.
The Pentagon announced publicly that the army and Mr. Putin were gathering on three sides of Ukraine would number 175,000 or more. This came even before the invasion began, information that cannot be seen from a satellite image.
Since 1991 only, Ukraine is fighting for its independent status but hasn’t been able to gain it yet. Instead, yet another attack by Russia on Ukraine will only destabilize and dismantle the talks between US and Moscow further. Ukraine’s fate, as tensions rise, has the potential to alter the European nuclear order.
The history behind Russia-Ukraine Tussle
During the Cold War period, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic forces commanded intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers. Along with the same 1,800 nuclear warheads, accounting for one-third of the Soviet arsenal were also procured. Ukraine ended up with the world’s third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons when it proclaimed independence from the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991.
Ukraine decided to give up these weapons for good cause. Budapest Memorandum was also signed by the country later in 1994. This was done sheerly to transfer the warheads to Russia, where they would be dismantled.
The reciprocal was expected to be for security assurances from Washington, London, and Moscow. Additionally, financial aid and a promise of economic and political integration with the Western-dominated international order.
Several times in the past, Russia has stated that Ukraine is nothing but a part of Russia. And hence anything diplomatic happening in Ukraine will be of great concern to Russia. On the other hand, the Ukraine government vehemently disagrees and considers Ukraine an independent country.
For similar reasons Russian invasion of Ukraine is very well possible and can be an expected move of Vladimir Putin. This is so because Putin, unlike the US doesn’t believe in the alliance. Although he used China to gain its support so that he can alter European politics.
United States has so far coordinated with NATO and its guidelines too, but the threat to nuclear war remains unaddressed. Considering the role of superpowers like China, Russia, the US in this tussle, expecting something big won’t go wrong.
And, because Ukraine is so near to Russia’s heartland it’s impossible to predict what will happen after the nuclear “firebreak” is breached. So, if there’s a fresh risk of tensions escalating into a conflict over Ukraine, perhaps it’s time to reconsider.