Are your congresspeople doing the same as mine…nothing?
Is President Joe Biden out to start a war? Or are his shadow warmongers Anthony Blinken and Jake Sullivan responsible? War can potentially explode regardless of who pulled the pin on the grenade.
Several days ago, the pin was pulled. Reuters reported,
Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday in response to the U.S. and UK’s allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons, in a further escalation of the 33-month-old war.
This was a shorter-range weapon, “U.S. officials and NATO echoed Putin’s description of the weapon as an intermediate-range ballistic missile, which has a shorter range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,860-3,415 miles).”
Moscow to New York is about 4,600 miles, meaning that this missile does not threaten the continental U.S., but the rest of Europe and NATO are at risk. This explains why Sweden and Finland are preparing for possible war.
Major EU capital cities could be minutes from obliteration by this Russian missile. With its hypersonic speed, the missile could reach Berlin in 15 minutes and London and Paris in 20 minutes.
Is Russian President Vladimir Putin the instigator, or did the U.S. and NATO poke the bear one too many times? Signs at the zoo warn visitors not to tease or provoke the animals. Those who disregard such advice often learn of their folly the hard way.
How many such missiles does Russia have? Our intel community may or may not know. Government intelligence is often used to create a narrative rather than reflect reality, so we may be in for a future surprise.
Is the Russian missile launch a gambit toward a negotiated peace with a future President Trump? Perhaps. Remember that chess is a national pastime in Russia. Moves and countermoves.
Chess, however, is played with wooden pieces on a small board, not with nuclear weapons capable of destroying civilization. In Dirty Harry fashion, Russia and the U.S. may ask each other, “Do you feel lucky today?”
Unfortunately, Trump cannot negotiate anything until January 20. All communications from Trump and his entire team are likely being monitored by the same agencies that spied on his 2016 transition, looking for any opportunity to invoke the Logan Act as an excuse not to certify his election. Remember that the president-elect is not simply “any citizen” corresponding with a foreign government.
Biden is considered a lame-duck president.
In politics, a lame duck or outgoing politician is an elected official whose successor has already been elected or will be soon.
A lame duck is free to make decisions that exercise the standard powers with little fear of consequence, such as issuing executive orders, pardons, or other controversial edicts
Does this include starting a war? Let’s look at the U.S. Constitution.
The Constitution’s Article I, Section 8 specifically lists as a power of Congress the power “to declare War,” which unquestionably gives the legislature the power to initiate hostilities. The extent to which this clause limits the President’s ability to use military force without Congress’s affirmative approval remains highly contested.
Most people agree, at minimum, that the Declare War Clause grants Congress exclusive power. Presidents cannot, on their own authority, declare war.
But that is just what Biden did, not by name but by deed. As the NY Times reported,
Ukraine’s military used American-made ballistic missiles on Tuesday to strike into Russia for the first time, according to senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials, just days after President Biden gave permission to do so in a major shift of American policy.
These are highly complex missiles. It’s not like handing Ukraine a handgun to shoot at Russia. These missiles require sophisticated guidance and launch procedures beyond the capability of the Ukrainian military.
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MCViewPoint 