Unfortunately, the situation in Eastern Europe is rapidly devolving exactly as I thought it would. Stupidity and incompetence rule the day.
On the military front, Finland and Sweden are talking about joining NATO in this coming June, mere weeks from now. As it happens, the accession of Finland and Sweden to full NATO membership would flagrantly cross a very publicly expressed Kremlin red line, and probably will result in open warfare in the Baltic region, perhaps as soon as this summer.
In the energy sphere, my understanding is that Russia has shut off the natural gas flow to Poland and Bulgaria, for failure to timely pay in rubles. The big pipeline that runs from Russia to Poland, also continues on from Poland to Germany, meaning that if the provision of Russian natural gas to Poland has been turned off, then presumably Russian natural gas flows to Germany have also been curtailed. The German economy and industry rely very heavily on Russian natural gas, which augurs ill for the German nation. Unless Germany, Bulgaria and Poland begin paying for Russian gas in rubles very soon, their economies will be severely hampered.
Meanwhile, in the Russian exclave of Transnistria, along the border between Moldova and the Ukraine, there have been reports in recent weeks of unexplained explosions. There is a Russian military garrison in Transnistria, and a military arms depot. Additionally, the population of Transnistria is Russian-speaking. Should Transnistria come under attack, the Russians would likely intervene there militarily. That could happen at any time.
And throwing caution to the wind, the USSA/NATO/EU continue to pour billions of dollars worth of weapons and more personnel into the Ukraine, fanning the flames of war, goading the regime in Kiev to keep the conflict going.
The Russian siege of the massive Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol continues apace, with the Russian army lying in wait all around the facility. About 1,000 neo-NAZi Azov Battalion fighters are said to still be holed up in the deep underground labyrinth of tunnels that underlies the complex, along with many civilian hostages and scores of NATO military officers -- apparently British, French, Polish, USSA-Pentagon, German, Turkish, Canadian -- allegedly even including one or two generals.
As for what is really happening underground at the sprawling, Azovstal steel plant, and exactly why the neo-NAZI Azov Battalion and scores of NATO military personnel have elected to hide out in the subterranean levels beneath it, who knows for sure? -- though among other things it is variously said to involve gruesome, satanic, human sacrifice/torture/adrenochrome harvesting of people and children from the local population by the Azov Battalion NAZIs and their NATO military allies, or alternatively operation of a secret, highly dangerous, underground bio-lab run by the Pentagon for development of unknown pathogens for unknown, nefarious purposes.
If this all seems uncommonly reminiscent of some parts of the Resident Evil movie plot, maybe it is, maybe it has to do with Hollywood's predictive programming function, as scripted by the satanic powers at the CIA and Pentagon, so that yesterdecade's movie, is but prologue for today's ghastly reality. Most likely the Russians have a pretty good idea of what is down there, so they'll take their time in entering that Hell, preferring to first let the demons feast on each other for a few weeks, before making them an offer that they will not refuse.
Lamentably, the war is only beginning. Have no illusions, with all the military materiel and personnel that the USSA/NATO/EU are now pouring into Eastern Europe and the Baltic region it is only a question of time -- probably later this year -- until there is direct military conflict between Russia/Belarus and the USSA/NATO/EU. And then the only issue to be resolved will be how big and how violent the conflict grows, and how fast.
Both sides are very heavily nuclear armed, so past a certain point it is entirely possible that the nuclear missile silos will open up and Hell will blast forth. Russia's new Sarmat missile carries a payload of up to 15, independently targetable, nuclear warheads, and can strike the other side of the planet, i.e., mainland USSA, aka, The Lower 48, within less than 30 minutes of launch. The Russians also have Bulava nuclear missiles, which can be launched by the Russian Navy's Borei class submarines from the North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, or Pacific or Arctic Oceans, as well as the road mobile, Topol-M nuclear missiles, which can be launched from Russian territory over the North Pole towards North America. The Sarmat missiles will come screaming over the horizon at 18,000 mph, whereas the Bulava and Topol-M missiles "only" reach a more pedestrian 15,000 mph. Fast enough.
Of course, the Pentagon has 450 Minuteman-III nuclear missiles of its own in North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado and Montana. They are an older generation of nuclear missile technology than the Russian Bulava, Topol-M and Sarmat missiles, but they do have nuclear warheads, and presumably most of them would deliver their warheads on targets in Russia, if fired. The USSA Navy also has its own fleet of Trident, nuclear missile firing submarines patrolling the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea and who knows where else.
And then both Russia and the USSA have many heavy bombers capable of launching nuclear cruise missiles from stand-off distances.
Now I know people, and probably you do too, who believe that benevolent "aliens" or God or just plain, human decency will never permit such a dreadful thing to happen, because it's just too horrific and hideous; that a nuclear missile exchange cannot happen, due to its being so awful and hellish.
I have heard this objection many times over the years, right down to the present day, and I beg to differ. Nuclear weapons concretely exist, they are deployed by the thousands, there are active plans on both sides to launch them, and the steady drift towards a direct military clash between the USSA/NATO/EU and Russia/Belarus continues.
Ergo, I conclude that the possibility of a nuclear missile exchange is definitely real. If it does occur, it will be extremely fast and violent beyond belief. And the world we used to know will be instantly gone forever, never to return.
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