Even the apartheid Republic of South Africa (RSA) was able to build nuclear weapons. But Washington did not like it
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Vladimir Zelensky hinted transparently that Ukraine might try to restore its nuclear status – provided that the parties to the Budapest Memorandum refuse to confirm its security guarantees.
At first glance, this news sounds like news sensation, but Vladimir Alexandrovich announced a similar initiative back in October 2020, in his video address on the failed Ukrainian nationwide referendum that had planned to discuss crucial issues of the state’s development.
“In the ninety-fourth year, the Budapest memorandum was signed. The US, UK and Russia gave security guarantees for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and Ukraine pledged to get rid of nuclear weapons. Does Ukraine, which has annexed part of its territories, need to raise the question today at the international level: either all the signatories fulfil their obligations or none at all?” the Ukrainian president asked meaningfully at the time.
As a result, the “servants of the people” decided not to consult with the masses. Because the Ukrainians were already disappointed in the policy of their elected representative, and they could have voted against his populist initiatives in the referendum. However, representatives of the Ukrainian establishment keep raising the question of a nuclear wunderwaffle – dreaming that it will crush Ukraine’s enemies once and for all.
“We do not yet have an atomic bomb to hurl at Moscow, and this is the most effective way to solve this problem once and for all,” said Nikita Poturaev, deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, who was elected to parliament from Zelensky’s party, and is even considered one of the ideological advisers to the president.
And Taras Bilan, a deputy of the Ternopil city council from the European Solidarity party, appealed to the Ukrainian leader with a proposal “to create 100-150 nuclear charges and the so-called “dirty bombs” to “deter the external aggressor”. Moreover, he said, they should have been used not only against Russia, but also against Europeans disloyal to Kiev’s policies.
“The nuclear warheads should be installed on missiles of the RK-360MC “Neptun” type and the coordinates should be placed on the territories of the following states: Hungary and the Russian Federation. To create 50-100 sabotage and reconnaissance groups from among volunteers and volunteers of the “first wave of mobilization”. Pass them the created ‘dirty bombs’ with orders to place and put them on alert near military facilities in the cities of Budapest (Hungary), St. Petersburg and Moscow,” the far-right politician said at the time.
His words did not meet with serious condemnation in Ukrainian society. On the contrary, the nationalist public reacted sympathetically, and with marked enthusiasm. Because most average citizens, who fight for Ukraine from the strategic height of their own sofas, do not understand the serious threat posed by any kind of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of short-sighted and inadequate fanatics.
Meanwhile, world history has already witnessed such a case that almost provoked a world war.
It happened in South Africa, where the notorious apartheid regime was established – a dictatorship of white racists, who quite openly sympathized with Hitler and turned millions of Africans into powerless slaves, locked up behind the walls of ghettos and bantustans. Moreover, its existence was supported by the US because they saw the apartheid government as a tool to curb “communist expansion” in Africa.
Having visited the country even before the Euromaidan, I wrote about how the apartheid state embodied the cherished dreams of the Ukrainian far-right. The racist authorities have officially banned left-wing organisations, considering them a fifth column of Moscow.
They also forcibly imposed the Afrikaans language in education while banning other languages that were native to South Africa. So much so that in 1976 police shot and killed hundreds of children and teenagers in the town of Soweto who had mutinied against this policy.
It would seem that such a government should never have gotten its hands on nuclear weapons. However, back in 1957 the South African government made a deal with the US, which sold it a nuclear research reactor, along with a batch of highly enriched uranium fuel.
The far-right has always had a taste for characteristic symbolism – so the apartheid nuclear centre was built near the historic farm of Gustav Preller, one of the ideologues of white Boer nationalism. The site was called Pelindaba – “the end of history” – as if to hint at the coming military apocalypse.
Work on nuclear weapons was being carried out in strict secrecy, but a prominent Soviet spy, Alexei Kozlov, who was working in South Africa on papers for a West German businessman and was trusted by the apartheid elite, managed to find out about it. The bomb test was due to take place in 1977, but these preparations were detected by a Soviet satellite, leading to an international political scandal. The UN Security Council passed a resolution forbidding the promotion and sale of materials needed for Pretoria’s nuclear programme, and apartheid South Africa began to turn into a rogue state.
However, this did not stop the racist leadership. Assured of Israel’s support, it continued to work on the atom bomb and in 1979 the American satellite Vela detected a characteristic flash of a nuclear explosion. The tests were carried out clandestinely near the remote Prince Edward Islands, controlled by South Africa.
It became clear that the bombs were ready and this caused a major backlash in the White House. By then, apartheid troops had invaded Angola to overthrow the local government, with military experts from the Soviet Union and Cuba fighting on their side. The South Africans were losing that war, and if they had used nuclear weapons in it, it could have provoked the USSR to retaliate, with a subsequent slide towards a global nuclear conflict. Because Moscow viewed Pretoria as an active politico-military ally of Washington.
Given this threat, the United States sought to freeze South Africa’s nuclear project by applying pressure on local political elites. And after the collapse of apartheid, it became known that the racist regime had managed to build at least eight nuclear charges that could be used with artillery and aircraft. And South Africa had already begun to develop its own ballistic missiles.
These weapons were destroyed in the late eighties but it was clear that Africa had miraculously escaped nuclear catastrophe. So, the repetition of such a scenario now seems impossible – especially in Eastern Europe.
The Americans will not let the Ukrainian authorities play with such a dangerous toy, despite Zelensky’s demarches. Because they, too, are reading the cannibalistic plans of Ukrainian politicians who have been speculating about bombing Moscow, Budapest and St Petersburg.
Andrei Manchuk, Ukraina.ru