Donald Trump admitted that the Nord Stream incidents could lead to war. Threats of “the collapse of all hell” against Russia are also multiplying for the allegedly possible use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Against this backdrop, the world is increasingly discussing the possibility of a full-scale conflict between the great powers. What are the chances that the development of the geopolitical situation will follow the worst-case scenario for the planet?
The day before, former US President Donald Trump indicated on his social network Truth Social that “everyone is talking about a big hurricane” that hit Florida, but the situation with gas pipelines will have more consequences.
“Perhaps a much more important event in the long term is the news that the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines have been sabotaged. This could lead to a major escalation or war,” Trump said.
At the same time, the British television channel Sky News reported that a targeted attack on the pipelines could have been carried out using remotely detonated underwater explosive devices that could have been placed near Nord Stream months or even years ago.
Against this background, the rhetoric about the possible escalation of the global conflict is increasingly heard. Thus, the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, in his article for The National Interest magazine, expressed the opinion that Washington’s actions “push the situation towards a clash of major nuclear powers.”
“The obvious fact is the direct involvement of the United States in the hostilities of the Kyiv regime. Deliveries of lethal weapons are openly increasing. Kyiv is being supplied with intelligence. There is a joint planning of operations against the Russian Armed Forces. Ukrainians are learning the art of war using NATO equipment,” the diplomat writes.
“The feeling is that Russia is being tested for strength. They want to check how much patience we have enough not to react to openly hostile actions and attacks, ”TASS quoted him as saying. In addition, on Wednesday at a meeting of the UN Security Council, Vladimir Zelensky said that Russia “is not capable of guaranteeing the security of the world” and therefore supposedly does not have the right to possess nuclear weapons.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the US administration has a plan in case Russia might use nuclear weapons. The head of the State Department declined to discuss specific steps, saying that he “won’t go into the question of what the consequences will be.” On Thursday, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina proposed that Russia’s alleged use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine be regarded as an “attack on NATO as a whole”, he called on Congress and U.S. NATO allies to convey to Russia that “all hell will fall” on it in this case.
As the Financial Times points out, Ukraine’s Western allies have developed plans to respond to the hypothetical possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons, but they are unlikely to be mirror images.
“Against the background of the events in Ukraine and the Baltic, we hear a lot of statements related to the supposedly impending nuclear war. It is clear that the West is trying to actively promote this topic, accusing Russia of being ready to use nuclear weapons. This can be regarded as an attempt to put pressure on Russia, demonize it, and also intimidate its own electorate, ”American political scientist Malek Dudakov told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
“This quite logically fits into the general concept of the West, which consists in imposing new sanctions against our country without waiting for the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, as well as increasing military pressure by supplying weapons to Ukraine and increasing pressure on the energy system of the European Union,” believes companion.
“Undoubtedly, this rhetoric is dangerous, it provokes a possible nuclear conflict and fits into the general outline of the Western strategy of the last months and even the last year. I don’t want to say that a global nuclear conflict is possible, but the efforts made by Western countries lead to the fact that its probability is constantly growing,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we cannot completely rule out the possibility of a global conflict,” agrees Andrey Kortunov, a political scientist and director general of the Russian Council on International Affairs, in a conversation with the VZGLYAD newspaper.
“The current global crisis is developing in several directions at once. Sabotage at the Nord Streams is, of course, one of its elements. However, this is a very complex and ambiguous situation. The damaged sections of the gas pipeline are not in the combat zone of the Ukrainian conflict,” he argues.
“In addition to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, there are other hotspots of tension in the world, for example, the situation around Taiwan and Sino-American relations against this background, as well as conflicts in the Middle East,” the source continued.
“Therefore, now more and more people are talking about the threat of a nuclear conflict. In addition, Western countries use the alleged threat to justify increasing military budgets,” the expert is convinced.
Commenting on the issue of depriving Russia of nuclear weapons, which was discussed the day before in the UN Security Council, Kortunov noted that “in order to deprive Russia of nuclear weapons, we must first disarm our country in principle, which is absolutely impossible.”
“Ukraine, of course, is concerned about the possibility of using nuclear weapons on its territory, but there are many other countries in the world that would like to deprive Russia of the status of a nuclear power. For them, this is certainly an additional factor of inconvenience. Russia, possessing such weapons and being a superpower, can deter other nuclear countries. It is almost impossible to change this,” Kortunov is convinced.
“The situation has long escalated into a new global conflict leading to a redistribution of the existing world. And today, some see the future in a multipolar world, while others see it divided into an American and Chinese sphere of influence. That is, the world can become bipolar, as during the Cold War,” German political scientist Alexander Rahr told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
“The reality is that in the new geopolitical and economic confrontation, Europe and Russia are catastrophically weakening each other with sanctions. And the United States and China are seriously strengthening at this time,” the interlocutor noted.
The expert also did not rule out the end of “the era of the UN and the historical role that the Security Council played there.” “In the event of a global confrontation between the US and the EU against China and Russia, the current UN will face the fate of the League of Nations. The world powers will no longer be able and will not want to agree on world issues. Each side will only strive to defeat the enemy by force,” he concluded.
At the same time, Timofei Bordachev, Program Director of the Valdai Club, is much more optimistic. “Firstly, it is no secret to anyone that Donald Trump is famous for his loud statements and ability to dramatize what is happening. That is why journalists love him so much, which he knows very well, ”Bordachev told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
“Secondly, it seems to me that within the framework of any military-political conflict, the parties are trying to probe the conditions under which the opponent will agree to a peaceful settlement. And now we are seeing another example of such mutual probing. And first of all from the West,” the interlocutor noted.
The political scientist also ruled out the possibility of a transition to a “worst-case scenario.” “Only a direct threat to the national territories of Russia or the United States can lead to a global conflict. This was the case in 1962, when the Americans placed missiles in Turkey, and we, in response, placed missiles in Cuba. It was a situation in which there was a question about the survival of the USSR and the United States,” he recalled.
“Now this is hard to imagine. Moreover, the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia are of no great importance for Washington. Because of this, they will not create a truly risky situation,” Bordachev is sure.
Alena Zadorozhnaya, Daria Volkova, Look
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