The Lead

Ukraine Crosses Russia’s Red Line; Strikes Inside Russia with NATO Weapons

by Marcia Merry Baker (EIRNS) — Dec. 30, 2023

The NATO belligerence against Russia using Ukraine as its proxy crossed the red line today when Ukraine deployed NATO weapons (from Czechia) to strike Belgorod, Russia, killing at least 18, and wounding 108 people. The strike took place in mid-afternoon, local time. Cluster munitions were used, and Vampire missiles, made in Czechia. The strike focussed on the city center, hitting a number of sites including the medical college of the state university, and the public ice rink in use.

At Moscow’s request, an emergency session of the UN Security Council took place this afternoon. TASS reported that Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said UN officials were unable technically to convene the meeting sooner, and also, Russia called for a Czech representative to be present, “to explain his country’s supplies of weapons, which are used to kill civilians.” However, Czechia did not attend.

Among the statements issued by several Russian authorities today, the point was made by Russia’s Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov to the media that the United States is “waging a hybrid war against Russia and throwing modern Western weapons to the front against the Russian Armed Forces.”

This statement was repeated by Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia, speaking at the hour-long UNSC session, who said, “Brussels, along with Washington and London, as well as the majority of EU countries, are complicit in the crimes committed by the Kiev clique.” He stated, “We know that British and American advisers, who regularly incite the authorities of present-day Ukraine to commit bloody crimes, were directly involved in the organization of this terrorist attack,” and the European Union continues to supply weapons to Ukraine. In his second round of remarks to the Council, Nebenzia reviewed the relevant history of today’s situation. He said today’s conflict would not be taking place if in 2013, a coup process supported by the West had not taken place; if Kiev had not then conducted war against its own citizens, and if the Minsk Accords had been implemented, we would not have conflict today.

The U.S. Political Counsel John Kelley representative gave short, sneering remarks blaming President Putin for everything. “This is his war. … It is his war of choice and one that seeks to seize the sovereign territory … and subjugate the people of Ukraine to his will.” The British Deputy Political Coordinator Tom Phipps stated today, “Russia chose to start this war, Russia can choose to end this war.”

Standing out against this rhetoric, representatives of the three African nations who spoke, each called on the international community to support a settlement process. “Seek solutions,” was the message from Gabon. We should see that “dialogue be given a chance,” and “support diplomacy and a negotiated settlement,” said the Mozambique representative. The message from Ghana was for “constructive dialogue” toward a “durable peace.”

China’s representative echoed these statements, in very short remarks, calling for all to “respond to the international community’s call for peace.” All must “work together to enable conditions for peace.”

Though terse, these comments are not without meaning, as less than 24 hours before, President Joe Biden issued a statement demanding the U.S. Congress fully fund more weapons to Ukraine. And the U.S. State Department announced also Dec. 29 that it would bypass Congress, and approve a new commercial shipment of munitions to Israel.

As of year end, it was already clear, as Schiller Institute founder and chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche stressed before today’s events, that “the Ukraine situation has come to a head.” Inevitably, since the negotiations to resolve the situation were sabotaged in spring 2022 by the West—by intervention of then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in particular—the Ukraine militancy and recent “counteroffensive” have come to be failures. The only gainers are the military-financial complex.

Beyond Western weapons to Ukraine and Israel, it can be inferred from today’s Ukraine’s attack inside Russia, that one purpose of the strike on Belgorod is to induce Russia to retaliate in a way to “justify” direct NATO involvement in this theater, deploying directly against Russia. That scenario guarantees World War III. Russia has repeatedly made clear that military operations inside Russia are a red line.

As of year-end, another act is notable in the positive direction. The Republic of South Africa has filed an action in the International Court of Justice (IJC) to condemn Israel for committing genocide against Palestinians. This adds a special venue for investigations, and for bringing forward undeniable history and current evidence of the heinous wrongdoing by the identified Israeli government and covert individuals and alignments.

South Africa has special moral authority to do this, with its experience of the crimes of colonialism, and its record of ending apartheid. One note: The International Court of Justice (IJC) is not to be confused with the International Constitutional Court (ICC), which is a construct to subvert justice. The IJC is United Nations affiliated, and often is called the “World Court.”

These breaking events confirm the necessity for forces to join together from all realms of society to take responsibility for humanity’s future. This means from the Global Majority, the anti-war “peace movement,” constituencies representing production sectors—trade unions, farmers, students, all others—into expanding action to pull the world back from the Global NATO madness, now at the brink of igniting World War III. The International Peace Coalition is in existence for just this historical purpose.