Tension is soaring in the two insanely dangerous wars in Ukraine and the Mideast. We picked the brains of Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter and Ted Postol. Watch the replay.
ATACMS missile firing in May 2006. (U.S. Army/Wikimedia Commons)
Two wars, dragging humanity into despair and existential peril, have in the past week sunk to levels difficult to comprehend. The danger of a nuclear confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine has been theoretically with us for nearly three years, but last week it took on terrifyingly concrete form. And in the metastasizing wars in the Middle East, which carry their own more distant atomic threat, the genocidal rage of an unbalanced Israel spread deeper into Lebanon, while all-out war with Iran simmers; the ethnic cleansing of at least the North of Gaza is no longer denied in the Israeli press, and much of the world’s patience with the Zionist state ran out as its prime minister was indicted by an international criminal court never intended to pursue Western and allied leaders.
On the programme today to indeed help us understand all this was former C.I.A. analyst Ray McGovern; ex-U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter and Ted Postol, professor emeritus of Science, Technology, and International Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hosts: Elizabeth Vos and Joe Lauria. Producer: Cathy Vogan.
The details of the peace deal presented today by US special envoy Steve Witkoff are consistent with the report in the Financial Times discussed in my previous article and with Larry Sparano in the posted interview. Putin will halt the Russian advance prior to driving Ukrainian soldiers out of all of the territory that has been reincorporated into Russia. It appears to be the case that the borders between Russia and Ukraine will be the current front line, so Putin is withdrawing Russia’s claim to the Russian territories still under Ukrainian occupation.
Russia and the US seem near a Ukraine peace deal. Kyiv’s role may be moot.
President Donald Trump’s hopes of securing a quick Ukraine peace deal hang in the balance after Washington’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, held his fourth Kremlin meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday.
