Opinion: Zelenskyy trying to start WWIII

Several weeks ago, the world was closer to WWIII than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962.

Although everyone has heard the phrase, “the fog of war,” it really is extremely problematic to grasp what is happening in the middle of hostilities. Having said that, anyone who arrives at a conclusion with any degree of certainty for a movement or action that happens in any given moment should think carefully before initiating counter action. Rather, they should view initial reports of the incident with a measure of skepticism.

On Nov. 15 a missile struck inside the eastern border of Poland, killing two people. Preliminary claims, attributed to, “a senior US intelligence official,” was that a Russian missile had landed inside the border of a NATO member. The Russians denied any responsibility for the event. Rather than viewing this incident with any degree of skepticism media at all levels rushed to judgement with the Russian missile narrative. For more than 12 hours, media presented the story as fact that Russia had attacked Poland.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, presented it as “a Russian missile attack on ‘our’ collective security,” and demanded that ‘we,’ meaning NATO, must act. When Zelenskyy uses terms such as “our” and “we,” he is assuming Ukraine membership in NATO. Ukraine is not now, and never has been a member of NATO, a fact that appears to be overlooked by members of the press and a large majority of the public.

With Zelenskyy, ably abetted by the press, trying to drag NATO into a major escalation of his war, one person who demonstrated a measure of sanity was Polish President Andrzej Duda, when he stated, “We do not have conclusive evidence at this time of who launched the missile.” Duda turned out to be correct. Reports emerged that were verified by the U.S. and its allies that the missile was not of Russian origin. Rather the missile had been fired by the Ukrainian air defenses, when they tried to resist a massive Russian barrage.

As I write this, Zelenskyy has still not admitted that the missile came from his own batteries. Imagine his surprise when his usual allies failed to agree with his assertion. The collective west agrees with Russia that the missile was Ukrainian. It was not an attack on a NATO member by Russia, but it could have started WWIII.

Rube Render is a former Clovis city commissioner and former chair of the Curry County Republican Party. Contact him:

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