The U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, also known as HIMARS, will give Ukraine the capability to strike Russian targets roughly 50 miles away with powerful, satellite-guided missiles.
Biden attending G7 leaders meeting in March at NATO headquarters in Brussels. (White House, Adam Schultz)
By Jake Johnson
Common Dreams
Peace advocates are warning that the Biden administration’s newly unveiled decision to arm Ukraine with advanced missile systems further heightens the risk of a direct military conflict between the U.S. and Russia, which accused the White House of “adding fuel to the fire deliberately” as Moscow’s deadly invasion of its neighbor rages on.
“The slippery slope leading to a direct U.S. confrontation with Russia just got a lot steeper,” Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the progressive anti-war group CodePink, wrote in response to the Biden administration’s move, which was followed by news that Russian forces are holding nuclear drills northeast of Moscow on Wednesday. “The U.S. and U.K. governments show no efforts or desire to achieve peaceful settlement of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.”
The U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, also known as HIMARS, will give Ukraine the capability to strike Russian targets roughly 50 miles away with powerful, satellite-guided missiles. The rocket system, the most advanced weaponry the U.S. has sent to Ukraine to date, is manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest military contractor.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Pentagon has spent around $5.4 billion to buy more than 42,000 HIMARS rockets since 1998.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who recently visited a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama, took to the pages of the New York Times on Tuesday to explain his decision to supply Ukraine with high-tech weaponry, despite the risk that such arms could prolong the war and increase the already ghastly civilian death toll.
“We will continue providing Ukraine with advanced weaponry, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger antiaircraft missiles, powerful artillery and precision rocket systems, radars, unmanned aerial vehicles, Mi-17 helicopters, and ammunition,” Biden wrote, arguing that continued U.S. weapons shipments put Ukraine in the “strongest possible position at the negotiating table.”
Moscow has said repeatedly that it views Western arms shipments to Ukraine as “legitimate targets,” but Biden waved away the idea that such deliveries would lead to a head-to-head military conflict between the U.S. and Russia.
“We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia,” the president declared Tuesday. “As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow. So long as the United States or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces.”
“We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia,” he added, comments that appear to conflict with recent remarks by Pentagon Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said last month that the U.S. wants “to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”
“We want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability,” Austin added.
An unnamed senior Biden administration official told the Times on Tuesday that the U.S. only agreed to provide Ukraine with the longer-range missile system after the country provided assurances that it would not use the weapons to launch attacks inside Russia.
But such assurances are unlikely to satisfy analysts and peace activists who argue that Russia’s assault on Ukraine has devolved into a dangerous proxy war between the West and Moscow that’s just one deliberate attack or miscalculation away from a broader—and potentially nuclear—conflict.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday that Moscow doesn’t “trust” Ukraine’s promise not to directly attack Russian territory.
Compounding the risk of a larger war is the collapse of diplomatic talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations, leaving the path to a peaceful settlement highly uncertain in the near-term.
While Biden insisted in his Times op-ed that his administration backs Ukraine’s efforts to “achieve a negotiated end to the conflict,” the U.S. and other Western governments—particularly the United Kingdom—have faced criticism for failing to sufficiently support and even directly undermining peace talks.
“The U.S. and U.K. governments show no efforts or desire to achieve peaceful settlement of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Ivan Katchanovski, a Ukrainian professor of political studies at the University of Ottawa, told Jacobin earlier this week.
Jake Johnson is a writer for Common Dreams.
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Many people are concerned with blatant escalation of conflict in Ukraine by US and its NATO poodles like shipment of M142 HiMARS MLRS. The main concern we are told is the system ability to hit targets in the industrial zones of Moscow region although Biden deny that Ukraine gets guided missiles with 300 km range but instead standard 80km range which is 15 km smaller than range of Russian Hurricane MLRS about 150 of which Ukraine had in armament before the war. Russian armed forces have about 5 to 1 advantage over medium and longe range artillery in Ukrainian theater.
Hence another 12 or 24 of American MLRS with 80km range won’t make much difference in situation of Russian air supremacy. However long range HiMARS would be a great tool for provocation of Russia to move for regime change in Kiev which means switching legal foundation of Russian intervention from fulfilling collective security obligation to declaration of war on Ukraine as a result of Ukrainian aggression on its territory. What important is that Ukraine never declared war against Russia.
Russia did not have to do that in fact after three waves of mobilization in Ukraine resulting with increase from 600,000 to 1,000,000 AFU while RF armed forces still fight with 190,000 of contract and volunteer Army from Chechnya and else in Russia + LDPR 60,000 militia with support of few thousands of Wagner Group of Russian professional mercenaries, and small government units from Abkhazia..
So it seems that as some US military experts stated it is a propaganda coverup for US inability to do anything meaningful about already lost war.
The advanced US attack drones, Biden wants to sell to Kiev is what actually may likely be a trigger for open US Russia war. The reason is simple. There is no way that Ukrainians can be trained to successfully operate those drones after few weeks. The regular training takes six months she the game will be nearly over. Second, US did not offer any drone specific to those drones targeting systems that are top secret and involve Pentagon secret satellites Ukrainians won’t ever have control over. Russia specifically spoof and jam civilian GPS in Ukraine SS thrust use their own military system.
Third there are no repair facilities in Ukraine and any such center would be immediately targeted by Russia Air and Space forces killing any US specialists if they were there.
So what would be reality of such drones in Ukraine. Simple, Ukrainians may only be involved in arming, fueling and launching of such drones that’s it. All operating, targeting and maintaining will be done by US specialists in EU or US as it was in Afghanistan.
Which means direct war of US and Russia that will be entitled to target bases for drones on NATO countries. The good news is that there are supposedly only four of such drones to be delivered and they will be specifically and easily targeted by S400 and Pantsir systems. It of Russia allows for that however it will only encourage mission creep and US full scale involvement on the ground.
Exactly which contractor will profit? “US-made” is not specific enough. Is it Lockheed, Boeing? What is the price per
weapon? How many were sold and who foot the bill? Many of these answers are in the corporation’s information.
What do they say it will do? (It may not but what are the claims?)
Lots of forces at play.
Maybe Bill Gates wants to buy up the rich farmlands of Ukraine? Zelensky now allows land to be bought by foreigners. Helps if the Ukrainian population decreases significantly.
hxxps://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/05/31/war-within-the-war-the-fight-over-land-and-genetically-engineered-agriculture/
NAME NAMES
Who are the contractors producing these weapons? (Lockheed? Boeing? etc.) What is their list price per weapons?
When were these weapons manufactured (years)?
“US-made” is not specific enough. Which corporations will benefit?
And in addition this just came out:
The U.S. is looking to sell four MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones made by General Atomics, sources told the outlet. The drones can be armed with Hellfire missiles.
The 28-foot unnamed aircraft can last over 27 hours and hold up to four Hellfire missiles, according to the Army’s acquisition website.
This administration and our bloated, brainless military are hellbent on warring directly with Russia. Not a good time to live in NY, DC, Boston or Seattle.
Unlimited money to war but, alas, none for healthcare for American citizens.
The language used by United States de facto president Joseph Biden with respect to the supply of sophisticated missiles to the Ukraine seems to have been tailored so as to permit their use against the two independent republics in the Donbass, which, at the very least, would provoke a United States shock and awe style attack against important Ukrainian targets and population centers. Something the Russians have refrained from doing so far, permitting Western media to crow about Russian ineptitude, a sort of double-dog-dare for the Russians to destroy as much of the Ukraine and kill as many Ukrainians as possible . Something that would be a terribly lamentable price to pay for sophomoric propaganda.
The United States and its allies have a clear policy concerning the supplying of weapons or materials to forces against whom they are engaged in a belligerent conflict. The vehicles carrying the weapons are destroyed or intercepted and confiscated, as is their cargo. That has occurred in all areas where the United States and its allies impose embargoes: in Palestine, in Yemen, in Venezuela, etc. Based on that doctrine, Russia would be justified in destroying the supplies of military materials to the Ukraine, en route, and that would all too possibly result in a third world war. A hot war. Counting on Russian discretion in the face of blatant provocations did not work when the Ukrainian special military operation (remember, wars no longer exist) broke out. Thinking that it will work now would seem a dangerous gambit.
What is wrong with these people?
Twelve HIMARS batteries with three launchers each – would be surprised if they each had more than a single salvo before being destroyed.
*All* parts of Ukie military have lost more weapons than they had at the beginning of the SMO, which means that they have already lost a good deal of the weaponry sent by the “collective west”. US/Nato sent 777 and FH70 howitzers – after only days in the field they are lost. A notable amount didn’t even reach firing positions.
Ukraine is 404. This means that there will be nobdy left to repay those “lend&lease” weapons. Western leaders are fileting their social security systems and their people in the hopes to inflict hypothetical damage to Russia. What a lunacy!
Ah, but will it all be worth it? Sacrificing our own futures and those of our children to stick it to Russia.
You’ll need to ask someone else this time as Madame Albright is thankfully dead.
Seems to work like a charm for Hillary, who got this ball rolling.
re photo at top:
“Schmugs”
rhymes with thugs
& that schpells
$
(& death)
Interviewer: What is a schmug?
Subject: The result of crossbreeding smugness with schmuckness.
Interviewer: Is there anything else like it in nature?
Subject: Not exactly. There’s some similarity with affected defects such as lisps, like those upon stiff, upper-crust British lips. But
in this AmericaniZed version, it’s more like an actual lisp of the brain.
Peace advocates are warning that the Biden administration’s newly unveiled decision to arm Ukraine with advanced missile systems further heightens the risk of a direct military conflict between the U.S. and Russia, which accused the White House of “adding fuel to the fire deliberately” as Moscow’s deadly invasion of its neighbor rages on.
Face it, this is really a de-facto war that the US and Nato are waging against Russia merely using Ukrainian troops as their mercs (the US is paying their wages in addition to all the equipment and training). If US or Nato troops were threatened to the degree that Russian soldiers, sailors and pilots will be threatened by these new satellite-targeted missiles, they would immediately escalate and use any force necessary to protect the lives of their men. American generals and politicians would laugh at the legal restraints that Scott Ritter says that Putin puts upon himself and his military operation in Ukraine.
Putin owes no less to his troops. He must eventually do what the US and Nato would do: destroy all the roadways, railways, and any foreign or Ukrainian aircraft trying to enter the country to bring these weapons on-line. If he cannot intercept them all on Ukie turf, he should destroy the convoys transporting them in Poland, which is the staging ground for all of these weapons. That is an act of self-defense. Washington illegally invades country after country and then pleads “self-defense” when it absolutely pulverizes the landscape and massacres tens of thousands at a time. I always preach peace first. When you give peace a chance (as you have done beyond any Christian’s duty to “turn the other cheek”) and the other side does not, and consequently you face defeat with dire consequences to your people, the time has come for radical self-defense measures. What’s Poland, the US and Nato gonna do? Declare war on you?
Poland, the US and Nato are already conducting war against Russia. Russia needs to strike back to defend itself–not with nukes…yet, if the continuous escalation by the West can be stopped, but in an effective way, not the half-ass performance which allowed all those state-of-the-art artillery pieces to reach the Donbas front. This is your moment of truth, Mr. Putin. You started this “operation” to prevent Nato from warring upon your country. Well, that’s just what they have been doing. They will not stop until you stop them. So far, you make them pay no price for their escalatory warmongering aggression, but that is exactly what it will take to get them to stop it. Or do you want the Yanks back in your country helping themselves to your land, resources and human talent once again, like in the 1990’s? That’s exactly what THEY want.
Which satellites do they use?
Does that make those satelites legal participants in the conflict?
What will happen if Russia takes those satelites down?
Yes, who owns and operates these satellites and will be conveying their guidance information to the missles?
Yes, who owns and operates these satellites and will be conveying their guidance information to the missles ?
Good questions. Also, who owns and operates these satellites and will be conveying their guidance information to the missles?
The fact that the US is sending these weapons to the Ukraine shows that Russia is winning, unlike what Western propaganda tells us about massive Russian losses, defeats. The ’empire of lies’ again exposed. What we don’t yet know is how Russia will react, a strike on the US mainland with submarine launched missiles, or aircraft carriers? And then what, nuclear war?
” We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia” biden wrote, of course not, US/NATO are at war with Russia already. The Ukrainians are the proxies that will be replaced with European NATO proxies in time. The warmongers are sitting in Washington. Biden and his bunch, all of them gerontology patients, are the real danger to the planet.
I guess that senile Joe Biden has forgotten that the Zelenskyy regime has already attacked Russians in Russia, more than once.
If these weapons actually are successfully deployed and used against targets in Russia or the Black Sea (and not destroyed or sold on the black market first), Russia’s response will be swift and devastating, and I’m sure the fearless Commander Z will be out of the country when that happens.
Btw, these seem like very sophisticated weapons, who will be operating them? By the time they arrive, all of Ukraine’s best soldiers will be dead or captured…perhaps Poles, trained by NATO and dressed in Ukrainian uniforms? If NATO advisors are actively involved in operating these systems in Ukraine they will be killed. What happens then?
Pure unadulterated INSANITY
Perhaps because Mr Putin a Cancer Survivor… certain amount of deliberation shown by Russian side…
Dispite Limited Peace Posturing exhibited by major print US MSM(s)…
Something tells this commenter we World Cits aren’t Anywhere Close2 out of the woods… yet…
(Truly HOPE i’mWrong…
Its rather obvious that the US is running the show in Ukraine, so all the fuss about NATO seems like a red herring. It is nothing short of amazing that the US cannot afford to attend to basic human needs (healthcare, education, housing, et al), but asking for billions after billions of dollars for weapons doesn’t seem to bother the American public (nor one might add, the “progressives” in the House who , mostly, were all in for giving Biden billions more than he asked for. Socialism is alive in the US, but its the arms industry that benefits, as usual. Our addiction to war and violence has no limits.
Once again, Russia is right.
Madness…total madness.
One piece of this that’s driving some of this militarism against Russia — and it’s getting somewhat short shrift — is the Russophobia propagated by Hillary Clinton/Podesta and the DNC with their Russiagate lies. Of course the mainstream media (and CommonDreams ran several pieces in support of the Russiagate canard) ran with it for ratings and by just being cogs in the establishment CIA narrative.
I remember being mocked and ridiculed on CommonDreams’ message boards in 2016 for calling out the developing prevarications.
All of these players are complicit in putting the world on the brink of a potentially dangerous war between Washington and Moscow.
Indeed. In fact, as this 5-page snippet from the recent trial exhibits tracked down by Aaron Mate shows, the FBI was never duped by Michael Sussman, HRC’s man on point, but had actively collaborated with him on massaging the ‘hack’ BS.
hxxps://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1531675684246065155/photo/1
Yes, I think you are right. For four years the Democrats poured everything they had into Russiagate. Everything. They even seemed more or less indifferent to trying to combat Trump’s specific policies, many of which they have been more or less indifferent towards overturning since Biden got into office. But what did four years of Russiagate even produce? Well, as far as I can tell all it did was make large swaths of Liberal Democrats into such rabid hawks that even risking nuclear war is “worth it in order to get Putin.”
In other words, as an experiment in producing mass, incredibly violent psychosis through the use of propaganda, it has been a resounding success. I always believed Liberals by nature could only be circumspect in their dealings with others. But that was clearly an illusion that I cannot afford anymore. The biggest eye opener for me has been watching Sanders, AOC, the Squad, and the rest of the so-called Progressive Caucus jump on board the war train just as quickly. This whole affair has upended Democratic Party politics for me, and I don’t think I’m alone.
“what did four years of Russiagate even produce? Well, as far as I can tell all it did was make large swaths of Liberal Democrats into such rabid hawks that even risking nuclear war is “worth it in order to get Putin.””
Exactly. Great points. Also your point about the squad and Bernie selling to the war machine out is precisely right and extremely disturbing.
That means each individual HIMARS rocket costs more than $100,000.
No way Ukraine could afford to fire a single salvo unless the rockets were donated. Also, Russia now has an incentive to push at least 50 miles into Ukraine so as to keep HIMARS out of range of the current border.
Of course the bill will come due on that and a lot of other stuff before this is over.
Exactly which contractor will profit? “US-made” is not specific enough. Is it Lockheed, Boeing? What is the price per
weapon? How many were sold and who foot the bill? Many of these answers are in the corporation’s information.
What do they say it will do? (It may not but what are the claims?)
No donations, this will all be Lend/Lease, which our congress critters have revived. Everything is to be paid back, just like in WWII (and if I remember my Michael Hudson correctly, the US had a similar program in WWI).
Ukraine, the poorest and most corrupt country in Europe, will NEVER be able to pay Washington back for these weapons that are going to devastate their own country, kill off a large slice of their labor force/talent pool, and create life-long maimed and disabled who will only add to the liabilities that, I would hope, have a higher priority than paying America for guns sold to these fools a century earlier.
What next will America provide them to continue the devastation of their own homeland? Nukes? How about depleted uranium ordnance which is still working its magic on hapless Iraqi’s and Serbs?
This “lend/lease” caper is not just a profitable business deal for the American war profiteers, it is a blatant war crime when ALL the ramifications are taken into consideration. Ukraine does not need a mechanism with which to escalate this war, which is all that Washington deliberately offers. What both it and Washington need are neurosurgery to extirpate the malignant Russophobic centers in their brains.