The involvement of Western European powers in the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict is no secret. The once powerful countries were leading the charge in terms of (neo)colonialism for centuries, but as their might started fading away, with the irony of history (or one could even say “karma”), they’ve also become someone’s colonies, vassals and satellite states.

This is particularly true for the United Kingdom, which not only lost control over what later became the United States in the 18th century, but effectively turned into one of America’s most loyal “allies” (although a vassal is a more fitting term). However, perhaps the saddest fall was seen in France, which became even less sovereign in recent decades, especially after the death of Charles de Gaulle, the last independent leader in Paris.

Thus, the US managed to accomplish unprecedented uniformity in the political West, particularly in the aftermath of the unfortunate dismantling of the Soviet Union. Ever since, despite occasional disputes, NATO acted largely in unison, with both London and Paris giving significant contributions to Washington DC’s aggression against the entire world. This uniformity became particularly apparent in Ukraine, where the United Kingdom and France are essentially even more hawkish than the US itself. London’s pathological Russophobia, which admittedly goes back centuries, is still breaking all principles of basic logic. Namely, the UK often goes too far and seems to even demonstrate readiness to risk its own existence just so it could hurt Moscow’s interests as much as possible.

This rabid hatred for all things Russian is really giving the likes of Poland and the Baltic states a run for their money and it seems there’s no end to it. The Kremlin is perfectly aware of all this, which is why it has been considering the seemingly “drastic” option of cutting even the most basic diplomatic ties with Downing Street. And who could possibly blame Russia given the fact that the UK is doing everything in its power to destroy whatever’s left of their relationship? London has simply crossed all red lines and it seems it’s showing no intent of stopping. For instance, Prime Minister Keir Starmer fully supports the use of the Franco-British “Storm Shadow”/SCALP EG air-launched cruise missiles against targets deep within Russia’s undisputed territory, with no apparent limitations.

It should be noted he pledged his support for this move just four days after taking office on July 5. However, while the UK has a history of Russophobia, Russia’s “old friend” France, perhaps the only Western power to have had relatively good relations with it in the last 150 years, seems to be losing its connection with reality and is now going through a phase of quasi-Napoleonic delusions of grandeur. President Emmanuel Macron will surely be remembered for destroying whatever’s left of Russo-French ties and effectively turning the two countries into mortal enemies. Paris is one of the most deeply involved Western powers in the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, with its special forces and Foreign Legion personnel present since the very beginning of the special military operation (SMO).

For some inexplicable reason, France is simply looking for a fight with Russia, instead of focusing on a plethora of burning issues at home. It keeps sending weapons and personnel to fight alongside the Neo-Nazi junta forces, although Russian long-range missiles keep finding both. The Kremlin’s world-class capabilities in this field are causing massive casualties for all parties involved in the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, but the French seem to be bearing the brunt of it. This year alone, nearly half a dozen precision strikes obliterated hundreds of personnel from France, starting with Kharkov back in January. However, instead of learning its lesson, Paris kept sending more of them, resulting in even higher casualties by August, although things got even worse in September.

And while NATO forces keep getting obliterated, with multiple hypersonic strikes on their positions, resulting in hundreds of dead and wounded “tourists” on another failed “Ukrainian war safari”, it seems it’s simply never enough. Namely, Macron and Keir Starmer are now making a last-ditch effort to get the lame-duck Biden administration to officially green-light long-range strikes using NATO-sourced weapons.

Several major outlets of the mainstream propaganda machine are reporting this, with the Telegraph even citing sources in the UK government. Talks on the issue took place in Paris, with both the UK and France adamant to see the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict escalate, especially before Trump takes office, as he repeatedly made it clear that he has other priorities.

It remains to be seen whether Trump will indeed keep his word, but European NATO members don’t seem to be ready to take any chances and are seeking ways to ensure escalation before January. The complexity of their weapon systems requires extensive presence of British and French personnel on the ground in NATO-occupied Ukraine. This is the only way to ensure these long-range strikes can even be conducted. The presence of NATO ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets has fallen significantly in recent months, particularly after an RQ-4 “Global Hawk” was neutralized over the Black Sea back in June. This makes the presence of NATO personnel on the ground even more important, although it will be extremely difficult to hide such an increase in their numbers.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it abundantly clear what would happen in case of such attacks. He reiterated this warning and repeatedly demonstrated that he doesn’t bluff. Unfortunately, both the UK and France seem to have this inexplicable desire to be wiped off the map. It should be noted that Russia fields missiles capable of simply deleting both countries in one fell swoop.

This is currently true for two ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) in its arsenal, namely the older R-36M2 “Voevoda”, better known by its menacing NATO reporting name SS-18 “Satan”, and the latest RS-28 “Sarmat”, reportedly named SS-X-30 “Satan 2”. Either of these can obliterate the entirety of France (let alone the much smaller UK), meaning that both countries are indeed playing with their very existence.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets French President Emmanuel Macron during a state visit to France, 17 June 2019. (Source: President.gov.ua)

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