As you would expect from brain-dead Biden and the people controlling him, American policy has been moving in the wrong direction. Whatever you think about the situation in the Ukraine, one thing is obvious. It's a crisis. Shouldn't we try to stay out of danger? Instead, the US has led the way in imposing drastic economic sanctions on Russia, backing Putin to the wall. What if he gets desperate and uses atomic weapons? This could result in the end of civilized life on our planet. Is this what Americans want?

The danger isn't just something I and other critics of American policy have conjured up.  "President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday [March 5] that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war and warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world. . . 'These sanctions that are being imposed are akin to a declaration of war but thank God it has not come to that,' Putin said, speaking to a group of flight attendants at an Aeroflot training centre near Moscow. He said any attempt by another power to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be considered by Russia to be a step into the military conflict."

The neocon warmongers brush this danger aside. They say that "we" have to do something to defend the Ukraine from an unprovoked Russian attack. But this totally distorts what is happening there. The Ukrainian government started things by moving against Donbass, a territory that declared independence and is allied with Russia. According to the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainians can secede from Russia but people can't secede from the Ukraine. As Rick Rozoff pointed out in an article on February 2, "Two-thirds of Ukrainian army servicemen have been amassed along the Donbas contact line, Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) militia, said on Thursday.

'Another three brigades are on their way [to Donbas], which is 20,000 to 25,000 troops more. The total number will reach 150,000, not to mention the nationalists. This is about two-thirds of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' personnel,' Basurin said on the Rossiya 1 television channel (VGTRK) on Thursday.

The Ukrainian troops are stationed along the 320-kilometer front line, he said. . . The situation in Donbass has reached a critical mark in the past week due to Ukraine's aggressive actions, Donetsk People's Republic representative at the Minsk talks, DPR Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova said on Thursday."

But the provocative actions against Russia go much further back. Vasko Kohlmayer gives an excellent account of these and highlights the danger of nuclear war that reckless American policy has caused: "The war drums are, of course, beating for US involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.

'Declare a NoFlyZone over Ukraine,' tweeted Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).

Lindsey Graham, a powerful US Senator, went so far as to publicly advocate the assassination of the Russian head of state. Tweeted he:

Is there a Brutus in Russia?  Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military? The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service.

Such brazen incitement to murder by a highly positioned US official could be construed as a war act by the other side.

Watching the mounting hysteria, we can be certain that the beating of the war drums is going to become only louder in the days ahead. . . Before the situation escalates into a nuclear Armageddon, ordinary people would do well to ask themselves whether we have any dog in this fight.

And if we do, what is the size of this dog? Is it big enough to run the risk of nuclear annihilation?