Western War Party Cheerleads Ukraine’s Kursk Adventure

Aug. 9—The European Union gave its support to Ukraine sending its military forces into Russia’s Kursk region on Aug. 7. Discussing the Kursk action with the press, European Commission foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano stated that Ukraine has the right to defend itself, “including by striking the aggressor on its territory.”

Marcus Faber, who chairs the Defense Committee of the German Bundestag, was even more strident in his support. “Ukraine’s attack on Kursk is completely legitimate and makes military sense,” he wrote in a series of postings on his X account, which Ukraine’s news agency, Ukrinform happily reported. “One can only wish the Ukrainian defenders every success, including at Kursk.”

Washington, D.C.’s Hudson Institute, a bastion of neoconservatives hell-bent on breaking up Russia into as many as 40-plus NATO colonies, went so far as to take some credit for Ukraine’s action. “Moscow has been forced to redeploy troops from the front lines as Ukraine gains ground in Russia’s Kursk region,” Hudson President John Walters wrote today. “Back in March, my colleague, Can Kasapoğlu, laid out how Kyiv can counter Russia’s advances: temporarily seizing Russian territory.” Hudson provided a link to the “Ukraine Military Situation Report: Ukraine’s Unconventional Military Options,” published by Hudson senior fellow Can Kasapoğlu on March 13, 2024.

Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Daniel Fried, now based at Washington’s Atlantic Council, had the gall to compare Ukraine’s incursion to “another risky and successful raid, George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River in December 1776”! Fried went on to fantasize that Ukraine’s action reveals the quality of “cunning, audacity, and tenacity against a superior foe” which could have “strategic significance.”

The only strategic result which Ukraine’s Kursk action may turn out to have is that of setting off a chain of events ending in thermonuclear war, but NATO’s Atlantic Council included Fried’s forecast as a leading item in its afternoon email, “Fast Thinking: How Ukraine’s Incursion into Russia Could Change the War.”

The Ukrainian government feels emboldened to take even more aggressive—and dnagerous-- action. Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Office of the President, wrote today: “Absolutely calm, balanced, objective, and based on an understanding of the spirit of international law and the principles of defensive warfare—this is the international response to the events in the Kursk region of the Rf [Russian Federation]. Unexpected, but extremely revealing and demonstrative. Some did not notice. Others do not care. Most quietly approve…. Now, a significant part of the global community considers Rf a legitimate target for any operations and types of weapons.”