October 31 2024

The United States and NATO allies should allow Ukraine to respond to Russian attacks with strikes by allied weapons against targets deep inside Russian territory, and they should also consider attacking “directly North Korean forces” if they are in Ukraine and engaged in hostilities actions on the side of Russia, said Congressman Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Turner, a Republican congressman from the state of Ohio, believes that the Ukrainian military should be able to attack legitimate military targets on Russian territory with weapons supplied by the United States or NATO allies, or with their own weapons without restrictions.

“Now the United States adheres to a policy according to which Ukraine cannot use weapons provided to it by NATO countries and the United States to attack valid military targets in Russia. So, for example, if Russia uses a military system to attack Ukraine from Russian territory, Ukraine cannot retaliate against that system with US weapons or local systems. This is a valid military target that they should be able to respond to. Currently, the administration considers it a provocation. Actually, the first strike from Russia should have been a provocation. They should be able to defend themselves,” Turner said at an event in Washington.

Turner also emphasized that the participation of North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine should be a red line for the United States and NATO, and the allies should not rule out an attack on North Korean troops if they fight in Ukraine.

Russia should not “open the season” to strike Ukraine with impunity and invite foreign troops to do so, Turner said during a discussion organized by the Atlantic Council on Wednesday, October 30.

“I believe that the United States and NATO allies should seriously discuss and consider the possibility of attacking North Korean troops directly, if they are in Ukraine and are attacking it. North Korean troops have no place in Europe, they should not attack a European country. And I believe that it is in the interests of NATO and the interests of the United States as a member of NATO that Asian, North Korean communist troops do not march to a European country and attack it,” Turner said in a conversation with the head of the Atlantic Council, Frederick Kempe.

At the same time, Turner emphasized that the decision to attack North Korean troops should not necessarily be made, but, in his opinion, “a reasoned discussion on this topic should be held.”

“I think they should discuss that the North Korean military should not be exempt from being a valid military target of the United States and NATO,” Turner said.

As Voice of America reported, Turner recently wrote an open letter to the administration, in which he called reports of the possible participation of North Korean troops in Russia’s war against Ukraine an “extraordinary escalation” and demanded that the Biden-Harris administration and NATO partners “establish a red line” regarding the use North Korean troops against Ukraine.

Turner criticized the Biden administration for what he believed to be a weak response to a series of international crises.

He said that members of the administration tried to “act like NATO”, tried to reach a consensus on national security issues, and if there was no consensus, then important decisions were not made and critical steps were not taken.

“The administration was more interested in the restrictions so as not to be provocative, not to ‘escalate the conflict,’ as they put it, instead of resolving the conflict,” Turner said.

Responding to questions from listeners during an online discussion, Turner said the Biden administration’s formula that it would support Ukraine “as long as it takes” leaves Ukrainians at the forefront of a war of attrition.

“If we do not attack the Russian military production base, they will continue to produce weapons and ammunition that they will deliver to the front lines or fire from Russian territory. And as a result, there will be increasing and long-term losses on the part of Ukraine,” says Turner.

Therefore, the only way out, in his opinion, is to allow the Ukrainian troops to destroy the production base of the Russians, which causes losses in Ukraine.

Otherwise, it will not be possible to win, says the congressman. And in order for democracy to win in the fight against an authoritarian regime, it needs to be allowed to help, Turner believes.

In his opinion, although there is no single weapon that would lead to victory, the United States should provide Ukraine with such weapons that would “wake up” Russia, make it feel that something is really threatening it, that it is no longer “acceptable” losses”, like now.

Asked whether support for Ukraine could be expected if Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the White House, Turner said the doubts about support for Ukraine were largely about support under the current restrictions imposed by the administration. Instead, says Turner, America needs a “victory plan” for Ukraine.

“People want a ‘plan to win,'” Turner said. They want to know that Russian troops can be driven out and Ukraine can be preserved.

And the administration uses similar tactics in other conflicts, for example, in the Middle East, says Turner, in the hope that it will be possible to return everything to the state “as it was.” But it won’t be like that anymore, says Turner, because “our adversaries will not remain as they were”, they are advancing.

“If we remain unchanged, we will lose. And this is what we do not want in Ukraine. If there is strong support (of the administration, – ed.), there will also be stronger support in Congress,” Turner is convinced.

Answering a question about what Ukraine’s victory should look like, Turner said it should be “a free and democratic Ukraine.”

On territorial integrity, Turner was less categorical, saying it could be negotiable, but it was important to ensure that Crimea was demilitarized so that it did not become a military threat to Eastern Europe.

“Crimea should not become the new Kaliningrad. Because through Kaliningrad and Crimea, Putin will be able to get the level of reach that the USSR had with the entire Warsaw bloc,” said Turner.

China and the consolidation of the “axis of evil”

Turner sees China as the biggest threat to the U.S., but he added that the “most immediate threat” to U.S. interests is a new “axis of evil,” which he calls increasing defense and economic cooperation between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

As Turner says, unlike these countries, US partners and allies do not coordinate their actions, for example, Israel does not use the opportunity to help Ukraine when it is shelling Iran.

“You see Israel’s response to Iran’s direct strikes on Israel. But you don’t see Israel targeting the manufacturing facilities in Iran that actually supply Russia with weapons that end up on the battlefield in Ukraine. But you see the coordination of Iran, Russia and North Korea. Now you even see reports of coordination between Russia and the Houthis, who are satellites of Iran. You see that all these adversaries, both ours and the West as a whole, which are authoritarian regimes, are coordinating and working in this very destabilizing way,” Turner emphasized.

He added that the goal of these authoritarian regimes, led by China, is to destabilize the West and the democratic countries in their neighborhood, countries that are connected to the West, using “proxy” or direct attacks, and this is a threat to the interests and security of the United States. which the next administration will have to contend with.

As Turner notes, regardless of whether the Republican candidate Donald Trump or the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris wins, the next administration must demonstrate leadership on the world stage and not try to “de-escalate”, namely to resolve conflicts, among which he also named the war in the Middle East East and tensions in the Asian region.

Congressman Turner emphasized that the US has been disarming for too long and has not paid enough attention to modernizing its weapons, while China and Russia have continued to arm themselves, as was evident during the war in Ukraine.

The US nuclear arsenal is insufficient to meet the challenges of Russia, China and North Korea

Turner said that the United States needs to modernize its nuclear capabilities because, according to him, the nuclear weapons of Russia and China are newer, and in order to be able to deter these countries, the United States must modernize its nuclear arsenal, add hypersonic missiles, which the adversaries of the US have.

Turner emphasized the threat posed by Russia deploying anti-satellite nuclear weapons in space, as Moscow has made significant progress in that area, according to U.S. intelligence reports Turner released in February.

Comparing the threat to the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” Turner said it was as serious as the Cuban Missile Crisis, but in space. He said that if Russia detonated such a weapon, all low-Earth orbit satellites would be destroyed and the financial, communications and military infrastructure that relies on space “would be destroyed” and would take a year to rebuild, or more.

https://www.holosameryky.com/a/turner-congressman-pro-ukrjinu/7846697.html