“Undeclared but limited hot war” is how to characterize the current state of engagement between the NATO nations and Russia. That’s one step away from World War III. From Andrew Korybko at korybko.com:
The takeaway from this scandal is that elite elements within the Bundeswehr are serious about further embroiling their country in the Ukrainian Conflict despite the increasing risk of the West’s undeclared but limited hot war with Russia spiraling into World War III by miscalculation.
RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan was the first to report on Friday about Russia’s possession of a leaked Bundeswehr recording implicating the German Armed Forces in a plot to bomb the Crimean Bridge. The transcript and audio were subsequently released by Sputnik here. The German Defense Ministry then launched an investigation, after which national media cited sources to report that Berlin believes that the recording is indeed authentic and not an AI hoax.
It turns out that four Air Force personnel were involved in this scandalous conversation, two of whom are senior members such as the department head for operations and exercises and the Air Force Inspector, while the remaining two are employees at the Space Operations Center. They began by saying that they want to prepare for the possibility of Chancellor Olaf Scholz approving the shipment of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine and questioning why he’s thus far blocked these deliveries.
Speculation about them simply not working was acknowledged but downplayed, with the conversation then shifting to ways in which Ukraine could fire these missiles if they receive them. They also referenced the methods employed by the British and French to deliver similar arms, but then they concluded that it’ll be difficult to dispatch them right away. Speeding up the shipment, they warned, could lead to errors in their use like “hit[ting] a kindergarten, and there will be civilian casualties again.”
