Ritter: NATO Knew a Ukrainian Missile Hit Poland, Yet Pushed for Direct Confrontation against Russia

Nov. 17—NATO was tracking, from launch in Ukraine to the explosion in Poland, the Ukrainian surface-to-air missile that killed two civilians in Poland, as explained by Scott Ritter in his RT article, “NATO’s Hair Trigger: The Polish Missile Incident Was a Close Brush with Nuclear Annihilation.”

“Let there be no doubt—NATO was aware that the missile … was a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile the moment it was launched. The airspace over Ukraine is one of the most highly-monitored locations in the world.” So, knowing in real time the actual situation, what kind of game was being played at NATO headquarters from Tuesday to Wednesday this week, with the moves to escalate against Russia—including NATO challenging Russia’s Air Force over Ukraine?

Ritter states that this episode “exposed an ugly reality about the eastern reaches of NATO today…. [T]he new upstarts in Eastern Europe seem hell-bent on finding a mechanism that will justify NATO intervention in Ukraine…. [T]he Russophobic officials that dominate the governments of Poland and the three Baltic republics act like lemmings, running toward the Ukrainian cliff, oblivious to their fate as they chase the fantasy of NATO defeating Russia on a European battlefield.”

The push in NATO to invoke Article 4 involved a drive, as Ritter wrote: “Poland was adamant: The missile ‘attack’ against Poland was clearly a crime, one that could not go unpunished. As such, under Article 4, Poland would be pushing ‘for NATO members and Poland to agree on the provision of additional anti-aircraft defense, including in part of the territory of Ukraine,’” quoting Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg “convened an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels to discuss the Polish incident.” With the Finnish Defense Minister (who was invited to attend) insisting that " ‘Closing the airspace [above Ukraine] will definitely be discussed. Various options of how we can protect Ukraine are on the table,’ " Ritter quoted him as saying.

“While Germany reportedly rejected the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, noting that such an action would pose a threat of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO, one is left pondering how such a discussion came to be in the first place: Ukraine fired a surface-to-air missile, which was tracked by NATO as it impacted on Polish soil. And, as a result, NATO members end up discussing the possibility of invoking Article 4 of the NATO Charter, seeking to extend NATO air defense into Ukrainian air space in concert with the establishment of a no-fly zone enforced by NATO aircraft.”

Ritter concludes: “If there was ever any doubt about the threat NATO posed to the entire world, there is no more…. [T]he hair-trigger aspect of NATO’s Pavlovian response mechanism when it comes to seeking causal justification for military intervention in Ukraine should have everyone on high alert.”