Europe’s War Hawks Drive Us Toward Nuclear Catastrophe

Taking us to The Edge of Reason…

The US is now pushing both Ukraine and Russia toward a ceasefire. Even Washington recognises this conflict has reached a dangerous tipping point where miscalculation could trigger global catastrophe. But while Trump’s administration represents a step change from Biden’s proxy war strategy, the so-called “coalition of the willing”, led by Starmer, Macron, Metz and hawkish elements within the EU, are recklessly accelerating toward wider conflict; it seems their economies have too much invested in war for peace.

They are gambling with nuclear fire. And we are the stakes…

Crossing Red Lines

In the last 48 hours, Ukraine has escalated dramatically beyond any reasonable military objective. Their latest operation, dubbed “Spider’s Web“, saw 117 drones strike Russian strategic bombers at four military airbases, targeting what Zelensky called “34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers.”

Let’s be absolutely clear about what this means: these aren’t just military assets. These bombers are part of Russia’s nuclear triad, core components of its strategic deterrence capability. Attacking them sends an unmistakable message that could be interpreted by Moscow as preparation for a first strike.

The SBU security service took eighteen months to plan these attacks, smuggling drones in wooden cabins with remote-operated roofs, positioning them near airbases for “the right time.” This wasn’t defensive action, it was a calculated provocation designed to force escalation.

Ukraine has also launched deadly strikes on civilian train stations deep inside Russian territory. Russia has branded these attacks “terrorist acts”. How Russia retaliates will be telling.

The Nuclear Threshold

Here’s what our war-drunk politicians refuse to acknowledge: Russia has not formally declared war. It still classifies its invasion as a “special military operation.” That legal distinction matters enormously. Cross that threshold, especially through NATO-aligned weapons striking strategic Russian targets, and the rules of engagement change completely.

A declaration of war would unleash levels of destruction we haven’t seen since 1945. Russia would mobilise its full military capacity, abandon any pretence of restraint, and treat this as an existential conflict requiring total response.

Ukraine wants that escalation. Faced with internal collapse, catastrophic manpower shortages, and a military situation that grows bleaker by the day, Kyiv is desperately attempting to internationalise the conflict. They want to force Trump’s hand and drag NATO into a war Europe cannot win and never voted for.

The War Racket Exposed

“WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” — Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket

The winners in all this escalation, those gambling with all our lives, come in the form of narcissistic politicians hoping for a footnote in history, think tank hawks, and the industrial arms complex. They are gambling that even an escalated conflict can be controlled, limited. They are wrong.

Meanwhile, Starmer sees opportunity where rational people see catastrophe. He wants the much-needed boost to the economy that comes with ramping up for war. On Monday, he announced that the UK will build up to 12 new attack submarines to replace the current fleet from the late 2030s onwards, alongside a staggering £15 billion investment in the nuclear warhead programme.

The Strategic Defence Review promises:

• £1.5 billion for six new factories enabling “always on” munitions production
• 7,000 long-range weapons including missiles and drones
• £1.5 billion extra to 2029 for military housing repairs
• £1 billion on targeting technology
• A new “cyber and electromagnetic command”

The justification? Building these submarines will supposedly support 30,000 jobs into the 2030s, plus 30,000 apprenticeships and 14,000 graduate roles. Jobs built on the promise of death and destruction.

Image source, PA Media Image caption, An illustration of what an SSN-AUKUS submarine will look like

Our politicians, blinkered by hubris or beholden to arms manufacturers, are sleepwalking into catastrophe. Instead of acting as diplomats and peacemakers, they play war games with our lives and our children’s futures. Starmer talks tough about “standing with Ukraine” while British weapons systems potentially target Russian nuclear assets. His “warfighting readiness” rhetoric masks a simple truth: war is profitable, and peace doesn’t boost GDP.

Nothing has fundamentally changed since the Cold War. Nuclear weapons still promise mutual destruction. The missiles still travel at the same speed. The fallout still kills indiscriminately. The only difference is that today’s leaders have forgotten these basic truths, or worse, they simply don’t care as long as the defence contracts keep flowing.

The Madness Must Stop

We stand at the precipice of a conflict that could end civilisation as we know it. Not because of some grand ideological struggle, but because politicians addicted to the appearance of strength cannot distinguish between courage and recklessness.

It’s no longer enough to call for peace, we must demand accountability from our own leaders. Every weapons shipment that crosses into Ukraine, every intelligence operation that targets Russian strategic assets, every diplomatic failure that pushes talks further away brings us closer to the abyss.

Before another reckless provocation becomes the spark that ignites a continent, we need leaders with the wisdom to choose diplomacy over destruction.

Russia has confirmed it will still attend peace talks in Istanbul tomorrow. Despite everything, despite the provocations, the escalations, the crossed red lines, they remain willing to negotiate.

That door is still open. But for how much longer?

War is a racket, and these politicians are playing a deadly game with stakes they’ll never have to pay. The choice is ours: pressure our leaders toward peace, or watch them gamble our existence on a war that enriches the few while destroying the many.

Oh, by the way, I am ex-British military, a former member of the British Army’s only nuclear missile regiment, 50 Missile Regiment, now disbanded. Take it from me: a nuclear war is tic-tac-toe… unwinnable.

Paul Knaggs