Is the Storm Shadow going to be the match which lights the fire in Europe?

"Our biggest hope for Russia is Putin gets retired, one way or another. So long as he has a finger on the 'red button', Europe remains in danger. I have said this before, if not for his nukes, NATO could take care of Russia during a weekend. But he does have nukes. And so long as Putin is willing to use his nukes to serve his purpose, we need to keep sleeping with one eye open."

   

Vladimir Putin, who has a knack for miscalculation, might be getting ready to stumble into the biggest miscalculation of his life. He is still considering attacking the UK. A NATO country. Why is he still thinking about doing that foolish thing? Because the UK (with the blessing of France), is not only going to supply more Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, BUT the UK is also going to give them the drawing package for the SCALP missiles to boot. For Russia, this might mean war - a wider war. A war which could easily develop into WWIII before anybody knows it.

Here is my biggest fear on how this could develop from nothing into something into everything in almost a wink of the eye. Even if Putin used ballistic missiles with conventional warheads and did considerable damage to London, that hothead who leads France (Macron) might respond to Russia with a nuke. Or even if it was only conventional missiles, Putin might respond to France with a nuke. And then we will have traveled down that slippery slope in a blink of an eye. 

We will stay on the brink of a wider war so long as Putin stays in power and certain countries in NATO are willing to risk it all just to give Putin a black eye. I thought from the jump that the UK selling Storm Shadows to Ukraine was a high-risk maneuver. And then to give Ukraine the data package on how to make their version of the SCALP missile - that was just frosting on the cake. At any time, Putin could exchange making threats for making war.

I am not trying to be a panic merchant when I say this, but when smaller hot wars are raging (like Iran and Ukraine), it is just a hop, skip and a jump to a bigger war. It is like leaving a smoldering cigarette in the forest. It does not mean a forest fire will start, but it sure increases the odds that it will.

Our biggest hope for Russia is Putin gets retired, one way or another. So long as he has a finger on the "red button", Europe remains in danger. I have said this before, if not for his nukes, NATO could take care of Russia during a weekend. But he does have nukes. And so long as Putin is willing to use his nukes to serve his purpose, we need to keep sleeping with one eye open.