Has Russia Just Severed All Commmunications With The U.S.?

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley met with Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Wednesday, Sept. 22 in Helsinki, Finland. (Photo: Department of Defense)  

Politico: Pentagon wants Moscow back channels to prevent nuclear escalation 

As the U.S. and NATO rush weapons into Ukraine, DoD officials want more military channels to Putin’s top leaders. But Russia’s not picking up the phone. 

When Gen. Mark Milley emerged from six hours of tense talks with his Russian counterpart in Helsinki last September, the Joint Chiefs chair looked almost buoyant. Or at least as chipper as the gruff soldier of more than 40 years ever gets in public. “When military leaders of great powers communicate, the world is a safer place,” Milley said, striking an optimistic tone. 

Now, just five months later, with Russian military forces pummeling Ukraine from the air, land and sea, Milley’s paean to a common understanding with Moscow is virtually dead. 

But his relationship with Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces, is at the center of a highly sensitive behind-the-scenes effort to prevent the biggest war in Europe in generations from spinning into a wider conflict. It’s a situation that became more urgent on Sunday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his nuclear forces on high alert after a series of what he called “aggressive statements” by NATO powers. 

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WNU Editor: I speculated in the previous post on whether there were any lines of communications between the U.S. and Russia. Now we know there are none. Russia does not want to talk.

When you refuse to talk to the other side, it means that you have already made a decision and you do not want to convey in any way any information to the other side. 

This is bad. Really bad.

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