BEIJING, July 18. /TASS/. The US does not have sufficient military potential which would allow it to satisfy its geopolitical ambitions while settling the Ukrainian issue, geopolitical analyst Brian Berletic who is a former US Marine, said on Tuesday, commenting on Washington’s plans to supply cluster munitions to Kiev.
"The US proclaims its actions around the globe including in Ukraine are meant to uphold the ‘rules-based’ international order," he writes in an opinion piece published in China’s Global Times. "The transferring of cluster munitions so clearly undermines any such order. Washington is making this decision specifically because its geopolitical ambitions for hegemony far exceed its military means to achieve them," he asserts.
Berletic reiterated that Western countries lack the necessary industrial capacities to supply the Kiev regime with the sufficient amount of munitions. "It will take several years for Western artillery shell production to even match Ukraine's current rate of fire. This is why the US is seeking to transfer cluster munitions, not because they provide Ukraine with any necessary capability, but simply because it is the only option available to the US, regardless of the potential human costs in the present and future," he explained.
The US analyst specified that the fact that the US is experiencing a desperate shortage of ammunition was recently confirmed by US President Joe Biden himself who admitted that "the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition." "Thus, the transfer of widely-banned cluster munitions to Ukraine is not a decision made carefully […]. Instead, the decision is being made out of Washington's desperation to perpetuate its proxy war with Russia, lest it admit defeat," the expert added.
Berletic noted that supplying cluster munitions to the Kiev regime is a "prize" of sorts which would temporarily protect Washington’s pride and postpone "the inevitable defeat of Washington's proxies in Ukraine." Additionally, Ukraine may become yet another "nation buried in cluster munitions that will inevitably kill thousands of civilians long after the fighting stops," the expert said, citing the examples of Vietnam, Iraq, Laos and Cambodia.
"Ultimately the US' decision to transfer cluster munitions will not make Ukraine or the US itself militarily stronger, nor will it help the US achieve its objectives in Ukraine, nor will it enhance US geopolitical strength. It is a stalling action by a fading hegemon, exposing its hypocrisy while creating more victims to count both today and well into the future," the analyst concluded.
On July 7, the Biden administration announced a decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite the fact that the United Nations opposed the use of such munitions. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that Kiev had issued written assurances to Washington that these weapons would be used in a way so as to minimize risks to civilians.
When detonated in the air, cluster munitions scatter dozens of small bomblets over an area of dozens of square meters. If unexploded immediately, these bomblets pose a threat to civilians long after the end of any conflict. The Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed in 2008. To date, 111 countries have joined it, while another 12 nations have signed the document but have yet to ratify it.