US may be preparing a nuclear false flag for Ukraine: Journalist

The latest statements by former US national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other officials suggest Washington's next move in Ukraine may be nuclear, according to an American journalist and political commentator.

McMaster said on Sunday that the United States must take Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine “seriously.”

He said that carrying out a nuclear attack by Russia in Ukraine would be a “suicide weapon,” while Moscow has advised Washington of its nuclear “red line”.

McMaster, a retired US Army lieutenant general who served as a national security adviser under former President Donald Trump, claimed that Putin’s nuclear threat is the “only quiver he has left” as the Russian leader struggles in the war.

“We ought to take it seriously,” McMaster said of the nuclear threat. “We have to, but we ought to not allow this to cow us in terms of the support for the Ukrainians.”

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that there is no one to stop Putin from following through on his recent threats of using nuclear weapons.

New York-based radio host Don DeBar said in an interview with Press TV on Monday that “this is a bunch of nonsense, and highly disingenuous.”

“Russia is not about to collapse in Ukraine, whatsoever. The US is trying to create a narrative, based on a couple of tactical retreats, that scares the life out of me, because it sounds like they intend to set off a small nuclear device in Ukraine, blame it on Moscow and use it as an excuse to make complete war on Russia,” he stated.

“The American public has already been prepared for this by the media, for sure. This projection by the US is preparing the rest of the world for it, too,” he noted.

“The Russian nuclear doctrine was stated because the US has stated its intent to take down the Russian government. The Russians are pointing out that this will not be tolerated and they will use every weapon in their arsenal to prevent it, including nuclear weapons,” he observed.

“I'm more and more convinced that the US is looking for an opportunity to do a false flag and that they are sowing the seeds of it now so they can blame it on Russia and attack them - perhaps with nuclear weapons, certainly with a massive attack that will practically force a nuclear retaliation from Russia,” DeBar said.

“If you look at the actions up to this point from the US side, such as bombing a nuclear power plant and blaming it on the Russians, and also blowing up the pipeline and blaming that on the Russians, it seems clear where this talk is headed,” he said.

“I think the morons in Washington and the psychos in Langley (the CIA headquarters) actually believe that if they do this, Russia will shy away from retaliating and just collapse like it did in 1991. I do not believe that this is a viable path for the Russian government, given the experience of the people in Russia during the 1990s, which is fresh in their memory,” he concluded.

Putin last month hinted at being willing to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The Russian leader in a nationwide address called up to 300,000 reservists to aid Russia, and also threatened to use the country’s nuclear weapons in face of the Western aggression.

“This is not a bluff,” Putin said. “And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them.”

US President Joe Biden warned Putin against thoughts of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, adding that it would “change the face of war unlike anything since WWII.” 

Pentagon chief: ‘There are no checks on Mr. Putin’

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has warned that there is no one to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from following through on his recent threats of using nuclear weapons.

Biden said Moscow would become a global pariah if it uses weapons of mass destruction on the former Soviet state.

In response to Biden's warning, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave reporters this short answer, "Read the doctrine. Everything is written there," RIA Novosti reported.

The Russian nuclear doctrine allows the country to use nukes under two conditions. First, when "Russia  or its ally [is under attack] with the use of mass destruction weapons," and second, "when the very existence of the state is under threat."

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