Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, speaking with Lindsay France on RT this week, explains that, in order to prevent “a shooting war that grows evermore larger,” the United States, Russia, and the nations of the EU and NATO should focus on ensuring Ukraine neutrality. Wilkerson, an RPI Academic Board member, proceeds to caution that war rhetoric and sanctions could lead to “another 1914”—referring to the breakout of World War I.
Wilkerson concludes his provocative interview with a warning regarding agitators for escalation of the international conflict regarding Ukraine:
This is going to happen with other countries too if we are not careful, and we need to stop this rhetoric that gets so high like that rhetoric on the floor of the US Senate and elsewhere. And we need to think about this in the terms of “We don’t want another 1914.” I can see how this could get out of hand rapidly. We’re talking about two major nuclear powers. We’re talking about creeping into sanctions that are going to cause tit for tat actions that are going to lead to more actions and then more actions. This needs to stop, and it needs to stop very soon. And people like John McCain and others on the floor of the US Senate and their equivalents in Moscow need to stop the rhetoric. Otherwise, they are going to regret it sorely in the future.
Watch Wilkerson’s complete interview here:
For more of Wilkerson’s thoughts on how US government actions contributed to the creation of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, watch his interview from March with Chris Hayes of MSNBC here.