On September 13, a government press release announced that Keir Starmer arrived in Washington for talks with US President Joe Biden [1]. The statement said that it was an "extended meeting" discussing "ongoing support for Ukraine, and the urgent need for a ceasefire deal and the release of all hostages in the Middle East". It also highlighted that the "session will focus on strategy and how progress can be made towards long-term solutions for both conflicts". It also stated it was expected to "touch on" a wider range of global issues "advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific and strengthening US-UK co-operation to secure supply chains and increase climate resilience". The statement also said that the meeting followed on from the visit of British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and US Secretary of State Blinken to Kyiv to meet with President Zelenskyy. Lammy also accompanied Starmer in the talks with Biden.

The following day a shorter government press release on the meeting added that they "focused on immediate co-operation as well as long-term strategy over the next few months" [2], adding that at the end "they moved on to discuss the Indo-Pacific region and agreed on the vital importance of our global defence partnerships, including AUKUS".

However, reports on the meeting revealed that this was deliberately misleading and that the meeting had one main focus and was a desperate attempt by Starmer and Lammy to dangerously escalate the Anglo/US led NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. Neither did the meeting have any impact on de-escalating Israel's continuing genocidal war in Gaza as it claimed, or on stopping the Israeli regime's latest state terrorist attack against the Lebanese people and bombing of Lebanon with US support that followed a few days later. It can be surmised that Israel's aggression against Lebanon is also highly likely to have been discussed by both leaders in their meeting.

The New York Times raised the question in its headline, "Biden Hasn't Let Kyiv Strike Deep Into Russia. Could Britain Change That?" It elaborated, "A trip to Washington by Britain's prime minister, Keir Starmer, came after President Vladimir Putin of Russia warned that the allies' next step could mean war for NATO." Its article highlighted the role of Britain in escalating the war in Ukraine. Britain was the first to supply main battle tanks, then it supplied Storm Shadow missiles prior to the US deployment of similar weapons. Now, the paper said, "tensions between London and Moscow spiked this week over signs that the United States, prodded by Britain, was moving toward allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory". The paper concluded that "Mr Starmer and Mr Biden were expected to discuss the terms under which Ukraine could get a green light to use Britain's 'Storm Shadow' long-range missiles inside Russia. After the meeting, the White House said that the leaders had 'reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend against Russia's aggression,' without releasing any details on the use of missiles."

That this was a meeting where Starmer and Lammy were desperately trying to further escalate the Anglo-US proxy war in Ukraine was revealed by Lammy when he spoke at a Labour Party conference fringe event last week. The Guardian reported that "UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has indicated that delicate negotiations with the White House to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia are ongoing, arguing it was a time for 'nerve and guts'". [3]

"The apparent encouragement to Joe Biden comes just over a week after Lammy and Keir Starmer visited the US president in the White House but failed to resolve the sticking point between two countries."

Of course, the "delicate discussions" and the "sticking point" were not the scruples of the US President to continue to try to desperately escalate their proxy war in Ukraine but rather to maintain the war under the hoax that that they are only "supporting" Ukraine and "supplying the weapons" but "not party to it". Clearly there is no intention to de-escalate the war and support a peace deal between these two neighbouring countries Ukraine and Russia. The "sticking point" for not openly allowing Britain to support strikes deep inside Russia with Storm Shadow missiles was what Russia Today reported as Russian President Vladimir Putin warning, speaking in St Petersburg a day before the Starmer-Biden meeting, that Ukraine would not be able to operate long-range systems without the use of intelligence from NATO satellites and the involvement of "NATO military personnel", and "that such a development would change the essence of the conflict". He added that "this will mean that NATO countries, the United States, European countries are fighting Russia. And if this is the case, then we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us."

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told the Security Council before the meeting that NATO would "be a direct party to hostilities against a nuclear power", if it allowed Ukraine to use longer range weapons against Russia. "You shouldn't forget about this and think about the consequences," he declared.

Former chief UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, writing in Consortium News [4] said that the finishing touches on driving home the seriousness of Putin's warning was left to the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov. Speaking to the Russian media, Antonov said that he was surprised that many American officials believed that "if there is a conflict, it will not spread to the territory of the United States of America. I am constantly trying to convey to them one thesis that the Americans will not be able to sit it out behind the waters of this ocean. This war will affect everyone, so we constantly say - do not play with this rhetoric."

Ritter's reflections continue: "Antonov's sentiments were likely echoed through existing back-channel communications used by the Department of Defence and the CIA. In the end, the message got through - Biden pulled back from giving Ukraine the permissions it sought. Most Americans are unaware about how close they came to waking up Saturday morning, only to find that it was their last. Had Biden yielded to Starmer's pressure (the British, together with Ukraine and several NATO nations, believed that Putin was bluffing), and signed off on the permission, Ukraine was prepared to launch strikes on Russia that night."

The Starmer and Biden talks reflect the dangerous desperation to achieve their failing global ambitions in Ukraine and the Middle East and in a changing world. Starmer had already indicated his readiness to use nuclear weapons during his General Election in June as Workers' Weekly reported [5]. Starmer had then given fair warning of an even more dangerous direction that a new Labour government intended when he angrily replied to a question, saying that "this is a changed Labour Party and the most important thing is I voted in favour of the nuclear deterrent, ...and my commitment to the nuclear deterrent is absolute, absolute! That is why I voted for it, that is why I have changed this party and that is why it will be the number one issue for an incoming Labour government."

In other words, these Anglo-US imperialists pin their hopes on continuously escalating their arming and support for Ukraine in their proxy war to defeat Russia even if this risks provoking a nuclear war. They continually arm and support Israel in its massacres of the Palestinian people thinking this will defeat the Palestinian resistance and "free the hostages". They do the same in arming and supporting Israel in its war of aggression against Lebanon, Syria and Iran. They must be stopped.

Today the Anglo/US-led NATO alliance is adding to its crimes against peace by its interference wars and warmongering in Asia, Africa and on every continent. The danger of world war is very real and the peoples of the world, including the people of Britain, have a duty to step up their stands and organisation against the escalation of war and for peace. The people must give rise to the new and modern arrangements in the world where conflicts are resolved peacefully in the interests of all peoples, nations and countries. It is the people's voice and vision which must and will prevail in the face of this desperation of the warmongering of these Anglo/US imperialists.

Fight for an Anti-War Government!
No to NATO! Yes to Peace!

Notes
1. Press release: Prime Minister travels to Washington for White House talks: September 13, 2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-travels-to-washington-for-white-house-talks
2. Press release: PM meeting with President Biden of the United States: September 14, 2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-meeting-with-president-biden-of-the-united-states-13-september-2024
3. Lammy urges 'guts' in ongoing US talks over Ukraine using missiles in Russia - The Guardian September 22, 20024
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/22/lammy-urges-fortitude-over-ukraine-using-storm-shadow-missiles-in-russia
4. SCOTT RITTER: 72 Minutes Consortium News, September 19, 2024
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/09/19/scott-ritter-72-hours/
5. No to the Pro-War Cartel Parties! Starmer Says Nuclear Weapons Are the "Number One Issue for an Incoming Labour Government", Workers' Weekly, June 8, 2024
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-13/ww24-13-01.htm

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