Conversations That Matter

Ep 418 - Is Ukraine vs. Russia a Proxy World War? Guest: Jeffrey Simpson By Stuart McNish   Is the Ukraine-Russia war a proxy World War? Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says, “It is!” He contends NATO is “using Ukraine as a battering ram against the Russian state.” He says, “Russia is the target of one of the most ruthless proxy wars in modern history.”   US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, in a Washington Post article, confirmed that America’s goal is to “‘weaken’ Russia,” saying that “the only way to deal with a rogue regime is to reduce its capacity for harm.”   Anthony Pfaff, a Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, wrote, “With Russia already believing the war is effectively a battle against the West and NATO, there is the possibility that a potential Russian defeat could motivate Putin to expand the conflict by attacking NATO countries.”   More than six months into the conflict, Russian casualties continue to mount and the impact of the war is being felt in countries around the world. Cut off