Are We At War With Russia?
June 2, 2014
The damaging of Iran’s centrifuges through the Stuxnet virus a year or so back can only be considered an act of war (certainly the Iranians see it that way!). Is the President authorized to commit acts of war against Iran? I have yet to meet any foreign policy wonk who thinks so. The closest thing to an “authorization to use military force (AUMF)” they can come up with is Article 2 of the Constitution. All I find there is the vesting of executive power in the President and the naming him “Commander in Chief”. The article goes on to state the President shall “from time to time” recommend to the “Consideration” of Congress “such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient” (This in contradistinction to the explicit right of Congress to declare war in Article 1).
Only a constitutional lawyer of John Yoo’s caliber could take this to mean President Obama (or Bush, under whom it all started) is authorized to commit acts of war against Iran. But I have heard of no move to hold the president accountable for violating the constitution. Maybe that should yet be considered, as the question of what hostile acts the president is authorized to engage in has assumed a qualitatively larger dimension with the confrontation with Russia over Ukraine. Is Obama authorized to commit acts of war against Russia?
The idea may seem preposterous, but consider this. Even before the confrontation began, back last July, a Russian space launch, which was to place a satellite in orbit as part of Russia’s attempt to build a global positioning system (GPS) competitive with our own, failed spectacularly while being broadcast live on national TV. Then, in May, another launch carrying a $200 million telecommunications satellite failed. Such failures can hardly be blamed on Russian ineptitude in space technology as we rely on their rocket engines for our own launches, including shuttling astronauts to the International Space Station. By comparison, the European space agency has not suffered a launch failure in 12 years.
Then, in early March, there was a major fire at the largest refinery in Europe, which happens to be in Russia. Here’s a photo of it:
At that time, you may recall, Russia’s annexation of the Crimea appeared imminent. Finally, in late April there was a massive explosion at an ammunition depot in Siberia (There have been a number of ammo dump explosions over the last few years).
Are we committing acts of war against Russia?* Is the president authorized to engage in such hostile acts? Consider that Iranian centrifuges would still be blowing up without the Iranians knowing why or we being aware our government was at war with Iran if the Iranians (with Russian help) hadn’t discovered the Stuxnet virus. It might be well to press the president on this point before we learn the hard way why the Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, placed the power to declare war exclusively in the hands of the legislative branch.
*If we are, I think I know how we are doing it; but, lest you reclassify me from conspiracy nut to bona fide wacko, I’ll keep it to myself (just two words: Star Wars).
Ken Meyercord is a regular columnist for Veracity Voice.
Ken Meyercord produces a public access TV show called Worlddocs which “brings the world to the people of the Washington, DC area through documentaries you won’t see broadcast on corporate TV.” He has a Master’s in Middle East History from the American University of Beirut. He can be contacted at .
