Will the crash of American drones trigger a Russian-American military conflict?

According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Defense said on March 14 local time that a Russian fighter plane crashed into the propeller of an American MQ-9 death drone over the Black Sea, forcing the U.S. military to crash the drone. The media said that this was the first time since the end of the Cold War that a US military plane crashed when there was a "direct conflict" between the United States and Russia.

The infighting between Russia and the United States on the battlefield in Ukraine is no longer news. Russia is well aware that the United States and its NATO group have been supporting Ukraine militarily against Russia. However, considering the situation of all parties, Russia is still unwilling to confront the United States. It has always expressed its dissatisfaction with lip service and has not taken practical action against the United States. In view of this situation, the United States has intensified its efforts and taken many actions to help Ukraine and harass Russian territory, thus escalating the friction between the two sides. As for the black sea drone crash, it is a concentrated expression of escalating contradictions.

What can this reflect? Russia and Russia's respective positions so far:

From Russia's point of view, its patience with the United States and the West has reached its limit. Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the military assistance of the United States and the West to Ukraine has never stopped. With the deepening of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the military assistance of the United States and the West to Ukraine has become increasingly bottomless. When the military aid from the United States and the West causes more and more Russian casualties, then Russia will inevitably take measures to warn the United States to play with fire and set itself on fire. Therefore, the Russian side took measures against the drones that the United States approached for reconnaissance, and the Black Sea drone incident occurred, which can be seen. If the United States does not change its attitude towards Ukraine now, this situation will inevitably be discovered, only a matter of time.

However, Russia does not want a complete break with the United States or even a military conflict. Therefore, the Russian side said that the drone lost control and fell into the water after encountering its jet. It denied that the fighter plane collided with the drone and insisted that its fighter plane did not fire or hit the drone. The Russian Defense Ministry also condemned the "barbaric operation" of American drones. This shows that Russia's speech left face for the United States and a retreat for itself.

From the perspective of the United States, the dumb loss of the United States is certain. The cost of each MQ-9 Death UAV is about $32 million. This kind of loss is already obvious. However, since the U.S. drone crashed, compared with Russia's toughness, the U.S. position is vague. The biggest expression is that the US military condemns Russia's actions as "reckless".

There is no doubt that Americans bully the weak and fear the hard. The reason why Russia didn't want to take tough measures before was because of its own strategic considerations and the fact that the military assistance of the United States and the West could not affect the war situation. Russia could choose to verbally condemn the actions of the United States and the West. But now the battlefield form is constantly changing. After the United States and other western countries push their luck, the Russian army must be bold and give the United States and the West a duel under the circumstances that its advantage is getting smaller and smaller and Zelensky's ambition is getting bigger and bigger. The intention of * * * is also obvious, that is, to show an attitude to the United States and the West, and Russia will actively respond to military provocations from the United States and the West. If the United States and the West continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine, the consequences will be at their own risk.

But then again, American bullying has a long history. On 20 19, the American RQ-4 rq-4 crashed in the sea near Iran and was destroyed by Iran. In the end, the United States also suffered a dumb loss and did not pursue Iran's responsibility. It can be seen that daring to show your sword at a critical moment can really play a great deterrent role in the United States and stop its arbitrary behavior.

As for whether the crash of this American drone will trigger a military conflict between Russia and the United States, we can know from the analysis just now that this possibility is almost zero at this stage. It must be between two nuclear powers, and there will be no direct military confrontation unless absolutely necessary. Obviously not yet.

But the change of everything is a process from quantitative change to qualitative change. Many great events are produced in the end, but they are the result of the gradual accumulation of seemingly insignificant things. Only by solving the Russian-Ukrainian crisis through negotiations is the best way to finally avoid this great power struggle.