I have confirmed that the Defense Intelligence Agency is relying solely on Ukraine for the intelligence on Russian and Ukrainian casualties. In other words, if Ukraine tells its DIA liaison officer that Ukraine killed 400 Russians in its latest HIMARS strike then that is what DIA tells the U.S. General commanding EUCOM. This is more than troubling. This is dangerous.
There are six basic types of intelligence that a good analyst should consult in preparing an assessment:
- 1) Intelligence from foreigners recruited to spy for the United States,
- 2) Intelligence produced by foreign governments that is passed to the United States,
- 3) Reports produced by U.S. Government organizations, e.g. State Department cables sent from US embassies and Defense Attache reports based on information the attache collected in a particular country,
- 4) Electronic intercepts, which includes communications collected and analyzed by the National Security Agency,
- 5) Imagery from satellites and air craft (including drones)
- 6) Open source, e.g. press, media, and social media
What DIA and CIA ought to be doing is to scour all source intelligence to come up with an accurate report on the casualty rate for Ukraine and Russia. For example, surely the United States has intercepted communications between Russian military commands discussing killed and wounded. Ditto with respect to Ukraine.
Here is what we know with certainty from open source reports.
Russia is firing a staggering 20,000 artillery rounds per day, a senior U.S. defense official estimated, while Ukraine is firing from 4,000 to 7,000 rounds daily.
The Ukrainians are quickly burning through their stockpiles of artillery rounds and other ammunition, including for their air defense systems, officials said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russia-ukraine-war-ammo-rcna56210
Those rounds translate into casualties on both sides. Put simply, Ukraine is suffering at least four times the number of killed and wounded than Russia.
U.S. journalists are a lazy lot and are regurgitating to the public the official line presented to them by the White House, the Department of Defense and the Department of State. The same applies to most of Europe. But once in a while, a reporter stumbles on to the truth. Maria Senovilla, who writes for the Spanish magazine Atalayer, committed an act of journalism:
What is happening in the battle of Bakhmut? The news we are receiving is of the death of very many people.
Yes, we have to look to the Donbas because Bakhmut is precisely the blackest point of the war in Ukraine. This week, both the Institute for the Study of War, which is a prestigious American think tank, and other international thin tanks, have agreed that up to 400 Ukrainian soldiers a day are being killed and wounded in Bakhmut.
And beyond the number, which is just a figure, I have been able to talk in recent days with different military sources, both official and combatants who have been there, and what they say makes one’s hair stand on end. The city is for the moment under Ukrainian control, but the Russian troops have stationed their artillery close enough to fire there, but far enough away so as not to expose their troops too much. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army, as it has to defend the terrain, has a lot of infantry, light units, paramilitary units that can do little against the bombs. This combat front has become today a real human meat grinder. That’s how crude I can say it.
Right now it is one of the most, if not the most, worrying point for Zelenski’s armed forces. Our listeners are probably wondering what is the importance of Bakhmut to take such a commitment to defend the position with such a very high cost of living. Bakhmut is not an iconic city like Severodonetsk was, where one of the great battles of this war also took place. Bakhmut is not that kind of iconic city. However, it is a communications hub that is key to the supply lines of Ukrainian troops in Donetsk province, and it is also the buffer that contains the advance of Kremlin troops towards Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. If the Russian Army were to take these two cities, it would gain almost total control of the Donetsk province and, therefore, of the entire Donbas, something that Putin could already sell as a great victory. So you can imagine the effort that the Kremlin is putting right now in taking Bakhmut and what it is costing the Ukrainians to defend it.
https://atalayar.com/index.php/en/content/maria-senovilla-bakhmut-blackest-point-ukrainian-war-400-ukrainian-soldiers-day-are-being
I understand why politicians will lie about a failing policy. But it is inexcusable for intelligence professionals to enable that lying. The best antidote is factual, objective analysis. Especially analysis based on multiple sources. Politicians need a Dutch Uncle who will tell them uncomfortable truths. That is not happening. One of these days the reality of the carnage Ukraine is suffering will become impossible to cover up and the Kabuki theater of looking for a scapegoat will kick off in Washington. Guess what? It will be called an intelligence failure. The politicians will be frantic to escape any blame for the debacle of “losing Ukraine” and the intelligence community will be the culprit. In this case, the intelligence community will have earned its culpability. They are cowards who refuse to stand up and tell the truth.
They HAVE to know the Ukies are feeding them BS, no?
It doesn’t matter if they do or don’t. The regurgitate it anyway, the result is they get their money.
Do you think congress is aware or even cares?
They all have their snouts in the trough.
I agree that they are choosing to listen to nonsense because it provides deniability later. This is a cynical tactic. I believe they are conniving cowards, not fools. @$$ covering yellow bureaucrats have populated the key roles in this administration and the effect of this is playing out. The Buck does NOT stop anywhere.
Not just this administration.
This is the only administration that counts…..
@Slem Tarbich
In truth, this is not the only administration that counts. The present war in Ukraine actually began in 2014 when the Maidan Coup–planned and supported by the Obama administration–took place. Then under the following Trump administration, the arming of Ukraine to fight the war accelerated. And now, the Biden administration oversees the military debacle that is underway.
All three administrations lied and concealed from the public their evil and foolish plans to weaken Russia and get rid of Vladimir Putin. All three were part of the same project, though the Biden administration deserves and will receive most of the blame for its ultimate failure.
Yes, they’re basically outsourcing their lies.
“The United States of America” is a kabuki theatre, and kabuki actors are/wear masks/symbols to which the “audience” reflexively react.
Early silent cinema incorporated these techniques since their audiences in “The United States of America” significantly comprised of recent immigrants who were designated “greenhorns”.
The purpose of most media in the “United States of America” from at least 1910 onwards has been to maintain a level of reflexive reactions in the audience encouraging the audience’s propensities to rely on simplistic “answers” to complex questions – the “newspapers” of the Hearst “empire” being one example of many.
Such propensities on the part of the audience facilitate self-illusions including but not limited to:
It is always the fault of others.
It is these smart foreigners bamboozling us innocent upstanding (not outstanding) people.
It is these “Ch*nks/Communists/K*kes/Vegetarians/W*ps/”.
We always have good intentions but others make us change them.
They all have their snouts in the trough, or their “naughty bits” interacting where they shouldn’t.
These reflex behaviours are useful to some others as portals through which to analyse cultures in “The United States of America” petri dishes which include but are not limited to:
6) Open source, e.g. press, media, and social media
but not to some prone to reflex behaviours precluding analyses who are rendered reliant to some degree on reflex behaviours of themselves and others.
When sometime is designed to “fail” it is not failure but success.
I highly doubt that the war’s planners expected or intended for the war against Russia to fail. Rather, they believed their own BS about Russia being militarily and economically weak and the US military being “the finest fighting force in the history of the world.” Call it blindness, stupidity or a combination of both, the result is the same.
My personal view is that a group of not so bright people (i.e. the neocons), blinded by self-serving ideology about the vital importance of US hegemony, managed to attain power. Facing virtually no opposition inside or outside the government, they have had free rein to play out their fantasies on the world stage. History teaches us that the real world will have the final word.
The best comments/ analysis i read in a while, I m truly impressed with your text. You really hit the nail with the most accurate shoot any one is able to do… NO BS, simply truth, you exposed the fraud in the ideology, belives of Neocons..
Great one i look forward to read more text from you.
SCG
I agree with steffen–a very good observation. I would add the word arrogance to your neocon description, as well as stupidity.
“blinded by self-serving ideology about the vital importance of US hegemony”
It is not neo-con ideology but the ideology of their ideological mentor Mr. Strauss which they bought at a discount.
The importance of “US” hegemony, which was always and remains an illusion thereby increasing efforts to attain – US hegemony, Full Spectrum Doninance, and the End of History – motivated by their fear, emulating the fears of Mr. Strauss that they could never enjoy “security” without it since, anti-semitism is hiding round every corner waiting to pounce whilst “The State of Israel” is too small and increasingly upsets everybody, which through their efforts and the efforts of their associates, including but not limited to, smiling at crocodiles whose jaws are increasingly opening and closing, facilitated “The United States of America”‘s current status of upsetting almost everybody perhaps including their mothers, but possibly not their grandmothers.
Leo Strauss’s name is often brought up in relation to neoconservatism, and that may be because some prominent neocons enrolled in Strauss’s classes at the University of Chicago. However, Strauss himself never identified as a neocon, and members of his family have claimed that he was definitely not one. So I think we should pump the brakes on laying the neoconservative project at his feet.
I think you hit it on the nose. Western nations will explain how they were simply and cleverly duped by this Zelenski character and all his friends. They just passed on what was told to them. “We did nothing wrong” begins playing on the radio, television and on every corner. “We love Russia”. It was the british that got us into it. “It’s not our fault” the message comes sound and clear from every speaker in the world.
Truly, it must scare Ukrainian authorities to know American intelligence agencies actually believe the raw bullshit sent them from Kiev. “THESE guys have our back? THESE jackasses?!! We’re toast!! “
I am going to go out on a limb here 😉 – but you use the 6 sources of intelligence listed above – when you actually want to know the truth.
Everything happening in America is about appearances and narratives. These used to be “spins” on the truth. Now they ARE the truth.
Correct. The priority is not national security or solid, intelligence-based analysis, but instead on maintaining an image and supporting the accepted narrative.
Certainly, the truth will out, but they know that and plan their careers accordingly.
That’s it, they don’t believe in anything any more. Narcissism, group think, laziness and naked greed has taken over. Not in the US alone btw. This is the new ruling class e.g. in France as well, and they see themselves as the elites – which all too obviously they are not.
They don’t feel committed or accountable to their fellow citizens any more. The plebs is there to be fed lies, what else.
“The truth is what we say it is!”
A Senator from Montana….
Flashback the the Vietnam “body count”
CORRECT.
Slaughterhouse Bakhmut.
It may just be the last battle of “Nazi 2” the movie.
The entire shit fest has not been reality since 2014.
America is fighting its last pretend war. NATO is just standing around filming it with their phones….. copy, then photoshop the lot, then paste, like, share, and subscribe to Mi6 media productions ..
You do realise this encapsulates the entire fucking crazy world.
End Times? about bloody time.
PS : Last week I won $100 million on Power Ball, going to send Larry $500 bucks to help out with his blog.
Give us a thumbs up!
Phuk yeah!
Thumbs up to you mate, best donation of the day.
Did you get an email from “Zelensky”: “Dear Aaron. You just won $100 million in Ukranian Power Ball. Unfortunately, we don’t have the budget to mail the check to you, and the Bank of Nigeria has frozen our account because we redirected our grain cargo ship from Nigeria to France. We need an advance of $10,000 to pay for legal services, to bribe airport security, and to buy a ticket to send a courier to smuggle the check to you directly. Please send funds to Prince G. R. Edy, Legal Affairs Officer, Ukranian Power Ball Agency, Lagos, Nigeria
Who ever undergoes this thinks it’s end of the world. When Bagdad was sacked by Mongols a 1000 years back they thought it was the end of the world.
Well let me modify the sentence. It’s the end of the world to those involved it probably those on the receiving end.
If you won a hundred mill I would think you could spare another zero on that number. It’s not like Larry’s a worthless parasitical relative. He actually provides a lot of value to our fight. Just sayin..
Always the suck up……
stitico!!!
I think that Elenski/Belenski ll send you a e-mail asking for a donation from a generous person who give 500 USD to the enemy ( Larry in this case, because by telling the truth he has become a enemy of the official narative of Deep State and the No 1 Public Enemy of the ,, Free World `… this empty suits ignorants ll kill us due to their BS..they started to belive their own BS and those who tell the truth are Enemy of the state ( this remind me of Comunist period in my country. that black period ended in 1989 but it look that a big comeback is on horizon. May God Bless you foor you kindes to Larry and God Protect all of us from those IDIOTS
Do they take Ukraine reports @ face value?
Seems too much… But when you know the boss has been executing this plan for 30 years (and you’ve been helping him execute it) the lies are told… and they only want to hear the lies.
They can’t handle the truth.
Arrogance & hubris leads to jamming a square peg down a round hole (they may know the truth and want to jam the peg, anyhow… damn the consequences… reckless).
Nihilism… we will win or die.
It’s psychotic, but they want to be told lies… because they have no reverse gear…
They could not bear the truth… so the intelligence agencies tell them what they want to hear… or do they ignore it… and tell the intelligence agencies to shut up & lie to them.
I’m not sure what’s happening… things are so screwed up.
Some observations…
1) >>Russia is firing a staggering 20,000 artillery rounds per day, a senior U.S. defense official estimated<>U.S. journalists are a lazy lot<<
'U.S. journalists' are those who couldn't get into law school, business school, medical school…didn't have the intellect to study engineering or the physical sciences, didn't know enough about literature, history or foreign languages. They were the bottom of the barrel. So they became stenographers for their superiors, who keep a close eye out for PC themes and the 4 AM memo.
So, lazy? No. Worse.
No, they’re not. They come from the most privileged parts of society. They believe they are born to rule.
American journalism was at its best when it was full of drunks, failures and arseholes. Life had handed them a bad hand, and they wanted to figure out why.
You’ve probably never heard of “Teacher’s Pet”, a 1958 romantic comedy starring Clark Gable, Doris Day and Mamie Van Doren. Gable plays a hard-bitten news editor with no education. Day plays a journalism lecturer who reveres her father as one of the greats.
The film pulls no punches about the importance of advertising to newspapers, what constitutes a good story, experience versus education. It even sets out the Dunning-Kruger effect in the first few minutes, decades before those frauds postulated it – a boy’s mother asks Gable to send her boy back to school because “he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know”.
You can find it online at a Russian site – https://ok.ru/video/260888595107 or
https://ok.ru/video/327869467299
which you can download with https://viddownloader.online/
Somehow my earlier comment lost some sentences when posted.
After the ‘senior U.S. defense official estimated’, I mentioned that that current count of 20,000 per day just can’t be right, because we were told in March that the RF only had 2 weeks of artillery rounds. And we were told that again in April, May, June, July, August, September and October.
It appears that Ukrainian intelligence is almost as adept as foisting fabrications on US intelligence as was Mossad of the 1980s. I am familiar with the latter, having been one of the targets, but both are obvious to the intelligence officer that is willing to examine the “reporting.” Mossad would be highly dismayed when I would laugh at the notion of Druze suicide speedboats taking on the USS New Jersey.
Nope. Ukrainian “intelligence” is CIA, and has been since at least Maiden.
Correct. US is not relying on Ukranians. They have substantial eyes and presence on the ground and know exactly what is going on, military and CIA. Plus lots of Brits. Who is told that truth is another matter. But the people who count in US leadership know. The Ukrainians follow orders they don’t run the show.
👍
Come on Larry, we all know that to get ahead in government you have to tell the boss what they want to hear. You’ve told stories yourself about this kind of thing when you where working for the CIA. All this will be long forgotten by everyone when the $hit hits the fan. I doubt any one will take the hit as no one will not be talking about it except those like yourself that still care about these type of things. And history books in the west will probably still insist that the Russians suffered terrible losses and Ukraine lost because of Trump.
You’re wrong. One of the reasons I left CIA is I did not have a taste for kissing ass. That did create problems for me.
“One of the reasons I left CIA is I did not have a taste for kissing ass. That did create problems for me.”
It was your own fault and those of your ancestors – but not your sisters.
“I am a bona fide Son of American Revolutionaries. At least 24 of my ancestors, men and women, fought to free the American Colonies from British rule. Some died for the cause of liberty. Though two and a half centuries have passed since my great grandfathers and grandmothers took up arms, the principles they fought for remain valid and relevant to the 21st Century. This blog is dedicated to the pursuit of truth without regard to partisan advantage. I welcome like minded patriots.” refers.
You couldn’t join another agency after its restructuring from 1971 onwards where among recruitment valuation criteria were “not having a taste for kissing ass, but having potential to become Dutch Uncles without destroying agency”, and partly why at the early stages of a “case study” the question was approximately posed as : Do you regret your ancestors decisions? and remains unanswered.
“That did create problems for me.”
Of course, but some agency is better in minimising problems say to buying and delivering the blini prize remembering the honey; you don’t need to remember salt if not appropriate, although the Jewish lady who did and then reportedly sought to rely on as being inappropriate on the basis of her “cultural knowledge and sensitivities”, would most likely not have been invited to interview for following play books.
I’ve been there. One man can do nothing against a small business, let alone an institution. You need a mass of people for that.
“One man can do nothing against a small business, let alone an institution.”
You are mistaken.
The position was analytical.
In some organisations an interest in and a level of motivation based upon analysis authenticated by third parties are a pre-requisite for being invited to start the interview process.
Consequently he could have decided to not join in the interview process or at any time during the interview process could have decided to withdraw.
These options were simultaneously available to the organisation and its representatives of the organisation which issued the initial invitation to start the interview process which included assessments.
Consequently “It was your own fault and those of your ancestors ”
The self fault was based on the above, and the fault of his ancestors based upon socialising him on the bases of their experiences and frames of reference.
You will note I did not assign blame to the CIA – this is based on many years of analyses of their various ineptitudes which he apparently did not analyse before accepting the invitation to attend the interview process.
Apparently by your submission this also applied to you which was not unexpected, as was your resort to blaming others by way of “One man can do nothing against a small business, let alone an institution.” which is quite popular in “The United States of America”.
“You couldn’t join another agency after its restructuring from 1971 onwards where among recruitment valuation criteria were “not having a taste for kissing ass, but having potential to become Dutch Uncles without destroying agency”, and partly why at the early stages of a “case study” the question was approximately posed as : Do you regret your ancestors decisions? and remains unanswered.”
You also didn’t analyse and understand the datastream in regard to another agency which started restructuring in 1971, but chose to respond by the mantra/attempted sales pitch:
“”One man can do nothing against a small business, let alone an institution.”
“You need a mass of people for that.”
Thank you for illustrating your illusion based upon majoritarian beliefs which perhaps you believe others share.
Give me one instance in human history where a single man, by himself, challenged an institution and won.
“Randolorian says
5 January 2023 at 22:52 perhaps after he/she returned home from the office after a punishing and tiring day.
Stage left the entry of MirrorGazers :
Look on the bright side.
I could remain silent by following normal protocol, and you could believe I don’t know, whilst complaining about my response to others by way of – What have I done to deserve this ? without the backing of the late Dusty Springfield.
The relevant contextual protocol remains don’t answer to “cultures” in the petri dish they won’t understand anyway, although Mr. Lavrov said it more elegantly as is his won’t.
“I’ve been there”
That may be a possibility and if you have it likely would illustrate the level of facility of “there” not restricted to recruitment of “curved balls” and “illusory foreign friends”, emulating behaviours of some who invent friends because they don’t have any in hope of avoiding the derision and pity of others which some hold are more painful than the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and hence project them onto others not restricted to foreign heads of state, whilst simultaneously authenticating the contents of:
MirrorGazers says
5 January 2023 at 10:33
and
MirrorGazers says
5 January 2023 at 18:18
Thank you for your co-operation in transcending “The United States of America” whilst illustrating Mr. Shakespeare’s likely forgotten addition namely:
All the world is a stage upon which most performances are comedies, like our “interactions” in emulation of volleyball and Mr. Gogol’s Inspector General.
I asked you a simple question and you responded with nonsensical jibber jabber. Are you even human or are you another bot?
During the cold war, under the cloud of nuclear annihilation and the threat posed by the Communist Soviets, there was more of an incentive to produce results which matched reality. Once that threat ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, what incentive was there anymore?
Yes there are probably many staffers who still have some integrity and honor, but the system itself no longer functions as it did in the past.
Ron Suskind in his book, Faith Certainty, and the Presidency of George W. Bush quoted a staffer who said,
“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
“the threat posed by the Communist Soviets”
On what datastreams do you base your assumptions that
Soviets were Communist instead of window dressing ?
That the window dressing posed a threat?
Perhaps you were blinded by lies and hence were unable to write the datastreams down or even copy them?
To get ahead in any job you have to lick the knob of the man in charge. The difference is anyone above people that DO the ACTUAL work have learned how to swallow and crave more. You know start with middle management and upwards. Corporate or Government doesn’t matter. It is all the same. As a C student I sat and watched those A students gobble and gobble. Those idiots are still gobbling.
“any job”
Careful, some might seek to award you the blini prize or even the Nobel Peace Prize for your expertise in projection.
Good one.
The IC seems very good with the fast two-step in escaping blame in these situations and the politicians never seem to exhibit the least interest in holding them accountable.
The death and destruction going on in Ukraine is mind blowing. I am reading upwards of 130-150k dead and loons like Graham, Kinzinger and their democrat overlords are screaming for more.
How many deaths will be enough to satisfy this obscene last? How can any human being cash in on so much blood?
Are mountains of corpses an acceptable price for political or economic gain?
Sure seems that way.
I have seen it first hand in Vietnam, but still have a hard time wrapping my head around it.
I have a business client who escaped from Cambodia when he was 10. He watched his entire family killed by the Khmer Rouge. He told he most vivid memory was a KR soldier[sic] placing his AK against his forehead after massacreing his mother, father, two brothers and raping his sister, then getting distracted when some others found the neighbors family hiding in a shallow dug out.
I remember Zbigniew Brzezinski making a speech how his support of Pol Pot was one of his proudest moments.
I always remember Samat’s story whenever I hear the name of that POS.
In Cambodia in 2017 I had the privilege of pissing on Pol Pots grace. (By the smell I wasn’t the first). One day I will look forward to pissing on a few others.
“Dutch Uncle”.
A Dutch Uncle is someone who criticises in a blunt manner.
“Dutch Oven”.
A Dutch Oven is farting under the blankets then lifting it up trapping your significant other under the covers.
The West has been subjected to the greatest Dutch Oven in history. A few quickly came up to look for fresh air. The politicians, the intelligence agencies, the military, the press, the think tanks and most of the population are still under the blankets and have got use to it.
Smug alert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTpgqqLyAs8
“So you can imagine the effort that the Kremlin is putting right now in taking Bakhmut … ”
Yes I can imagine the effort. It is one of things I’m good at, imagining. The Kremlin says, “Why don’t we take this Bakhmut place, it looks like it might be a linchpin of a greater defensive network, and let’s send in the folks at Wagner to get the job done. They like this kind of activity, and if turns out they can’t take it all by themselves, we’ll ring the town with our proxie artillery, and attrit the forces of our enemy that way, if he proves so kind as to continually reinforce this linchpin for no good earthly, or military, reason.
Methinks the good Colonel Douglas Macgregor is getting impatient. He noted today in his most recent interview with the Judge, that the ground in the south will be frozen, in two weeks.
Two weeks!
I could be projecting, but it seemed to me that the good Colonel is fed up with the excuses for the inactivity of the Russian Army. Theoretically, the Russian Army does exist, and is said to be out there somewhere, in numbers transcendent! If so, then surely it should able to roll over an enemy that we are told has been reduced to a beggardly state, and do so with relative ease.
“Maria Senovilla” … “committed an act of journalism …”
Lmao … An act most heinous and foul! Prepare the gallows, or the guillotine, it matters not which.
Max424 – have you lived in the South of Ukraine? No, so you like MSM sell BS about things you don’t know and are too lazy to google the weather forecast?
https://www.google.com/search?q=mykolaev+ukraine+weathr&oq=mykolaev+ukraine+weathr&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i13i512j0i390l4.9085j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I admit, I was too lazy to Google the weather forecast, I relied instead on the good Colonel Macgregor for information regarding the current state of the terra firma in the southern portion of the battlezone.
I should’ve known better as well, because there have been many times in the past, were the ground in southern Ukraine does not freeze solid in the winter, and many meteorologists have gone on record (!), that this could well be one of those years.
So my bad, my very, very bad.
That said, as a person who believes the Russian Army is designed to fight in all conditions, and specifically in muddy condtions (light tanks with wide tracks!), this frozen ground meme holds no particular interest for me.
Truthfully, I always thought Rasputitsa, which can loosely be translated as, “the season of bad roads,” a condition that can affect various portions of the great Eurasian steppe nearly all year round, came to fame mostly, as it was used as one of the two most convenient excuses for the failures of the Werhmacht in WWII.
We would have won, if it weren’t for the mud we encountered in the spring, summer and fall!
And the inhuman cold we faced in winter! Mein gott!
The truth is, they got their asses whupped, the Germans did, fair and square, by an enemy that was fighting in the same conditions* as them.
* These conditions are also known as “outdoor conditions,” and outdoors is where most wars are fought.
The topsoil in southern Ukraine varies in depth from 5 feet to 13 feet… Accordingly, the mud constitutes a real obstacle to the use of heavy vehicles, including light tanks with wide tracks. Macgregor has been consistent with respect to the importance of firm (frozen) ground.
It looks like the weather will not cooperate with Russia’s plans. If that is the case, Russian generals will adapt.
In closing, don’t be so flippant or dismissive of Russia’s military. Already, Russia has demilitarized NATO and the U.S. to such an extent that the U.S. had to buy 100,000 shells (155mm) from South Korea… That was the last resort supplier… Incidentally, South Korea needs those shells to deter North Korea. Imagine how depleted NATO stockpiles are to have to beg South Korea to part with 100,000 shells.
” Accordingly, the mud constitutes a real obstacle to the use of heavy vehicles, including light tanks with wide tracks.”
This is true. However, it did not stop the Russian Federation from launching multiple pronged offensives in the beginning of this SMO, just as the ground was beginning to thaw – and turn to mud? – with the onset of the spring Rasputitsa.
“Macgregor has been consistent with respect to the importance of firm (frozen) ground.”
This is true. The good Colonel is nothing if not consistent. For instance, since months before this war began, he has repeatedly made it clear, that if the Russian Army were to get serious, and use all the firepower* they have at their disposal, they can take whatever they want in Ukraine, and do it rapid fashion.
That especially holds true now, he believes, as the massive and well equipped Ukraine Army that the Russians rolled through and around in the February and March, no longer exists.
I sometimes think Macgregor and Ritter are the only ones left defending the honor and integrity of the Russian Army, everyone else believing the only thing it is capable of, is sitting tight behind a contact line, and denuding the universe of its M777 howitzers.
*Conventional firepower that is. Colonel Macgregor has also been consistent, that the idea the Russians might have to resort to using “tactical nukes” in order to win this local scrap, is so contemptible, it is not worth discussing.
Re Max424 says
5 January 2023 at 03:01
“I sometimes think Macgregor and Ritter are the only ones left defending the honor and integrity of the Russian Army, everyone else believing the only thing it is capable of, is sitting tight behind a contact line, and denuding the universe of its M777 howitzers.”
No.
There is a whole world out there so the world can be roughly spherical and thereby sustainable in orbit within most perceived “parameters, hence the strategy of transcendence in order to drown a drown man with the minimum of blowback, thereby facilitating the continued chosen existences of those who remain after the existence of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune self-misrepresented coercive relations “The United States of America” by ending them in cooperation with “..the Russian army”, not with Hamlets, nor restricted to hamlets which are often objects of attraction to “The United States of America”.
My friends in Ukraine tell me it’s an unusually warm winter this year. If you knew Ukraine, you would have known about the peculiarities of the Ukrainian “chernozem,” which literally translated as “black earth,” and is the very deep top layer of “fat” and the super fertile soil that the German Nazis had stolen by the train wagons during the war from Ukraine for Germany, and which is Ukraine’s blessing but gets very swampy before the ground finally freezes.
So, in part, it could be the soil condition, but in part to paraphrase an adage, “we speculate but Surovikin decides.” And as a medieval poet once said,
” Everyone fancies himself a hero, watching a battle from afar.”
As a Canuck living on the prairies, no one has ever been heard to utter these words, “come on January and February bring us those -40 wind chill days…bring it (said in a Sam Kinison tone of voice)”. The cold will arrive. In the meantime, RF will continue prep and conduct concurrent activities of setting the battle space east of the Dnieper. Patients, my friends…what, you are a westerner? Then please go about your fretting.
The frozen round is coming https://earth.nullschool.net/#2023/01/07/1000Z/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=27.69,48.73,512/loc=35.191,48.825 and the air will be dryer than the sahara [tpw]
from what i read here you are a beliver of BS from NATO stan or a Bandera lover, i m not from Ukraine but i m very close basically I have 80-90 km to the border with Ukraine, I can tell you that from December 22 until today WE HAVE NOT HAD FREEZING Temperatures (negative temperatures below -2 degrees Celsius) until today, and my country has chernozem like Ukraine and based on a job that allows me to know the situation in the fields, the pedoclimatic conditions made it almost not favorable for vehicles above 5-10 tones, pedology does not help when temperatures are above 0 degrees Celsius. so let’s stop considering ourselves ( i mean you ) as great specialists, in reality you’re just a semiignorant talking from the sidelines without having any experience even as a farmers. When it comes to war, it’s better to let those with experience in the field express themselves and you can accept or not their conclusions, but don’t come and try to make an exposé because “reality” hits you in the face. you are just another hater who considers himself a great strategist and military analyst when in reality you don’t even know the difference between 7.62 x51 and 7.62x54mmR
Weather in winter has been getting somewhat warmer recently in Northern Hemisphere, perhaps partially due to Earth’s orbit making perihelion in early January. This year it has done it to the extreme, when Russian military might prefer the opposite. I wonder if this is a lucky but normal climate variation, or has NATO been playing with HAARP ??
Whatever you choose to believe!
We are shi….ing in the atmosphere (and forests, rivers … the sea) since the industrial revolution. But whatever …
Intelligence is not getting into this conflict in the first place, everything since then years ago is dumb propaganda for the money it makes, otherwise known as entertainment for the insane
How can it be that the intel agencies are falling down on the job? Because there is a narrative to be maintained and money to be directed into the pockets of the US MIC, that’s how. It’s not just the US, this is the type of BS being fed to a feckless public by a mudstream media outlet in Australia today:
“The Albanese government will spend up to $2 billion beefing up Australia’s missile capabilities, including buying a renowned long-range rocket system credited with helping Ukraine turn the tide in its war against Russia.
“The government is purchasing 20 land-based High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers from the United States, which have been hailed by one analyst as the ‘new god of war’ after their success on the battlefield in Ukraine.
“China has been rapidly expanding its stocks of ballistic missiles and long-range bombers, raising fears it could target the Australian mainland from a nearby Pacific island nation or archipelago.
“The HIMARS system – manufactured by US defence giant Lockheed Martin – will be in use in Australia by 2026-2027.”
Take a deep whiff of that load of manure and know that facts and logic are no defence against self-serving political agendas. Last week we were reading that what Australia really needs to fend of China is a couple of squadrons of B-21 bombers. You know, the ones that haven’t even been built yet and will cost around a billion each.
Next thing they’ll be telling us that the F-35 was the greatest and best value purchase of any weapons system in history. If you want to catch the full flavour you can read it here:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-buys-20-god-of-war-missile-launchers-20230104-p5cabv.html. In war, the first casualty is truth.
It’s bad alright. Thanks for the link though I wish I hadn’t bothered. It’s quite nauseating.
It’s the lack of curiosity shown by Australian journalists that gets me more than anything, even their laziness. As for integrity, well it’s nice when you find it in a journalist but you don’t really expect it.
One good thing; the influence of Mainstream Media is shrinking by the day.
Thanks to sites like this.
“the influence of Mainstream Media is shrinking by the day.”
Is it though, mate? Nearly everyone I know, even a couple in my own family, watch or listen to the news. And they fucken believe it.
My ignorant brother thinks he’s so clever and informed reaings Crikey and the Guardian because as he states “they aren’t MSM” LOL.
And now the “news” has told them that the new and improved R2D2 ‘rona is here they are all masked up again. And lining up for clot shot number six, or is seven? I’ve lost count LOL.
The Guardian was pretty good up until Snowdengate. Coverage of the second Iraq war was outstanding.
Since then it has been a neocon comic, but much of the readership appear not to have noticed.
Furthermore, the anti war left has been decimated in recent years, and Russia is loathed by Wokesters for being non-PC.
LOL. Australia must be terrified that the Chinese have a plan to conquer the continent because otherwise a bunch of MLRS don’t do an island much good.
Unlike many USA weapons systems HIMARS is actually effective. However it is so expensive that inventing a competitor from scratch might be better if heavy use (ie. an invasion) is expected.
I worked for a government in Europe for many years. The government was breaking the law by failing to comply with legislation which led to the industrial scale abuse of due process of its citizens. Despite blowing the whistle internally no one was interested and when I pushed it I was suspended and they tried to fire me.
The reality was that they knew what they were doing was wrong but they were in so deep and it had gone on so long that to admit wrongdoing would have been fatal for many careers so they tried shutting me up and whitewashing it. The whole thing caused me to have a breakdown and eventually I quit.
What I learnt is just how dishonest and incompetent politicians and government officials are. They are not interested in the truth only power. This plays out from the lowest positions all the way to the top. I imagine this scenario is played out across most western governments on a wide range of matters including Ukraine.
The west’s politicians and everyone underneath them are in too deep and to start telling the truth now would be disastrous for them and they know it.
‘You can’t tell the truth live on TV
Because too many folks are watching’
Michel Colucci
Did you worked in Greece?
o in Italia?
or in Spain?
No, no way. He speaks perfect English :)))
The closer Russia gets to defeat Ukraine in Bakhmut, the more likely is that NATO will make a move that might force Russia to strike directly at them, otherwise Mr. Putin government could be in trouble. I believe that will happen sometime in the future.
About the strike on Engels airfield I have a theory that it was carried out from inside Russia, maybe like between 30 to 100 km away from the base so it might look like it crossed russian territory undetected, however the problem would be how the ukies managed to get the launcher truck inside Russia.
Unfortunately among the citizens from Ukraine that Russia gave citizenship I figure there could be some banderites pretending to stay on the russian side and launching terrorist attacks from the shadows.
NATO and CIA placed sleeper cells (Gladio style) in Russia many years ago in readiness for this.
This war on Russia has been planned for quite some time, since the 90ies at least.
Of course it could be grr ..
But I also think that if Snowden took shelter in Russia, it was for a reason.
I would not compare the intelligence services of Russia with the ones of Italy in the 70s …
Adrian has only said it is a theory.
Who can know if it is a good theory or just a “theory that you find in the internet”?
PS: do you think that Russia may also have “sleeper cells” in USA and other countries?
It is not impossible by definition. But that that doesn’t mean is true either. (Or that they succeeded in doing it).
I took that idea from Pepe Escobar, but my addition is that the strike on the airfield could have been started as close as possible. That’s why I said between 30 and 100 km away from the base, whatever the ukies might consider more appropiate.
After 10 months even an anonymous citizen has already started to understand the pattern of Ukie/US/West propaganda. In addition to mirror propaganda when the hype is too high something very bad is happening. And it’s never been bigger than these last few weeks. Ukraine must be completely desperate in Bakhmut! As for the western press in my opinion it has nothing to do with laziness. It was literally bought to be part of the Russophobic disinformation campaign since the beginning of this conflict. And despite all the unhappiness of any war it is hilarious with so many lies! I believe that Ukraine itself runs the risk of having to surrender from one day to the next for lack of men because even they lose their minds with so much lies. Propaganda and the Bagdad Bobs have always been part of military conflicts, but I don’t think anyone has ever seen anything at this level.
The three greatest intel failures took place prior to the SMO. The rest is history in the making, which is now looking like the emergence of a new world order quite different from the extension of the old order that the West was banking on based on false assumptions.
The first was the intel failure that led to the false assumption that “sanctions from hell” would bring Russia to its knees in short order, forcing a change of government. They completely misjudged the strength of the Russian economy and its degree of self-sufficiency, hence, resilience.
The second was the failure to grasp the nature of industrial warfare and Russia’s ability to generate weapons and ammunition on an industrial scale. This led to the false assumption that Russian military capability could be weakened quickly. They did not learn the lesson that Hitler did in WWII when Russian tanks kept on rolling out.
Intel also failed to appreciate the political ramifications of the policy of NATO expansion and the poking of the bear that provoked a predictable reaction from Russia, namely, that the Global South and East would side with Russia or at least not join the West in its condemnation of “Russian aggression.” This was, of course, also a result of interventionist policy since WWII. The Global South and East now sees itself as having champions in Russia and China that are capable of standing up to the Global North and West. The world is bifurcating away from rule by the “golden billion.”
While relying on Ukraine for information and intel is also an intel failure, it pales in comparison with the level of incompetence displayed by the above three failures.
Russian intel is accused of failure at the beginning of the SMO, for example, missing the degree to which the Ukrainian population had been propagandized since 2014. But this failure also pales in comparison with the failure of Western intel to anticipate the consequences of provoking Russia and China, which has resulted in a de facto alliance.
Apparently, they still don’t get it and as a result, Western leadership is making decisions based on fantasy rather than reality.
These failure together resulted in a monumental blunder, whose ramifications for the US, US allies and the world order have yet to unfold.
A few years ago I had a massive legal battle with a major global corporation. Famously the presiding judge said to my opponents “you have poked the bear, now face the consequences” and indeed they did. Never bet against the bear!
Why is it that during the Obama era Ukraine was the epitome of corruption, but now that they are taking on the Kremlin they are our true love? We’re pouring an awful lot of our tax dollars into the Ukraine. I’d like a audit of the results.
When the corruption benefits the US leadership and industry then it’s ok.
Those US tax dollars are flowing into US defense contractors, and other nations who are willing to donate their old outdated Cold war era weapons, in exchange for dollars, and new US made weapons.
Any US dollars put into Ukraine get recycle back into the US through the Ukie lobbying efforts.
https://im1776.com/2022/05/27/servant-of-the-corrupt/
On New Year’s Day I phone a fellow who is my closest personal link with the Ukraine, and ALAS! what an enormous, amazing, disappointment! Another angle on the importance of knowing whom to avoid getting factual information from.
Intelligent and far shrewder than I, his entire capacity for critical thinking has become clouded, befuddled, and turned upside down by an affair of the heart of many years. Everything that he reported as fact was verbatim out of the memebook of Kyiv and Zelenskyy:
Russia is running out of men.
Russia is running out of missiles.
Russia is a loser for buying ammunition from North Korea and drones from Iran.
Russia is losing the war.
Russia is losing 1,000 men every day.
The Ukraine is going to re-take Crimea.
Crimeans hate Ukrainians and they hate Russians. Zelensky might let Russia “have” Donbas.
He, in turn, had just gotten off the phone with three people in Russia, and some number of his contacts in the Ukraine, and the messaging from each had been consistent with this Billingsgate.
He related that although the Ukrainians in Western Ukraine are indeed freezing cold, they have preserved excellent morale, hold Russia exclusively accountable and responsible, and view all Russians with contempt and hatred. Reportedly, nearly everybody is being provided with rolling electricity for about six hours daily.
Alas and ALAS! I had recommended that his Love uproot herself and her parents and uncle from the town south of Lviv where they had fled from Odessa, and seek refuge in Poland or Hungary, but to no avail. It seems that she has become afflicted with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and has fallen out of touch with everybody, completely understandable, with Russian loitering drones, and cruise and other guided missiles blowing electrical substations to smithereens all over Western Ukraine.
Understandable too is this fellow’s blindness from towering, overpowering emotions.
What is neither understandable nor excusable is for the most senior echelons of the U.S. Congress, White House, Defense and State Departments, and mainstream media to be propounding such flagrantly and verifiably counter-factual gibberish. This fellow is normally capable of critical thinking, but as so many of the “blue-and-yellow rag-wagglers” (as someone colorfully posted elsewhere in Larry’s Comments section recently) have been “dis-educated” of this along with their abilities to write cursively or read cursive writing, or even read the face of an analogue clock. They continue to gobble the fairytales that these nation-wreckers keep spewing.
” They continue to gobble the fairytales that these nation-wreckers keep spewing.”
This may seem “far fetched” since it was fetched from what some seek to misrepresent as being far of which we known little.
The communication techniques of the coercive social relations misrepresented as “The United States of America” of which “Ukraine” is a component, remain to some degree informed by Mr. Stangl’s report of the restructuring of Treblinka in 1942, particularly on the interactions of hope and velocity which are still practiced world-wide and evangelised in schools.
We’re black sheep in our own country. We see what the others refuse to see.
By the laws of war we are combatants in this conflict. Our actions are leading directly to the deaths of Russian soldiers. I don’t think we’re ready for the consequences. Maybe AQ ends up with Stingers. What would we do in their position? American soldiers KIA by an enemy under direct control of the Russian government—Russia providing weapons, ammunition, intelligence, targeting, planning, training.
Larry, this is getting more fucked up by the hour. I’ve never seen our government pursue a more reckless or dangerous or cynical policy in my life. And not a leader to be seen in Washington-it’s like they all saw the same PowerPoint
“Maybe AQ ends up with Stingers”
According to the president of Nigeria, Boko Haram, the Islamist nutjob sect famous for kidnapping school kids, has been massively re-armed courtesy of the Ukrainian grifters.
I , for one, enjoy failure.
Those that wish to rule, are sadly mistaken.
Similar to other statist/totalitarian bloated and bureaucratic intelligence services throughout history, the USA’s seems to be increasingly inwardly focused, with resources spent on all forms of imagined domestic political threats and influence operations.
According to recent releases, the FBI had at least 80 people focused on manipulating Twitter alone
The USA deserves everything it is going to get.
Here’s a possibility – the intelligence community gets off Scot free. How is that? Well, they have to know what’s really going on, and I suspect they are passing that info along to the politicians, complete with a paper trail. The politicians are the ones who benefit from the money laundering, etc., and have the vested interest in keeping this pig fed.
Look at all that’s going on and it’s obvious the deep state, or whatever you call them, is teflon coated. Politicians come and go, bureaucrats are forever. I wouldn’t count them out too soon. They have dirt on politicians, and the media is amenable to any spin regardless of how dishonest or absurd, and the public, well, they have short attention spans, to say the least. A big chunk of the electorate seems to function at the moron level.
Maybe they all skate on this.
Reminds me of that episode of South Park where they start smelling their own farts.
Anybody remember when Obama likened ISIS in Syria to the JV team? And later he looked like an utter fool saying that. Well, he said that because that is what the intelligence teams were telling him. Check this out:
Report: Analysts claim US military altering intelligence on ISIS war
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/253188-report-analysts-claim-us-military-altering-intelligence-on-isis-war/
Middle and upper management wanted Obama and American public think the US was winning the war against ISIS with their bombing campaign. So management altered what the analysts were saying (who were on the ground as it were). Sound familiar?
I am sure Blinken, Sullivan, and Nuland are telling Obama, erh ah I mean Biden, that the Ukrainians are winning the war. Europeans probably know better but they ain’t gonna say sheet.
“Those rounds translate into casualties on both sides. Put simply, Ukraine is suffering at least four times the number of killed and wounded than Russia.”
To be fair to the western analysts and journos, if you believe the Russians shoot like stormtroopers and the ukrainians are jedi* (which is basically the accepted narrative we are being fed), then obviously all those Russian shells are hitting empty fields, and the few Ukrainian shells are hitting massive concentrations of Russian generals.
*intentionally chose infantile starwars to use as analogy because it fits the level of narrative in the western media
Real analysis of the critical battle for Bahkmut and why it’s one tough road for both sides. Good maps and info on tactics and troop/weapons status.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eqYOmY12YHU
I don’t think they aren’t aware – They sure are but they still continues to perpetuate the obvious lies not because they want to keep their superiors happy but because they know that there will be no repurcussions even if they get caught lying – This world no more values truth and honesty and will just shrug and move on even if they get exposed – In such a moral environment,one can rage and rave and demand justice but one has to be pragmatic enough to realise that they will never get it – So the options really are to grin and bear it or rage and resign oneself to the inevitable truth – that nothing is going to change
Calm down everyone. You may think this war is important but I watched US Senator explain how £100 billion is peanuts, less than one percent of government spending and was money well spent as any arms company CEO will tell you.
The people that count are making out like the bandits they are and the rest of you losers can go whine in the corner.
I wouldn’t mind being a CEO if anyone knows of an opening.
The cost to us in Europe is colossal. Refugees, energy price hikes, unemployment, etc.
The military expense is the tip of the iceberg.
Yes. I know you were being sarcastic!
María Senovilla is pure NATO, she writes hoaxes against Russia. Her comment about Bakhmut was due to her falling out of bed.
You publish so much useful information that I am surprised to read about your expectations from politicians or the intelligence community. Do you really think that any of them don’t know what is going on? The intelligence community knows because they probably get the information before it is altered or censored for public consumption. The politicians also know but many probably choose not to know officially, to have some defense if/when things unravel. The only dupes in this game are the people expected to pay for such adventures with their money or their lives. My biggest surprise is that so many believe the lies that are spread and cooperate with the system.
After decades of postmodernism, “narratives,” “my truth,” and dozens of semesters trying to mystify a painting of a pipe not being an actual pipe (wow bro, pass that), I think it’s much easier to weave elaborate fabrications and to justify them internally. Basic, near universal, morality for all time is passé. Lying, murder, even basic biology, have become social constructs.
Patriotism has morphed into aggressive military adventurism, the ideas the US is “indispensable,” and “a “force for good,” by default, not based on trying to follow ideals which once did make it better at least. Deception is thereby justified to protect US power, and it’s a narrative in a world without truth anyway.
“The rules-based international order” contains no discernable rules, while destroying and disordering things. The ‘rules’ the US applied to break up Yugoslavia are diametrically opposite in every case to the ones used now to rationalize the Ukraine operation.
Combine those with stultified foreign policy, IC, and military establishments which think they’re faultless, while being corrupt and never doing anything right. “The strongest military in world history” is an unquestionable catechism in DC based on decades of the MIC wasting countless (literally, nobody knows where it went) billions on bleeding edge tech which never works as promised. This is why they must never admit what Russia has, or acknowledge its effectiveness, despite spending about 1/10th as much annually as the US does. The grift must be protected.
All this acting in service of the paranoid and hubristic Wolfowitz doctrine (world-dominating imperialism by another name) is a toxic brew they can’t stop chugging inside the Beltway.
“Wolfowitz doctrine (world-dominating imperialism by another name)”
Some are of the view that it is the Strauss doctrine informed by the two young gentlemen from Brooklyn who authored the Superman comics to allay their fears.
All MirrorGazers who did not worry, Is my bum is too big in this ?
It is almost certain that many of these billions (I’d say trillions) have been misspent on overpriced weapons that include the bribes to sell them. Yes, payoffs and insane profits are part of it, but after everyone involved has a yacht, vacation home, bunker, and Swiss trust fund, how do you account for the remaining missing trillions?? Then there are the additional trillions from the “black” government managed world drug trade. Some significant “secret” programs almost have to be happening here.
This site may provide a reasonable estimate of Russian KIAs.
https://en.zona.media/article/2022/05/11/casualties_eng
We can probably assume they are not under-estimating numbers since they are clearly ANTI-Russian – or anti-SMO at least. The Total KIA confirmed up until Dec 16th is 10,229. Note that this does not include DPR, LPR & Wagner forces which account for about another 6K.
There is an update for Dec 30th which shows KIA has increased to 10,712.
https://en.zona.media/article/2022/12/31/warnumbers
Sometime in September Shoigu claimed around 5.9k Russian troops had been killed. The mediazona site records 5951 for w/e September 8th but this figure is ONLY for those where DoD has been confirmed. True number was probably about a third higher based on the fact that only 7418 of the 10229 have a confirmed DoD.
I believe another organisation is independently carrying out similar analysis and is (or was) producing similar results.
´´I understand why politicians will lie about a failing policy. But it is inexcusable for intelligence professionals to enable that lying.´´ I saw that youtube interview recently with a certain well known ex CIA analyst telling us that intelligence professionals earn their pay by creating reports that support ruling political narratives not objective reality. Thus it is an asset for a CIA analyst not to speak the language of the regions they report on to ensure unclouded focus on narratives.
Politicians only deal in narratives thus any similarities with ´´truth´´ and objective reality are random and purely coincidental . It was Goebbels who advocated lying as biggly and repetitively as possible to ensure official narratives prevail.
The drunken Milburn interview evidences that the NATO boots on the ground in 404 uniforms are now finding ways to warn off comrades-in-arms from signing up for the meat grinding reality of the battlefield. It will be interesting to see if the rest of the Polish army refuses to follow its Generals to fight in Ukraine once the ground has frozen solid. The ordinary Poles I have met in 2022 dont want their country expanding to re-incorporate now Banderite populated cities like Lvov
” They are cowards who refuse to stand up and tell the truth.”
Not only.
They are force multipliers of the efforts of their opponents in myriad forms and myriad locations even if not wholly reliant on “Ukrainian intelligence”, minimsing afters’ “plausible” beliefs of it-wasn’t-me-it-was-my-sister, as a function of “culture” including misguided assumptions, hopes and purposes deemed to be “strategies”.
The world centre of kabuki from at least 1945 onwards was not Japan but “The United States of America” since “war” is not restricted to things that go bang, for audiences mostly in cultures/environments where aikido has long been embedded as part of the “culture”.
I don’t get it anymore. It’s becoming a fulltime job to factcheck the MSM these days. Ever since the strike on the Russian soldiers on new years eve, the MSM is ramping up the stories about Russian troops getting killed and Ukraine winning. The glorification of Russian deaths is worrisome to me.
Yesterday evening on the news, they just weave it in between other unrelated news items. ”Oh yeah, here again, are a bunch of dead Russian soldiers. Remember the war dear viewer? Here’s Russia loosing so bad. Look! Don’t ask questions about the insane energy pricing schemes the EU unleashed on the continent … no don’t ask. But look at how good we are, and how bad they are. ”
This is propaganda at its finest. A constant bombardment of lies and narratives being shoved down your throat. And disproving them is a full-time job without any pay.
I don’t talk to friends or relatives about the war anymore. I’m so tired of constantly reminding them that there are two sides to this story. That Russia didn’t ‘suddenly’ invade another country. That we shouldn’t take all the MSM crap at face value.
Anyone else feeling this tiredness?
I have some acquaintances (can no longer call them friends) who will agree that the government lied/lies about Kennedy, Vietnam, Climate change, Waco, OK Murrah building, 9/11, Iraq WMD, COVID vaccines, etc etc; but wave the blue and yellow and believe the anti Russian propaganda. I’m sure they will come around after it makes no difference, and yes I’m tired of it too.
Each shell of the staggering 20.000 rounds of ammunition that the RF are firing is pinpointed to hit a military object, while most of the daily 4000-7000 rounds that the UAF are firing have no such drone-guided focusing. So the devastation caused by the RF on the UAF is even much greater than the four-times-as- much comparison is evoking.
Especially the brainless hysteria caused by uncritical journalists & intel officers who repeat the agitprop of the Ukrainian SBU reveals the contagiousness of Nazism. Nazism thrives on mendacious mind-numbing laziness. Ceterum (autem) censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
Here in the UK the only folks likely to tell the truth are retired. Those still working in politics/military are trotting out the narrative which comes from the Ukrainian propaganda dept.
Those who do speak out are denounced as “Putin apologists”, so it’s easier to stay quiet and have an easy life.
Lord Richards, former army chief under Blair/Iraq, wrote an interesting piece where he confessed to privately opposing all the neocon adventures – Iraq,Syria,Libya and now Ukraine – but he took us into Iraq at the behest of the political class.
The same is true in the US.
Parroting the Ukrainian propaganda suits our politicians, because if they told the truth, the public would never have supported the current debacle, and the Istanbul negotiations in March would have shut down the war. And lost the MIC huge amounts of cash.
Today is a celebration one in France. We have just started our 300 millions monthly transfer to Ukraine while our bakeries and small size companies are closing down by the thousands. Yellow jackets are back
I don’t know if this is true, but you said you have somehow confirmed it.
However, even if true, why is this a problem for the US ? Does the US care about Ukrainian or Russian casualties ?
The US wants to weaken and defeat Russia. Casualties are just an implementation detail.
Lindsey Graham recently said: We just have to send them weapons and they will fight till the last soldier.
mandate direttamente in Ukraina il sen Lindey Graham ,armato naturalmente;
ma prima mettetegli in tasca un GPS acceso… (a spegnerlo ci penserà Putin)
He said till the last person. Not soldier, nor man, but person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGj-cHyEhPs
In a related news, “Uniforms For Pregnant Soldiers”:
https://www.rferl.org/a/pregnant-female-soldier-ukraine-russia-war/32123003.html
Satiric news sites got nothing on real news.
BTW, Radio Free Europe is funded by U.S. Congress. That makes it neither free nor European, in addition to not being a radio.
The US wants to defeat and weaken not only Russia, but also Europe, China and the whole world.
Isn’t it?
You know the strategic goals of the United States. They coincide with the age-old goals of the West: Victory =Defeat the enemy. Not only the destruction of the enemy’s army, but also the destruction of a hostile state and the enslavement of its people.
But you don’t understand Russia’s strategic goals. They are much broader and deeper than the declared ones, such as the protection of Russia and NATO within the borders of 1997.
From now on, Russia intends to change the rules of the Big Game and the whole paradigm of the existence of the World – a world in which the United States, European countries, Ukraine and everything will live freely.
No one knows how long it will take for this to happen. 5, 10, 50 years …
If you look from this point of view, the war in Ukraine and the battle for Bakhmut are just a small part of a big Battle for the future of the planet.
the intel community will be blamed at first but then the to solve the problem they will be given a bazillion dollars to to continue the grift.recall the 911 blowjob?the patriot act?they will not suddenly wake up and fire the whole lot.they should cut the funding by 50%,but they won’t.too many hogs at the trough.some problems do not have a solution.
I don’t have a problem with the US having a 2 stream intelligence system, one for internal use, one for external leakage. Makes a lot of sense though I get that Larry thinks they are just stupid.
But if they do have a real intelligence stream then it is even worse. It means US is fighting to the last Ukrainian sending raw conscripts to the meat grinder Knowing how awful it it. Quite evil.
I don’t know Larry. This is at least the 2nd article you’ve written about this. The US doesn’t care about the “intelligence” reports, the DOD is hardly “hoodwinked” about Ukraine ( or anything else). The State Dept. Running this fiasco, isn’t “relying” on “Ukraine intelligence”.
It’s like you’re desperate to find a “cause” for the conflict continuing and escalating. Americans just don’t want to see or accept that they are simply cold blooded killers with only one goal,
Global Dictatorship. The world gets it though. In any case, “intelligence” hasn’t mattered since 1999.
It’s the same guys than the ones who were enforcing a 95% effective “medication” , this number being provided by the seller of said “medication”.
Now they are feeding you a “Safe and effective” Ukrainian army , Enemies 95% defeated … but you need to provide one or two weapons “boosters” to “flatten the Russian” , don’t worry guys , high prices are “just for two weeks”.
I won’t be surprise to see the “safe and effective” army having ” a sudden death” related to climate change and sprinkled waters at this point.
Since the US domestic system is built on the media cycle, all “intelligence” has to do is leverage that. Politicians make their decisions based on what the media is saying and what their action will produce in the same media. Intelligence either wants something and can manipulate the political/media process to those ends easily or knows what the political class wants and manipulate the political/media process to achieve those ends.
It’s a closed system that will work “perfectly” until negative feedback loops generate a resonant frequency and the whole thing shatters.
Forget about losing the war in Ukraine, how about holding to the fire those that started this stupid war. How about a war tribunal where Blinken, Nuland and all the rest are held responsible for the damage they have done to Ukraine Europe, and to the prestige of this country.
storicamente LORO (i blinkenuland etc.) fanno i tribunali e i giudici…
“Politicians need a Dutch Uncle who will tell them uncomfortable truths.”
and when they don’t find any since they have pissed most of the Dutch Uncles off, they should follow the advice of Mr. Freidman, which does not apply universally, that
“We should thank our lucky stars
That we are not as smart
As we like to think we are”
to lessen the probability of becoming subject to “decapitation” attempts as a function of their utility in matters of useful foolery.
That reminds me of the memories I have read years ago written by Vietnam veterans how the military higher ups got their numbers about killed VCs then. They just calculated them. According to their genial calculations so and so much bombs and grenates fired resulted in a specific number of killed enemies.
After some years someone realised that up to that time the US must have kill more enemies than were solders in the entire North Vietnamese Army.
It seems nothing changed.
Another point of commonality is that US decision makers didn’t really think they were going to win VN, either. But they went ahead anyway, because they were playing a longer game. To hell with these people.
Whatever the real reasons were, the US military in VN wasn’t allowed to win. Whashington forbid them to follow the NVA into North Vietnam Laos and Cambodia. I know there were some campagnes into at least Laos and Cambodia. But only short ones.
In general the US soldiers were furious and desperate about the way they had to fight in that war. Running around in circles for weeks and month in sometimes ugly weatherconditions tormented by humidity, heat, cold and the ever present leeches. Sick, hungry and tired. Mines, boobytrabs and snipers everywhere. The South Vietnamese military and gouvernment corrupt to the bones. Selling informations to the enemy on a regular basis. What a way to waste ones life.
Have you ever read about the french general in the first world war who tried to break through the german frontline. After around lets say, I have forgotten the real numbers, fiftythousend dead an wounded french soldiers the higher ups had enough of him and his genius plans and relieved him from his position. He was very sorry for himself. In his memoirs he later wrote that he was shure that his plan was OK. If only he had 10000 more men he would have succeeded. Just 10000 men more.
Just 10000 more figures to play with. Just 10000 more lifes destroyed. Lovedones lost or maimed. But what the fuck! They are just soldiers. Do you want to live for ever?!
From what I am reading, US/NATO intel is guiding the war. I can’t imagine, if that is true, that they don’t have the ability to know generally what the casualty numbers are. Maybe they just prefer not to report negative information regardless what they know. Report Ukie bs when convenient. The goal is to deliver as much hurt for as long as possible to RF, the cost not too important the the “military intelligence” guys. Why bother the folks back home with dark and cloudy.
“One of these days the reality of the carnage Ukraine is suffering will become impossible to cover up and the Kabuki theater…” Amen to that Larry…history will tell the tale and we may be closer to that day than we think…if we are not already there.
Certainly US-NATO is not solely relying on the UKR Government or Military for overall intel. We know that US-NATO is feeding targeting intel to the UKR and gathering battle damage assessment (BDA) after drone and indirect fire strikes. You can bet that US satellites and ground assets are monitoring very closely Russian troop and equipment movements and concentration(s). Then there is signals intel (SIGINT) and I’d be very surprised if US-NATO intelligence gathering assets aren’t listening to UKR and RUS signals.
Like any war/conflict there are intel gaps. However, in reference to actual UKR casualties, US-NATO knows the real figures or close to them–they are just intentionally withholding the truth to shape “reality”…my opinion.
Larry, I’m sure I’m confused. But is there a seventh category, e.g. source of information? Our trained spies embedded in that country? I know native speaking is impossible without being a native, but seems there is still a role for the real-world 007 types.
” I know native speaking is impossible without being a native”
Well the way you talk is an inhibiter but so is how you walk.
But they are not alone which is a component of why :
BLINDED BY THE LIES — THE U.S. MILITARY IS RELYING ON UKRAINIAN INTELLIGENCE
4 January 2023 by Larry Johnson
“There are six basic types of intelligence that a good analyst should consult in preparing an assessment:
1) Intelligence from foreigners recruited to spy for the United States,
2) Intelligence produced by foreign governments that is passed to the United States,
3) Reports produced by U.S. Government organizations, e.g. State Department cables sent from US embassies and Defense Attache reports based on information the attache collected in a particular country,
4) Electronic intercepts, which includes communications collected and analyzed by the National Security Agency,
5) Imagery from satellites and air craft (including drones)
6) Open source, e.g. press, media, and social media
but not much “human intelligence” except incorporated into the design of “artificial intelliegence” to facilitate interpretation.
I was watching this couple on Brit lunchtime TV today having a barney about the proposed return of the “Elgin Marbles” by the British Museum to the state of Greece. The statues originally surrounded the outside of the Pantheon in Athens till they were taken back to John Bulls island for “safe keeping” by Lord Elgin in 1832. Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman empire at the time so the Greeks didn’t have a say in the matter. They have remained in Britain ever since despite years of diplomatic action by the Greek government to have the statues returned to their rightful place. Anyhow I was encouraged by this woman historian who was arguing (or screeching more like) for the return of the statues to Greece until she came out with this gem…”And do you know who they (the British Museum) loaned the the Pantheon marbles to, in 2014, after their criminal annexation of Crimea…? RUSSIA!!!” shock-horror-hold the front page.
And I thought to myself you stupid asshole, call yourself an historian. What you know about the history of Ukraine, Crimea and the ukronazi war against the ethnic Russian population in Novorossiya and other parts of 404 wouldn’t fit on the tip of a needle.
Hey Niall…according to 23andMe.com we’re related if you are a descendant of “Niall” himself.
Totally agree…few know the real RUS-UKR history…
I wonder what it must be like in that millisecond to have a Russian military artillery round dropped in a trench right next to you?
You do not feel anything, you are dead instantly without even knowing it.
Maybe you are lucky that way. Maybe you wake up later whith no xxx.
xxx = insert whatever you “like”
re: “the Defense Intelligence Agency is relying solely on Ukraine for the intelligence on Russian and Ukrainian casualties”
I find it hard to believe that DIA doesn’t know the reality of the numbers.
However, from a CYA standpoint, using Ukrainian-provided numbers allows them to throw up their hands when the whole thing goes down the toilet. “We were misled!”
Another benefit of (at least pretending we are) believing Ukrainian numbers is the neocons in charge can keep the proxy war and money laundering going. “Ukraine is winning!”
As with all of the past military debacles, no one will be held accountable. The disastrous invasion of Iraq was simply chalked up to “bad intelligence”. Millions killed, wounded and displaced and trillions of dollars flushed down the Pentagon black hole and when it turned to shit all we got was a big fat “Oops!”.
As I’ve written before, when Russia finally rolls up Ukraine the “reporting” in the MSM will simply stop, just like it did when the Covid narrative fell apart and the “Russiagate” malarkey collapsed and every other hyped-up MSM “crisis”.
It’ll just dry up and blow away. Then we will seamlessly segue to the next “crisis”.
“I find it hard to believe that DIA doesn’t know the reality of the numbers.”
“Knowing” the numbers and “Knowing” what they mean are two different “states”.
I have noticed one disturbing trend. The only people running out of missiles faster than Russia are the Ukrainians running out of ammo.
Stefano DV asks if there are others who also feel the “tiredness” whenever he has to deal with the deluded victims of American and other propaganda.
Yes, I am one of those, same tiredness. But I have to continue to monitor the corporate-military propaganda for my study of the hideousness of human nature. I earlier mentioned a classic bimbo who works for Euronews, one Sasha Vakulina, “a military analyst” for that odious, russophobic European channel. Another bimbo is the aging CBS anchor, the plastic doll, Nora O’Donnell. Beyond a heavily made-up colorful face is an intellectual emptiness, a typical American determination not to learn anything that might question the age-old dogmas of American superiority. Nora assumes people will actually believe what she says because she looks “pretty.” Image, apparently, is everything (as a very good American tennis player used to say).
I could go on. There’s for instance this ever-excitable Peter Pan on NBC, David Muir. And countless others. They all sing the same tune.
“my study of the hideousness of human nature.”
How did you establish the existence of “human nature” ?
CBS was one of the worst with Covid response propaganda, too.
I think that the original question about quality of information (purposedly not using “intelligence”) should not be asked about the ongoing fiasco, but about the period from before the RAND institute’s study about weakening Russia was accepted as a viable plan up to the “design of the economic sanctions from hell.” All of these contained so much of nonsense, and nobody even blinked while going ahead with them.
Now, it is just a war propaganda, nothing new — nothing to worry about.
An obvious consequence: We live in the post-truth era — the final evolutionary step of “humanoid society.” The sheople had too good a graze over the last half-century that they became more sheepish than ever before. We had it coming, and it is too late now to even complain about it. The only thing we could hope for now is that the ashes our next generation will have to rebuild from again will not be too ‘shiny’… (as in radioactive)
So happy new year to us all 😉
Cheers, JaKo
“Maria Senovilla…committed an act of journalism”
Has she been punished yet?
This is absolutely mind-boggling, that the USA entrusts its national intelligence to a foreign power, be it a friendly one. It is a sure sign that government in the US is totally dysfunctional and does not always serve the interest of the people. The whole world can see that it is being manipulated by the corrupt and truly dictatorial Kiev regime to serve its own interests. It’s not befitting a superpower like the US to be a pawn in the hands of Kiev, as it is in those of Tel Aviv. The result will be a sure and humiliating mega defeat in Europe that will reverberate in the whole world, coupled with the loss of all influence in the Middle East when gulf states join the BRICS. The US is doing a fine job of destroying everything that gave it superpower status and alienating most nations of the world. No superpower can survive that and the US is not that powerful to go against the whole world.
“This is absolutely mind-boggling, that the USA entrusts its national intelligence to a foreign power, be it a friendly one.”
By what methodologies applied to which specific datastreams did you use to establish your contention that “Ukraine” is a friendly foreign power ,and will remain a friendly foreign power ?
The USA has been doing that for quite a while:
Blair: “Iraq has WMD”. Bush: “Thank you, friend”.
And then there’s the ‘legendary’ Christopher Steele (they couldn’t call him Remington, that was already taken) and Russiagate.
And a few days before the SMO, Ned Pearce actually let it slip in a Press Briefing where the Pentagon had gotten the February 22nd prediction. Even Tucker Carlson didn’t clue in even though he featured the briefing on his show.
So the US intelligence community is most likely getting ‘corroboration’ of the Ukrainian numbers from its most trusted friend.
But regardless of Whitehall’s ability to infect the Pentagon with its millenium-old russophobia, it wouldn’t work if the Pentagon didn’t have its own fish to fry. Not only Lindsay Graham but now also Olly North are talking about fighting “to the last Ukrainian” (although Olly said “Our bullets, their blood”). And anywhere you find Olly you will find a carbon copy of the Iran-Contra affair, which was copied a while back by gun-running from the Ben Gazi US embassy into Syria. Small arms (and a few big ones) shipped to Ukraine are ending up in Africa, Asia and South America, maybe even with the help of the US embassy in Kiev.
Its a pity that the Ukrainian diaspora don’t realize that they are being played.
Apologies, that’s Ned Price of the State Department.
Short-term memory and all that…. 🙂
“The USA has been doing that for quite a while:”
That is common knowledge in “intelligence agencies” particularly of the opponents of “The United States of America” from 1919 onwards, and many of populations throughout the world not including “The United States of America”.
“Its a pity that the Ukrainian diaspora don’t realize that they are being played.”
The Ukrainian diaspora have been and have remained players since 1919 as prefix-citizens, but like all prefix-citizens have been simultaneously played.
The Ukrainian “nationalists” in Ukraine have simultaneously been played and been players within the same timetable and accepted these roles , their over-arching strategy informed by the works of Dymtro Dontsov, was and remains to use those who believed/believe that they were/are playing the Ukrainian “nationalists” and simultaneously The Second Polish Republic in attempts to control Central and Eastern Europe (primarily The United States of America” to facilitate the expansion and strategies of Ukrainian ethnic nationalism.
One the reasons that “The United States of America intervened in 1917 in the first phase of the World War when the other participants were nearly exhausted, the second phase of the war being recommenced in 1939 in Central and Eastern Europe which “The United States of America” joined de jure in December 1941, and de facto in 1947 when the participants of the second phase of the world war were exhausted, facilitated in part by the conditional surrender agreement between Mr. Karl Wolff representing the SS and Mr. Allen Dulles on or about 4th May 1945 in the Bolzano region, a component of the delay being the process of preparation with set intersections/overlays from OSS and CIC to CIA was/is to divide and rule Central and Eastern Europe – the Western entry to Eurasia, the Eastern entry being China which remains an open wound since they “lost” China in 1949 but hoped to recapture through “aiding” China’s economic development
in hope of using painted smiles to encourage China to forget their experience from 1840 until 1949 to facilitate lets-move-onism.
The Ukrainian “nationalists”‘ strategy was and remains to use others who believe they are using Ukrainian “nationalists” to aid the growth of Ukrainian nationalism, attempting to change “partners” from 1941 to 1945 to change the population mix of Ukraine through ethnic cleansing in facilitation of their strategy, changing back to “absent friends” from 1947 onwards.
The Ukrainian “nationalists” understand they have been used and hence some have ponered/are pondering the expansion of previous attempts at ethnic cleansing to other areas.
Some “intelligence agencies” are testing hypotheses that the meeting between Mr. Natanyahu and representatives of the Ukrainian “nationalists” in Israel was partly to attempt to dissuade Ukrainian “nationalists” from including Jewish people in their re-iterated ethnic cleansing, although the ethnic cleansing was not necessarily restricted to Jewish people.
This strategy had been discussed by Ukrainian “nationalists” internally before 2014 and has been implemented against other ethnic groups which constitute “Ukraine” not limited to “Russian speakers” and one of the reasons for the Special Military Operation.
“The United States of America” immigration policies were in large part based on integration and “The United States of America” is prone to projection.
From the Treaty of Versailles and the creation of the Second Polish Republic “The United States of America” have used ethnic nationalism throughout Central and Eastern Europe in hope of diving and ruling.
However as a projection of integrative immigration policies they became more contemptuous of the remaing populations from whence “their immigrants mutated into citizens” came, and hence through time and prioritisations became more ignorant of such cultures required to divide and rule Central and Eastern Europe, known to some as “The former Soviet bloc”.
After many attempts at “colour revolutions” since 1947, in February 2014 representatives including Jewish representatives of “The United States of America” whose ancestors lived in “The Pale of Settlement” including Ukraine, waddled across Independence Square in Kiev dispensing bread whilst forgetting the salt – offering guests bread and salt on arrival at Ukrainian homes by the home “owner” being a Ukrainian tradition and a marker of Ukrainianess, which catalysed an interchange between a customer advisor with a Ternopil accent of Ukrainian and an elderly woman with a Kievan accent of Ukrainian approximately:
Elderly woman: These Z*ids are back treating us again as guests in our own home.
Customer advisor with Ternopil accent: Don’t worry when they have served their purpose, it will be like before.
Ternopil from the 1880’s onwards has been the location of the formation of Ukrainian armed groups, and during February 2014 Independence Square was a venue enjoying a cacophony of languages and well trained others whose training was not limted to interpreting.
It is “highly likely” that the above forms part of the motivation of some groups in “The United States of America” for Ukraine must win – we will stand with them to the end, whilst through ignorance and ineptitude “The United States of America” pursued/pursues hopes/strategies which undermine their hopes based on their illusion that they interpret as truth they hold to be self-evident – we are exceptional, we always know best with the best of intent as long as evil doers make us change this, thereby emulating Mr. Serge Lama’s comedy song from 1971 when “The United States of America” engaged in alchemy to render gold into paper :
C’est ne pas moi, c’est ma soeur – it’s not me; it’s my sister.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/01/05/who-determines-whats-disinformation/
Not definitive but a useful synopsis of the observations of Mr. Guy de Bord and of some with whom he interacted not restricted to in Nanterre not achieving definitiveness despite almost constant smoking, but wholly expected since perfection – in the vernacular a zipless fuck – is never an option despite some readers/viewers of pornography and believers in magic bullets hope it isn’t so, and as a consequence continue waiting for Godot, whilst the owners of kabuki theatres try to make renovations to the falling plaster.
As Mr. Shakespeare observed – All the world is a stage – but likely forgot to add – upon which most performances are comedies.
Fast-forward to mid-2023… after the Ukrainian debacle where will the American Neo-cons will point their war machine? Venezuela? North Korea?
“We neeeed a victory goddamit!!”
“Fast-forward ”
Fast forwarding loses much of the “plot” as “The United States of America” is starting to realise and then ignore.
The Western intelligence services know exactly what the true State of the situation is on the Ground….by using the Ukrainian inaccurate and biased data they can claim plausible deniability and support the current narrative pushed by the politics…Side note….the dust has cleared so we can see who the “conscripts” where in that temporary bivouac on new Years eve…that garnered a full barrage of 6 HIMARS guided missiles…four hit the command group of the Second Guards Tank Army..the Red Banner. This unit was the first to enter Berlin and has an impressive order of battle and table of equipment. If it’s in the line then I’m guessing deep penetration offensive operations are soon. There was no silly conscripts turning on banned cell phones that tipped off NATO….this unit was followed from Samara
I’m starting to suspect that the powers that be are very well aware of all the things Larry tells us about – that they view the war as having been lost by Ukraine right from the get-go.
Ukraine was about to capitulate, but then Boris Johnson flew to Kiev to have a chat with Zylensky. Suddenly, negotiations were over, and all out war commenced. What did Boris say to Zylensky to convince him to keep this war going, even if it meant the total destruction of Ukraine?
I think The Powers That Be (TPTB) came to all the same conclusions Larry had, and realized how vulnerable the US/NATO was to both Russian and Chinese military power, and they needed to buy some time. Throwing absolutely everything possible at Russia via Ukraine was meant to do a few things:
1) Give China second thoughts about invading Taiwan, at least until the US has its own domestic manufacturing base for producing computer chips (at which point Taiwan will be cast into the wind);
2) Keep Russia occupied militarily and economically, and to give Russia second thoughts about attacking, or projecting power toward, any other NATO country, at least until they’ve all beefed up their own domestic military manufacturing bases (this war has taught NATO that industrial warfare is still very much a thing, and a thing that NATO is way too far behind in at this moment);
3) Dump all the old weapons, especially ancient soviet weapons, and re-stock with newer, “better” Western weapons (yes, I also laughed at that, but I imagine that’s what they tell themselves);
4) Increase the size of all NATO militaries until they can reasonably be viewed as viable peers to the Russian and Chinese militaries (good luck with that, because it would require de-woking their respective militaries, and that’s never gonna happen); and
5) Quarantine the Western world from Russia through endless sanctions to prevent Putin’s ideology of national sovereinty to spread like a contagion in countries under the sway of global fascism (as a trial run for what they hope to do to China).
So what did Boris say to Zylensky? Fight Russia to the last Ukranian in exchange for total immunity from prosecution for all the war crimes committed by your military, and total immunity from prosecution for the billions of dollars you and your associates have embezzeled throughout your tenure as president (heck, we’ll even throw in billions of additional dollars ear-marked for you to embezzle)? I think it’s possible. He’s venal enough to do that to his people (whether or not he views them as his people is another subject entirely).
TLDR: Boris was sent by TPTB to be the devil to Zylensky’s Faust in order to buy the West some time.
Clearly nada was learned from the Afghanistan fiasco (or more properly, the political environment made learning impossible – e.g., unfavorable to ones career). Sadly, this sounds very soviet – cherry picking.
The system, should, in the case of dramatically contradictory information from the six types of sources you note, shift into high analytic gear to corroborate. Instead, it seems like cherry picking around the desired policy, leading to flawed outcomes – a recipe for failure.
Given that the current crisis is rearranging the global economy, the implications are much more significant than, for example, Afghanistan. Interesting times!
I certainly would not label “The Institute for the Study of War” as being prestigious.
It is a kagan shill for the Ukraine debacle: kimberly, director, married to Freddy Kagan, AEI, nuland, in state dept, married to Robert Kagan, Brookings, the grand pooh bah for the neo con endless debacles.
It is a very inter related warmongering family with access to Ukraine military reports and very likely feeding its biased reports into dia,cia, and state.
It is small wonder that the kagan flavor for war mongering gets such a prominent voice!
And of course, the institute or state or dia or cia frequntly trots out its military “experts,” members of the board, Generals Petraeus and deane.
I come to the conclusions that everything we get in over 95% of all Media Outlets in West that wese soupose to be Spreaders of the truth are nothing else then FAKE Opinion Makers (Lies repeated until they become the truth) Narrative spinners, BS spreaders, etc. Unfortunately, even those who should create these Narratives have started to believe their own lies, thus the Lie that was intended for the public to create support for certain actions has BECOME TRUE for the state structures. Unfortunately, the CIA and all Western security agencies lied so long that they started to believe their own lies. From here and this break from reality that in the end must facilitate a Bust of the Bubble…
‘fix the facts round the policy’
President Richard “Dick” Cheney, 2002-3
No se si sea mi traductor, pero en todo lo que leo dicen asesinato, asesinados. Y esos terminos estan equivocados. Si bien es cierto que en la guerra hay muchos asesinatos, los muertos en combate son solo eso: muertos, bajas o perdidas de vida. Pero no se consideran asesinatos.
Los asesinatos son perseguidos por la justicia.
Las muertes de guerra no.
Manuel, sí, es tu traductor, que no vale para nada:
KIA: “Killed In Action” -> en Castellano se traduce como “muerto en combate”, no “asesinado en acción”.
“To kill” en Inglés significa también matar, no solo asesinar ..
Mira la wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killed_in_action
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muerto_en_combate
Si tu nivel de Inglés es .. inexistente? Hombre, no intentes decirle a gente que habla Inglés, que están equivocados.
Es tremendo como sois algunas personas.
Manuel, sí, es tu traductor, que no vale para nada:
KIA: “Killed In Action” -> en Castellano se traduce como “muerto en combate”, no “asesinado en acción”.
“To kill” en Inglés significa también matar, no solo asesinar ..
Mira la wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killed_in_action
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muerto_en_combate
Si tu nivel de Inglés es .. inexistente? Hombre, no intentes decirle a gente que habla Inglés, que están equivocados.
Es tremendo como sois algunas personas.
Late to the conversation. Don’t know if this has already been shared. There is an important reason for the Ukrainian defense of Bakhmut.
https://www.winetraveler.com/ukraine/ukrainian-wine-artwinery-donbas-war/
Today I finally learned why Bakhmut and Soledar are so very hard to liberate. There are salt mines deep underneath the towns and the UAF is using the mines as fortresses. The largest salt mine in Europe, by tons produced, is Artem Mine. It’s so huge there are heavy weapons down there. The whole area is filled with mines and some of them are interconnected.
I’d like to know why none of the journalists mentioned this until just now. And BTW, that was from Russian correspondents, as aggregated by cont.ws/@voenkorr and translated by Yandex (in a second window).