I want to thank one of my readers, Paul S., for flagging this remarkable and hilarious Newsweek article, written by Bill Arkin, that is a classic example of the CIA throwing Ukraine under the bus and eschewing blame for the military disaster looming on the horizon. I will start by quoting the conclusion of the piece:
In response, the senior U.S. defense intelligence official stressed the delicate balance the Agency must maintain in its many roles, saying: “I hesitate to say that the CIA has failed.” But the official said sabotage attacks and cross border fighting created a whole new complication and continuing Ukrainian sabotage “could have disastrous consequences.”
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/07/21/exclusive-cias-blind-spot-about-ukraine-war-1810355.html
Ok. I will say it. The CIA has failed and it is blaming Ukraine. Arkin’s piece would not be possible without a flood of leaks about the broad range of CIA activities in and around Ukraine. The CIA officers ponying up the secrets are keen to get the word out that they are doing a really fantastic, swell, marvelous job. The problem is the damn Ukrainians and these CIA officers, while claiming to have robust means to collect intelligence, admit that Zelensky and his crowd are giving the United States the mushroom treatment — keeping them in the dark and covered with shit.
The article starts with the tired, false meme that Russia is in trouble:
“Putin’s back is really against the wall” a senior defense intelligence official tells Newsweek, warning that while the CIA fully grasps how much Russia is stuck in Ukraine, it is very much in the dark with regard to what Putin might do about it. With talk of Russian nuclear weapons possibly being deployed to Belarus, and in light of Prigozhin’s public exposure of the terrible costs of fighting, something that Moscow has suppressed, the official says that it is a particularly delicate moment. “What is happening off the battlefield is now most important,” says the official, who was granted anonymity in order to speak candidly. “Both sides pledge to limit their actions, but it falls to the United States to enforce those pledges. This all hinges on the quality of our intelligence.
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/07/21/exclusive-cias-blind-spot-about-ukraine-war-1810355.html
Oh? The United States’ role in Ukraine is to function as a soccer referee? Really? How exactly is the CIA acting as the enforcer of pledges? By providing “quality” intelligence. Except, what you learn as you wade through Arkin’s piece, the CIA keeps being surprised by Ukrainian attacks in Russia. You can’t have it both ways Bill. Mr. Arkin wants you to believe that the CIA in Ukraine and the surrounding countries is the Leonard Bernstein of spies — masterfully conducting an orchestra of competing countries. I ask again, REALLY?
All of the credible experts and officials Newsweek spoke to agreed that the CIA has been successful in discreetly playing its part in dealing with Kyiv and Moscow, in moving mountains of information and materiel and in dealing with a diverse set of other countries, some of whom are quietly helping while also trying to stay out of Russia’s crosshairs. And they didn’t dispute that on the CIA’s main task—knowing what’s going on in the minds of the leaders of Russia and Ukraine—the Agency has had to struggle.
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/07/21/exclusive-cias-blind-spot-about-ukraine-war-1810355.html
There we have it. The central mission of the CIA — i.e., to get the inside skinny on what Putin and Zelensky are thinking and planning — is a “struggle.” But hey, morale at the CIA, now under the leadership of Dementia Joe and Billy Burns, is FABULOUS!
For the CIA, its major role in the war in Ukraine has provided a boost in morale after the sour relationship between former President Donald Trump and his spy chiefs. The second official says that while some in the Agency want to speak more openly about its renewed significance, that is not likely to happen.
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/07/21/exclusive-cias-blind-spot-about-ukraine-war-1810355.html
You want evidence of dysfunction and inadequacy? Some CIA officials are begging to talk openly about their importance with respect to Ukraine. If you are carrying out a covert operation that is a smashing success you do not have to brag about it. As the old saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding.” In the case of Ukraine the pudding is inedible.
The next couple of paragraphs strongly suggests that William Burns (or one of his horse handlers) is a key source in this story by Arkin. Did you know that Burns is a “global trouble shooter?” When it comes to shooting, Burns is a poor marksman.
At the beginning of his administration, Biden tapped director William Burns as his global trouble shooter—a clandestine operator able to communicate with foreign leaders outside normal channels, someone who could occupy important geopolitical space between overt and covert, and an official who could organize work in the arena that exists between what is strictly military and what is strictly civilian.
As former Ambassador to Russia, Burns has been particularly influential with regard to Ukraine. The CIA had been monitoring Russia’s buildup and in November 2021, three months before the invasion, Biden dispatched Burns to Moscow to warn the Kremlin of the consequences of any attack.
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/07/21/exclusive-cias-blind-spot-about-ukraine-war-1810355.html
Yep, let’s ignore context. According to the Arkin fable, Russia was building up for an invasion of Ukraine for no good reason. In fact, Arkin makes no attempt to explain how U.S. and NATO actions, such as the deployment of two Aegis missile batteries in Poland and Romania, was viewed as a very serious threat by Moscow because those weapons can carry nuclear warheads. So the influential Mr. Burns warned Putin about what the U.S. would do if Russia invaded Ukraine and Russia ignored him. I don’t think Arkin understands the meaning of the word, “influential.”
Arkin then proceeds to let a variety of cats — domestic and feral — out of the bag. Poland is the center for U.S. military and intelligence operations to fight the proxy war with Russia:
Poland officially became the center of NATO’s response, first in handling hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the battle, and then as the logistical hub for arms flowing back into Ukraine. The country also became the center of the overt military response. A forward headquarters for the Army V Corps (5th Corps) has been established in Poland. Additional supplies and ammunition for U.S. use are stored in Poland. A permanent Army garrison has been activated, the first ever to be located on NATO’s eastern flank, and today there are now about 10,000 American troops in Poland.
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/07/21/exclusive-cias-blind-spot-about-ukraine-war-1810355.html
Can you imagine the reaction in the United States if Russia established a forward military headquarters in Mexico with 10,000 troops? Yet Biden and his team of dullards do this in Poland without any regard for Russia’s reaction to a military build-up on its Western border.
The last part of the article reflects the desperation of the spooks talking to Arkin. The Ukrainians are responsible for all of the nefarious terrorist attacks inside Russia. The CIA folks are getting their story out that they don’t know nothing about no terrorist attacks on Russia. It is all the fault of Zelensky and his crazy generals. The following paragraph illustrates the central contradiction of Arkin’s attempt to exonerate the CIA — we were told early on in his piece that the CIA was doing a terrific job of gathering intelligence except it totally failed to gathering any advance warning about Ukraine’s terrorist attacks on the Kerch Bridge and Engels Airbase. Which is it Bill?
The Kerch bridge attack was followed by an even longer-range strike on the Engels Russian bomber base, almost 700 miles from Kyiv. The CIA did not know about any of these attacks beforehand, according to a senior U.S. official, but rumors started to circulate that the Agency was, through some mysterious third party, directing others to strike Russia. The Agency delivered a strong and unusual on-the-record denial.
https://www.newsweek.com/2023/07/21/exclusive-cias-blind-spot-about-ukraine-war-1810355.html
I’m guessing that the CIA guys and gals talking to Arkin are a different crowd from those talking to Sy Hersh. Let me make this simple — if Ukraine, thanks to CIA help, was kicking the stuffing out of the Russians and the CIA was confident of an impending Ukrainian victory, then this piece would never have been written. This smacks of major “ass covering” and blame shifting. CIA people only do these types of leaks when they learn that reservations are being made for seats on the helicopters that will be landing on the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev when evacuation day comes. We did it before in Saigon and Kabul. By God, we can do it again.
I’m see this positively, hoping that this is another strong symptom that the USA is looking for an exit.
Meanwhile, Ukraine guaranteed that the Kerch Bridge will NOT be a Russian exit from Crimea as yet another terrorist attack on the bridge happens just as this article was published, killed yet another married couple.
Interesting timing Newsweek has.
Larry wrote:
“According to the Arkin fable, Russia was building up for an 2022 invasion of Ukraine for no good reason”
NATO Operation Atlantic Resolve
August 16 2014.
https://twitter.com/StaciePettyjohn/status/500645916521824256
The US parade Troops along the Russian border in Estonia.
Feb 26, 2015
https://www.vox.com/2015/2/26/8109445/estonia-russia-army
Russia is threatened by large US Presence in Poland
March 6, 2019.
https://archive-2017-2022.indepthnews.info/index.php/the-world/russia/3665-russia-feels-threatened-by-bigger-us-presence-in-poland
The US is stationing more military forces in Poland, next to Kaliningrad located between Poland and Lithuania. An estimated 5,000 US troops are already stationed in Poland, and the US has non-strategic nuclear weapons deployed in Poland which is a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
President Trump intends to reduce the US troop contingent in Germany by one third. Trumps plan was immediately followed by an invitation to move the US soldiers from Germany to Poland.
Currently, Germany accommodates 52,000 US troops. The USAF’s Spangdahlem Air Base in western Germany also has 50 F-16CJ fighters, A-10 attack aircraft, and TPS-75 radar systems.
Back in May 12 Poland implemented a new national security strategy, with Russia designated as the main threat to Warsaw. Poland also purchased 32 F-35A Lightning II fighters to delivery by the end of 2024.
Thus the total number of combat aircraft in Poland would be more than 100 units, all able can carry US nuclear tactical bomb B61-12.
So today, Polish president Andrzej Duda welcomes soldiers from the Tennessee Army National Guard’s 2nd Squadron, and the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment’s Task Force Raider at the Bemowo Piskie Training area in Poland.
The US deployment to Poland, opens for the possibility of quick nuclear strike on Russian territory.
However, Transferring NATO or US forces into Poland contradicts the 1997 Russia-NATO Founding Act, according to which NATO has committed not to deploy its troops along Russian borders.
However NATO uses a loop hole in the treaty which allows NATO to have forces deployed in Poland on a rotational basis.
Denmark deploys 200 infantry and 14 Leopard 2A7 Tanks in Estonia.
September 2022
https://www.forsvaret.dk/en/roles-and-responsibilities/International-operations/estonia—nato-enhanced-forward-presence-efp/
Operation Atlantic Resolve keeps rolling.
July 13 2023.
Joe Biden issued an executive order for the mobilization of up to 3,000 personnel to support Operation Atlantic Resolve.
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3458135/biden-approves-mobilization-of-reserves-to-support-eucom/
So how many NATO troops are actually Forward deployed on rotation in the Eastern European and Baltic Nations?
Wow! It’s so much worse than I thought. I was accused of being anti-war, this information would have helped. But, then who wants to be accused of being pro-war? Thanks for the information, I’m ashamed of how little I know, too many of us are sleeping while the world arms for the unthinkable.
As a consolation prize, Sean Penn appeared at Zelensky’s doorstep again, another Oscar in hand to present to him for directing Ukraine as the best cinematic portrayal in the past 75 years of The Rise and Fall of a Wishful Reich, 2014-2023 – The Wonder Years.
The RATS are leaving a sinking a ship……….. It’s SOP
Alexander Mercouris and Alex Krainer both impressed with Tom Luongo’s deep dive on all the mysterious developments. For example, Yellen in China for 4 days.
3 part interview
https://odysee.com/@cryptorich:e/talxjuly-yt:c
Hi, I watched all three parts of the discussion. Part 1 is the best because Tom Luongo explains the significance of Janet Yellen’s trip to Beijing and speculates about the USA seeking clarification from the Chinese regarding their holdings of US treasuries and plans for future purchases once the BRICS new (GOLD based) interstate trade accounting system becomes active. He speculates that Janet went cap in hand to the Chinese to tide the USA over re: purchases of treasury notes !!!!
Alasdair Macleod has written an excellent article on the significance of the new gold back trade currency/accounting mechanism being developed by Ruskies and Chinese.
https://www.goldmoney.com/research/the-bell-tolls-for-fiat
by Alasdair Macleod.
Alasdair does write a good piece on the new gold backed trade currency coming. He does at the end talk about central bank (FED) interest rates saying that inevitably they will rise in the West and even perhaps at the behest of Washington’s attack on the BRICS nations. This is likely a catastrophe building from Keynesian ignorance of what is pending in the fiat universe. The rise of interest rates will foster a banking system collapse in the West and not a viable attack on BRICS nations. This is a condition like taking on a two front war and not seeing that there is a third front in play.
That this is now moving faster to the reality indicates a change perhaps in the financial planning in Russia and China. Earlier on a move in the East to gold was felt to be tempting a failing west to go to nuclear war but it may also be possible that the FED and its adherence to the fiat system means that the move to gold may not even be seen as a existential threat to the West. After all Alasdair has often said that Western central banks do not understand their own monetary system. And given that US foreign policies (such as it is) is not reality based but is ideologically and hubris based and it is possible the West does not recognize the threat of gold for the same reasons it does not see the military/social/economic realities of a modern Russia.
Nicely said, my friend.
FWIW,
L. (the other Larry Johnson)
Very good – covers NATO, Vilnius, Ukraine, France, Netherlands, Yellen, China.
Larry, I hear your rosy view of how Russia is doing, but there is another view:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-situation-report-kyivs-growing-counter-battery-advantage
“Ukraine appears to be making the very best of counter-battery fire
to suppress and destroy Russian artillery units.”
Just mentioning this other view.
Time will tell.
No one here is going to swallow that regurgitated horseshit.
Have you actually read to the end of this article?
“While accurate strikes on Russian artillery do not translate immediately into territorial gains, it fits with shaping the battlefield in what has become a war of attrition in some respects. Ukrainian ground forces can better exploit weak points in the Russian lines when Moscow has degraded artillery capabilities to effectively respond and suppress them. With 155mm cluster munitions having arrived in Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles, this artillery disparity is set to only increase. In terms of counter-battery fire, these weapons can also allow for saving prized guided munitions to quickly kill enemy batteries with high certainty.
Time will tell how crucial Ukraine’s growing artillery advantage in these regards is as the counteroffensive rolls on.”
Biden freely admitted that cluster munitions have only been donated because the US has run out of everything else. So how does that translate to an ‘artillery disparity’ in favour of Ukraine? The whole article is disproved by that one killer fact.
The US wunder waffen mantra throughout this war has been consistently illogical. They keep suggesting that the next system introduced will be the game changer, as if the Russians do not have similar systems and capabilities and more of them at that. This holds true with the cluster munition fantasy, If they are so lethal when directed at enemy artillery, and the Ukies are using them now, then Russia will use theirs too, and they probably have a lot more of them. The only artillery advantage in this war is the real one the Russians enjoy. The unintended side effect of the new clusterbomb desperation will be faster attrition of the Ukrainian dismounted infantry trying to infiltrate and turn the flanks of Russian trench complexes.
The US wunder waffen mantra throughout this war has been consistently illogical. They keep suggesting that the next system introduced will be the game changer
I can remember, as a child, reading articles in Reader’s Digest predicting the same miracle weapons than were going to win the war in Vietnam.
It’s not supposed to be logical. The whole wunderwaffe talk is primarily part of psychological warfare. The goal is to keep morale from falling too low, and keep the war going. Sadly, it is working as intended. Idiots still believe that the next one will be a gamechanger. It does not matter what it is. M113 did not have good reputation in Vietnam War, and it became part of the gamechanger package.
Someone somewhere mentioned that US have not yet send recoilless rifles to Ukraine, and that there must be some in storage with plenty of ammo. If they find few M50 Ontos in some dark corner, they will send them as next wunderwaffe, and the masses will buy it just like everyting else.
Problem is you can’t ignore that several Russians have complained and been fired for complaining that the Counter-battery radar is in short supply leading to more deaths and artillery units destroyed than should be. Doesnt mean Russia will lose the war or anything it’s just not good. Russia has a shell advantage everyone knowns this but as time goes on – if this counter battery disadvantage is not rectified Russia will lose more guns than Ukraine making the massive Russian shell advantage useless.
Cluster shells will have no bearing on this because Ukraine has enough HE shells and HIMARS to target armored artillery units. They don’t have enough to bombard trenches w/ HE shells like Russians do so Biden gave them cluster shells.
Time will tell.
Yes, there are no new 155mm shells to send and the ukronaza 4th SS wunderarmee has been decimated in the last great ‘offensive’ to the extent that their resort, again, to human wave aka ‘meat’ attacks this time are only in platoon or company formations.
Now, Aleks at Black Mtn Analysis posted his interesting take on MG Popov, the OTAN ‘villianous summit’ and other related topics.
https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/nato-summit-and-further-geopolitical
Something to consider is that while the frustration is on the fronts and in the RF at the restrained pace of the SMO is real, there are also real reasons for this restaint to this point. Worthwhile to read the whole piece and consider it. Even Army commanders, don’t know the whole strategic war planning or structure of forces and operations and logistics being prepared. Discipline is important to maintain. Also, going back to ‘maskorovka’ possibly Popov and also Surovikin have other jobs to undertake. Don’t expect VVP to start posting his every thought and planned action on fakebook.
Keep in mind ‘maskorovka,’ how real millitaries act and real gov’ts conduct wars. Re-read Larry’s above piece. Who in their right mind telegraphs seemingly every millitary operation like OTAN has been doing for decades? Who airs intel about ‘coalition’ disputes? Like the referenced piece above? Hint, there are many reasons and answere, but ‘cover-my-ass’ bureaucrats to signal coming shifts in actions so they won’t be blames and the failure can be, or attempted to be, memory-holed, is a good place to start.
Ther has been and is ongoing OTAN probes along the ‘soft underbelly’ of the Heartland for decades now with an uptick in thje last few years that were countered by RF and CIS. Expect if OTAN proceeds with announced dangerous increasing provocations, such as F16, that the stated RF response will be serious. And let’s not forget, this war is fought on Russian soil, with Russian civillian population. OTAN could care less, RF looks at it different.
Keith
You’re a long time commentator and supporter. I suggest that your source is pushing bullshit. Regards my friend.
Larry: it’s some nebulous entity called “new voice of Ukraine” which pounds out standard BS plus quotes from the ISW. Nuff said.
It’s just the old voice of the Hitler sycophant Bandera barking at the Kremlin.
Larry,As with all things in this war can Ukraine destroy Russian artillery faster than Russia can build them?
Time has already told, and Ukraine, along with the Collective West, has lost. Any other minor development, even detrimental to Russia and its soldiers, is purely anedoctal at this stage – a bit as if you were pinching me and telling the world to look while I was bashing your brains out.
The crux of the article is here: “While they are currently not making significant territorial gains, the degradation of Russian artillery has a large impact on future advances.”
The problem the Ukrainian rah-rahs have is that the pre-offensive boast of significant territorial gains in the first few days were obviously, ahem, overly optimistic. And the continued absence of territorial gains is impossible to hide.
Everyone has seen the maps. They can tell at a glance that the offensive is making no territorial gains of any consequence.
But “counter-battery fire”?
That’s a claim that is as difficult to refute as it is to corroborate.
It is always possible to show Ukrainian shells landing somewhere, and then claim that this is evidence of the stupendous success of Ukrainian “counter-battery fire”.
But, really, is it? Has the volume of Russian artillery fire flagged in the last week or so? Has its effectiveness diminished in any obvious way?
Apparently not. But that doesn’t stop the Ukrainians bragging about their super-successful counter-battery efforts because, honestly, what else do they have to brag about that isn’t obviously and demonstrably false.
“That’s a claim that is as difficult to refute as it is to corroborate.”
That’s the essence of it, just like with shooting down all those kinzhals, and other missiles & stuff. They don’t have any proof for their claims, but they throw them out and expect us to refute them.
There is no way in hell that Ukraine has advantage in counter-battery capablities, or anything else for that matter (except NATO satellites, and related things). Some Russians complaining about it does not mean that Ukraine has the edge, but that the Russian advantage is not as big as it should/could be. Similar thing happened with ammo complains, and casualty complains.
Every radar is a “missile magnet”. I have seen about a dozen Ukrainian counter-battery radars destroyed (mostly US made ones, attacked by Lancet), and only one Russian (Zoopark). Where are all the videos of Russian counter-battery radars burning?
Antoher thing that no one mentions is Penicillin counter-artillery system. It is not a radar, but performs the same functionality without emitting radiation. That by itself is enough to give Russia at least some advantage, in hypothetical case that counter-battery radar capability is comparable.
As Andrey Martinyanov said to someone who brought similar crap to his blog – “don’t bring the shit you stepped in on THIS site!” It just pollutes it and makes it stink.
Is it better than Russian counter-battery fire? If not, then Russia with an X to 1 advantage wins, or is the Drive trying to drive home more drivel to the unwashed masses?
“Ukraine appears to be making the very best of counter-battery fire to suppress and destroy Russian artillery units.”
There is nothing controversial about this claim per se. They are doing the best they can with what they have. That does not mean that they have superior counter-battery capabilities, or advantage of any kind.
What’s the actual situation on the frontlines? We can’t know. Neiter can the author of that article, but he does need to fine some silver lining in order to get paid.
“The Drive” .. as a serious information portal … are you kidding me??
At the risk of sounding repetitive, Americans need to be able to connect the dots on why our 2020 presidential elections went for the mummified carcass, JB and why the unprecedented, relentless attacks against DJT, before, during and after his term in office.
First, the Intel community felt he was “ruining” all the fun they had, concocting dangerous, fictitious scenarios and our military actioning on them. For its part, The Military Industrial Complex had to continue raking in $$$ billions, like they are now.
The above could only have been possible by getting rid of the “thorn” in their flesh. If there was ever an incontrovertible evidence for the coup that took place on Nov. 2020, this is it!
Now, however, that the stupor from their Ukraine binge drinking is subsiding… reality is setting in that Russia is no “paper bear” and the blame game has to pick up speed, before it all hits the fan. US and EU economies are irreparably destroyed, Russia is stronger than ever, hip, hip, hurray… I love it!
Don’t think that DJT will end any war in “24 hours” like he likes to tell people now. He had his chance to prove himself on his promises he gave before. He did **none** when serving his term. The US president is a shallow puppet, used to talk to the media and reading written for him speeches from the teleprompter. That is what the whole teleprompter thingy is for. The president is like a lancet drone, remotely controlled ready to struck at something when the time is right.
Trump did one thing only they did not like. He spoke very openly about the wrong doings of the US administration, which is run totally independent from who is sitting in the oval office. He was honest about some very controversial things the US was doing. But he was powerless to change the course and did exactly what everyone else did before him. He served the elite and not the people.
Sadly, I have to agree with you on this.
This. Trump talked. And talked. And talked. And did nothing. Except put shallow, pretty, incompetent people into positions of authority in his administration. As he talked.
And my major beef as a two time Trump voter? He encouraged the J6 demonstrators. And has done zero to help these political prisoners now. If you have studied this at all? These people are being tortured in the Washington DC jails. Has he spent a dime of his millions of contributions toward helping these people he helped set up? Trump only takes care of Trump.
The ultimate inditement of my country? That our “choice” is Trump or Biden.
Oh, he didn’t “do nothing”.
He enacted anti gun legislation in the form of bump stock bans and supported red flag laws (quote:”we’ll take the guns first, then due process”).
He has also never retracted his support of the Covid injections, in fact he’s still touting them as “his” amazing vaccines.
Operation Warp Speed, people!
Trump is a Constitutional ignoramus who surrounded himself with deep state sycophants.
I guess you, like the tens of millions of headline readers and CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and “The View” watchers never, ever saw all the peace agreements and Nobel Peace Prize nominations DJT implemented and got.
Unfortunately, the Deep State Cabal that presidents have had to deal with ( and many actively participated) is too much to deal with. When it came to domestic issues, he did a lot, because a good economy means lots of taxpayers’ $$$ for the cabal. Wheb it comes to foreign policies, “no” president stands a chance of lasting more than one term without wars. They are the “gravy train” of the Military Industrial Complex”.
DJT was called a traitor and a “danger to democracy” for not wanting the war between Ukraine and Russia. You probably missed this one too, Col… err, LT Col. Alexander Vindman, a Ukrainian born scumbag, who testified against DJT, on his call to Zelensky and who tweeted his delight when Ukranazies bombed the Kerch bridge the first time. He cursed DJT for not wanting the war.
DJT was and is a good man, who can end the war immediately, by telling Russia:”We accept Ukrainian neutrality, no NATO membership… over and out”. That’s what it would have taken “devil-incarnate JB to stop the war, but he won’t do it.
As if elections in the US matter a whit. We get the same warmongering cabal in control no matter what, against the entire ROW and our own citizens…
I believe the CIA did the sniping from the tops of buildings during the Maidan coup, and if they didn’t pull the triggers, they were coaxing the trigger pullers.
There was contemporaneous evidence, since scrubbed, that it was Polish Army units responsible for the sniping. Uncle Sam likes to leave other peoples fingerprints on the weapons.
I’ve read somewhere that trigger pullers were from Georgia (country, not US state).
Much of it organized and/or directed by Parubiy. Amongst the mountain of evidence hidden under thick fog, there were videos of sniper rifles inspected and green lit to go in car trunks under Parubiy’s presence. Just one inconvenience, since scrubbed.
Another great piece and rather than wait for a segue back into the cluster munitions story, it appears this isn’t the first tranche Ukraine are getting and they certainly don’t have any hesitation in using them on civilians. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/06/ukraine-civilian-deaths-cluster-munitions
and they certainly don’t have any hesitation in using them on civilians.
But they promised!
I Love the sound of sarcasm when the sun is setting, especially when the BBQ burns the patio down……………🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔
PS
booking seats on the roof top helicopters, kinda sums everything up. Taiwan looks like getting a lucky break, because “back to back fuck ups,” do not sell Fat35 fighting lemons or any more of the burner junk!
I know from business meetings that a lot of managers don’t get the important points out of the chaos.
– how many soldiers does the Ukraine still have?
– how much ammunition they still got.
All the rest is of little importance. It will not change the outcome.
Exceptionalism personified.
We, the kind caring CIA, who the whole world loves and needs to fight evil, have been let down by our Ukrainian friends who we are trying to help fight the darkness.
These articles have been coming out for decades from the state media of the US, pinpointing where CIA operations back fired and blaming everyone else except themselves for the utter destruction and chaos they have created across continents.
Who are the US trying to convince? Their own public, maybe, future historians, highly possible, themselves, definitely.
Larry, you’re a courageous man and courage is the highest virtue. How did you not go insane working with the CIA?
So which operations has the CIA not f’d up, it might have gone fine for the US but the victim countries were seldom in better condition after the CIA intervention than before?
This comment was directed to Keith Harbaugh.
Intelligence gathering and control to support a war is, contextually and operationally, vastly different than that to support the accepted narrative of an ideology. Ideologies are supported by fanatical believers who have created an alternate universe into which they project themselves and their beliefs. What I have seen from various CIA “leaks” such as this is that these agents are true believers and live in a fantasy world. They are not lying. They are sincere. And that makes them and their fellow believers all the more scarier for the potential harmful impact they and theirs can have on humantiy.
Larry Johnson is the best. The last paragraph, great.
Maybe they are finally preparing an off ramp and planning their retirement (West’s elites that is), but as previously said, more they wait and more damage they make, the harder it will be for them to retire, so I am hoping that reason will reach them sooner rather then later…
“What is happening off the battlefield is now most important”
Below is what is happening on the battlefield. There’s something morally wrong with thinking this isn’t most important. Anyone who encouraged Ukrainians to physically fight Russia should be in jail, IMO.
(Graphic medical photos warning!)
https://medpers.dsma.dp.ua/issues/2023/N1/37-48.pdf
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12245-023-00481-5
CIA is a clandestine foreign operator and derives its intelligence in part from knowing what it’s doing. But there’s at least one other ‘friendly’ clandestine foreign operator in Ukraine – MI6 (Johnny English)- which doesn’t tell CIA most of what it’s up to.
Ukraine’s terrorist attacks on Russia are unknown to CIA because MI6 is behind them. “You go and kick the giant’s shins while I hold your coat.”
The dambusting was MI6 using a Storm Shadow. MI6 plots seem to be taken from post-war British War films – bouncing bombs on dams, daring commando raids on enemy fortresses (or nuclear power stations).
A flock of pigs just hit Kiev?
Patriots got most of them.
That Newsweek article was fascinating. Can you say hagiography?
I remember years ago running into a former colleague who’s waiting for a local business magazine. He said it was getting really tiring to write the local businessman, extolling their brilliance, the charisma, and probably their haircut.
This piece reads exactly like that.
Newsweek is the direct mouthpiece of the Atlantic Council which is itself the clubhouse for the neoconnivers and deep state divers.
Two words: pathetic clowns.
General Ivan Popov was replaced by Lt. General Lyamin, who was his previous deputy in the 58th. I wonder did CIA know about this?
Anyway in the kerfuffle, stuff about a NATO ANT-PQ counter-battery advantage came up.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-71423-popovs-sound-and-fury
No idea how counter-battery performs against cluster munitions…
So, was that article just another attempt to get ahead of the latest Crimean bridge attack maybe?
“Wasn’t us! it was those uncontrollable Ukrainians!”
We just gave them the motive, means and opportunity.
They could always start a color revolution in das Homeland.
One thing that is missing from our hosts research with former colleagues and contacts, is info on the existence of any back channels.
They should’ve got something in place by now, (well, I say should’ve)
I feel like Martin Sheens character in Apocalypse Now when arriving at the bridge lit up like a xmas tree and under permanent attack, asks a grunt “who’s in charge?”…_
State Department learned the lesson from Saigon. Both the embassies in Kabul and in Kiev are built in large grounds with space to land the largest helicopters. No need to hang a helicopter beside the roof.
Martyanov quotes a piece by Orlov on why Ukraine has suddenly been left high and dry –
NATO junk is seen world wide as crap, and the market flattened.
Kiev suddenly is bad for business.
Newsweek of course cannot talk – Austin would get a call from Raytheon.
Looks like CIA knows how to follow the money trail, and it is drying up.
https://boosty.to/cluborlov/posts/a59b2ec4-25d0-4e7f-8d54-0e35c5f74462
Orlov shows what Laos carpet bombing was all about.
I have the article but I disagree. In Orlov’s case, best would have been not to allow any Western hi-tech at all, claiming that this would start WWIII. Biden said as much about the M1s. Then you keep your aura of super duper invincibility and keep selling. No, I think they believed their own fantasies, and thought the western weapons really were “game changers”. Scary, really…
Martyanov : Surely, Russians have managed to produce their own share of questionable weapons or pursue questionable technologies, but Russian military history is too violent to allow commercial and profit considerations to eclipse what mattered and matters the most—the weapon must reliably kill.
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2023/07/when-mk-bhadrakumar-forgot-small-detail.html
The US never had to test these wunderwaffen in defense of homeland….
Bells and whistles are a crown of thistles for poor old Ukraine.
@Larry the CIA is doing other stuff in Ukraine : WARNING 18+
The Peacemaker Center :
See the top page banner : Langley, VA, USA Warszawa, Polska , that matches the story, and has not been removed since last year.
“The Myrotvorets Center is an independent non-governmental organization created by a group of scientists, journalists and specialists in the study of signs of crimes against the national security of Ukraine, peace, human security and international law and order, engaged in creative scientific and journalistic activities. With the information support of the Myrotvorets Center, a website of the same name was created, which is also an independent non-state media (mass media).”
https://myrotvorets.center/
People on this list are systematically assassinated, marked as liquidated.
And there is linked there : https://neuro.identigraf.center/ where :
Each average user has the ability to make only 5 (five) recognition attempts per day using one mobile device. That is intelligence gathering.
It’s a friggin’ doxing hit list hosted on NATO servers for 9 years and counting.
It seams that I see the wold much clearer since the 2020 election, I would be interested to know if any one else notice’s this ?
Sure as in trust nothing media or .gov says. I used to parse information though an internal filter now I don’t even have to bother. Such a load off my mind.
The agency : recruit terrorists , indoctrinate them , fund them , arm them , designate the targets.
Terrorism : happens
The agency : we did nothing wrong !
404 : offering all the plausible deniability you can dream of a PMC and more… the best part will be when the US will drop the fuckers and the whole scheme backfire horribly. It never happened before !
Putin will be speaking at 7.00pm Moscow time tonight.
Probably about the Kersch bridge attack.
Apparently it was a British drone or missile that hit the bridge and killed those two people going on holiday.
… The CIA has failed and it is blaming Ukraine …
But CIA has more diversity and inclusion
Many enthusiastic recruits no doubt were intrigued by the thought that the CIA acronym stood for an extracurricular activity at the YMCA.
I think Larry is right on the button (as usual!). The worm seems to be on the turn… I was watching a Doug MacGregor interview on YouTube and clicked on this “suggested video” in the list: CNN interview with ex-CEO of Google. I hadn’t realised Schmidt was a military expert 🙂 but Google are obviously a massive weapon to frame the narrative – for Western users anyhow. Still the point is that one after another the YouTube suggestions had a common theme: very bleak assessments of Elensky’s chances and poor counteroffensive performance. I suppose it could have been the algorithm working out my point of view but I haven’t seen it before.
Then this morning we hear that there was another attack on Kerch bridge this time from boat drones – probably because they know the grain deal is toast and nothing to lose but who knows…
“CIA LEAKING LIKE A SIEVE AS IT BLAMES UKRAINE FOR IMPENDING DEBACLE”
Yes thinking your opponent is as stupid as you are remains popular, and just in case being informed by Mr. Rove’s observation is sometimes useful:
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you should concentrate on.”
Perhaps should have remembered “Even in Potempkin villages the lady was not for deceiving.” ?
“his team of dullards do this in Poland without any regard for Russia’s reaction to a military build-up on its Western border.”
Well there is likely a hidden reference to Mr. Orwell and 1984 in order to infer erudition and sagacity.
Ergo:
When Winston Smith was being tortured by “Big Brother” in respect to Julia he said
“Do it to her” unlike a “reported individual” who alledgely said approximately:
“You know that in Frankfurt, some people pay to have this done ?”
Interesting.
Hope I am around to read a history of this war which includes the Russian perspective.
There is a lot of information and it is impossible to sift through it all. There is an article in the most recent Foreign Affairs by a Pole representative in the EU. He states Russia is losing badly in Ukraine and then writes about the need for Europe to ramp up their militaries. I am certain some EU people would say: “Russia is getting their butts kicked. Why should I pay higher taxes? The Americans have our backs.. Poles can do what they want. I will not pay for it.”
Whatever. Many would have same answer if they thought Ukraine is getting their butts kicked.
The villainous Vilnius NATO meeting of the Willy Nilly Rules-based-Order dimwits,
made it clear even to Kiev that the ‘strict ethics’ based Willy Nilly conditionality have now fully hit like an Iskander home.
h/t to the Willy Nilly de-banking of Farage in the UK which Alex Krainer noted :
Alexandra Tolstoy says FIVE MILLION people at risk of bank account closure | ‘Orwellian nightmare!’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY-kqwRGIso
UK Politically Exposed Persons can have their account closed Willy Nilly , no explanation, and all banks close ranks.
Is this coming to the USA?
Interesting how canny Erdogan sees the impending debacle :
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hersh-exposes-real-quid-pro-quo-changed-erdogans-mind-about-sweden
There Sy Hersh shows the deal – the IMF war on Turkiye’s finances will be called off, they get a new IMF credit line, let Sweden into NATO (effectively under US nuclear umbrella since 1960’s anyway, nothing new), and newer F16’s.
Erdogan sure moves fast. Looks like Langley is dizzy, spinning, leaking!
To put the impending debacle another way , after the latest Kerch bridge attack :
“This regime [the Ukrainian government] is terrorist and has all the hallmarks of an international organized crime group,” the Russian ministry said on social media, sharing a post by its spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova.
“Ukrainian officials and military personnel take those decisions with direct input from American and British special services and politicians. The US and Britain are managing a state-like terrorist structure,” the statement added.
The RF sees Ukraine as “state-iike”, “a regime”, and an “organized crime group”.
NATO ran Gladio stay-behind European networks, ammo dumps, during Cold War I, and definitely overlapped local crime groups, which Alexander Mercouris of the Duran witnessed in Greece.
The question arises whether Ukrainianians were involved in the Paris riots? Meyssan of Voltaire Network warned about this last year.
In other words will the impending debacle leave Europe with a stay-behind Gladio II? What will they do when NATO cracks? Did they send a message to Macron not to go off reserve?
Hey Larry, it’s
“Keep them in the dark and _FEED_ them bullshit”
I think the United States is just hiding behind Ukraine. Previously similar articles would appear before Ukraine would do terrorist attacks in Russia. That way they could say “it wasn’t us!”.
The CIA has officially become the embodiment of insanity: operating under the same modus operandi, ad infinitum and expecting anything other than disastrous results. Even Rain Man understood that hot water burn baby.
“the CIA’s main task—knowing what’s going on in the minds of the leaders of Russia and Ukraine” By what means, crystal ball? Employing clairvoyants from the county fair? These people have the most rudimentary understanding of human psychology and motivation of any group on the planet. Hence, they’re always losing control of their “assets” – moderate rebels, freedom fighters and my personal favorite “X democratic forces”. See the middle east and north Africa. Is it just me, or is there a pattern developing?
“a diverse set of other countries, some of whom are quietly helping while also trying to stay out of Russia’s crosshairs” Just wait until the Russians see this! Holy cow, I bet they had no clue that this type of subterfuge and back-stabbing went on geopolitically. If it wasn’t for western media, those poor Ruskies would be without any intel. The amount of weird alliances between countries all backstabbing each other in this debacle is enough to make you dizzy. A powerpoint flow chart would take months to complete.
“The CIA had been monitoring Russia’s buildup and in November 2021, three months before the invasion, Biden dispatched Burns to Moscow to warn the Kremlin of the consequences of any attack” Ah yes, the author of the “nyet means nyet” cable. Apparently, the only people who read it were the Russians and people who found it on wikileaks. Everything he warned against in that cable, we did, plus some. I wonder what the Russians said? F you? Cry harder? Get your integral nationalist Ukie dogs on a leash or we’ll put them down?
“Biden tapped director William Burns as his global trouble shooter—a clandestine operator” Who spent ZERO days in the field as an operator in any sense. Oddly, these “clandestine” trips to make peace in the world are always made public, as in this article. I’m wondering if he sustained some type of traumatic brain injury after composing that genuinely insightful cable which has rendered him unable to think cognitively. He brought a cap gun to the global shooting match.
“ Ukrainian sabotage “could have disastrous consequences.”” This must be why a Royal Air Force RC-135W Rivet Joint and 2 USAF RQ-4 Global Hawks were over the Black Sea when this latest attack on the Kerch Bridge happened. The UK & US helplessly flew in a holding pattern watching the Ukrainians commit this heinous deed. Certainly the Ukrainians have engaged in some activities that were a surprise, but it shouldn’t be. If you employ fanatics for your proxy war, even after you finance, arm, train them and give them intelligence, at some point they will do whatever they want to pursue their cause…because they are fanatics. No wonder the CIA spends most of its time these days like a cat in a sandbox. “Oops, I did it again!” sang Britney Spears.
“Poland officially became the center of NATO’s response” No sh1t?? That certainly explains the hundreds of millions of US taxpayer dollars spent over the last 5+ years re-militarizing Poland. (See @A.Dane’s comment) Troops barracks, repair facilities, command centers, refurbishing runways, expansion of the port at Gdansk…I bet the Russians didn’t see this coming, either. Do a search for military bases in Poland and it looks like a pin cushion. But they should have erased those wee secret airfields they built from google earth, somebody might find them. The basketball court at one is really nice, though. Gee, I wonder if this is connected to the Brits & Poles just announcing their “strategic partnership 2030”? Ah yes, folks, the Brits and Poles have BIG plans once “old Europe” (a la Rumsfeld) is destroyed and “new Europe” emerges (Orban nailed this)…Poland, the new Reich Protectorate of Europe. All of those tiny, defenseless non-NATO countries, like Moldova and Georgia will be well protected by this new alliance from those dastardly Ruskies!
The CIA needs a new name. Keystone Cops? Legions of Inspector Clouseau? Ministry of Silly Walks? The Forrest Gump Agency?
The old saying isn’t, “The proof is in the pudding.” It’s: “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
–>”Can you imagine the reaction in the United States if Russia established a forward military headquarters in Mexico with 10,000 troops?”
I’ve been saying some version of this for some time–and the response I get regarding Ukraine is “Well, Putin is a bad man.”
I expect no better performance from the people who gave us fabricated intelligence on Iraqi WMD.
Each time I read about these rogue actions of the so called “pupett” of the empire – the “maybe a sonovabitch, but our sonovabitch” of the world (citation from Franklin D roosevelt https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/101595/our-sonovabitch) – I remember this article I read about immanuel Wallerstein, https://iwallerstein.com/center-holding/ :
«Most analysts of the current strife tend to assume that the strings are still being pulled by Establishment elites, Each side asserts that the low-level actors of the other side are being manipulated by high-level elites… […] This seems to me a fantastic misreading of the realities of our current situation, which is one of extended chaos as a result of the structural crisis of our modern world-system. I do not think that the elites are any longer succeeding in manipulating their low-level followers. I think the low-level followers are defying the elites, doing their own thing, and trying to manipulate the elites. This is indeed something new. It is a bottom-up rather than a top-down politics. […]
I think however that step one is to cease attributing what is happening to the evil machinations of some Establishment elites. They are no longer in control…»
this was at the time of th whodunnit of downing MH17.
I very much believe like Wallerstein that the “puppets” are doing all they want, and put the “master” before the facts, if the master still wants to appear as the master to all other onlookers, he has to say, yes of course, we knew about it, nothing can happen in the world without our knowing and our green light. Or else, the master admit that he is no longer in control of what’s happening, which can be damaging to prestige, but this is what we start seeing with Ukraine, when you wan’t to get our of the shit your puppet is doing.
So, I belive of course a lot of powerful people are plotting all the time to advance their little agenda, but they are not controlling much of the shit that happens, they just pour tons of money here and there, believing this will buy them control of their servants, and then are pretty much spectators like all of us, of what happens with that money.
luckily their is an easy fix : pour more money in the system and corrupt someone else. quick before nobody wants US$ anymore.
Haha – We did it before in Saigon and Kabul. By God, we can do it again….. haha classic!
I was hoping someone would get the macabre joke.
Terrific piece. What generally is taken for granted and/or omitted from these fluff pieces in Newsweek and other corporate media sites, is that American taxpayers are paying for all of this. Historian Eric Zuesse has pointed out that 53% of the government budget (circa $3 trillion; total US govt budget for 2023 is circa $5.8 trillion) goes to the military, which includes the CIA and other ‘intelligence’ agencies. Conclusion- either the people receiving this taxpayer windfall are incompetent (which I doubt), or they are liars and completely corrupt. Rome is indeed ‘burning’!
“… the mushroom treatment — keeping them in the dark and covered with shit.” should be:
“… the mushroom treatment — keeping them in the dark and FEEDING THEM shit.”
It works better. 😉 Thank you Larry for your excellence in truth-telling. It’s much appreciated.