There has been some stiff competition for the most inane, delusional analysis about the state of the war between Russia and Ukraine, but former Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan’s recent piece in Foreign Affairs qualifies him as one of the more incompetent “expert” pundits. Remind me, please. What was the last war won by an Australian General? It is a tragedy that Ryan did not have the humility to admit, “I’ve never fought in any war like the one that is unfolding in Ukraine and I have no good evidence to support my optimism.”
In lieu of selecting the title, “How Pigs Can Fly at Hypersonic Speeds”, Ryan opted for, How Ukraine Can Win a Long War. (My thanks to one of my Aussie readers, Gary, for directing me to this absurdity.) Evidence of Mick’s tenuous grip on reality is presented in his first paragraph:
The country’s (Ukraine) people, having fought and won three major offensive campaigns in 2022, are now using a mix of old Soviet and new Western equipment to fight a campaign in the south.
I can understand some 24 year old political science major working at the Institute for the Study of War writing something so absurd, but Mick Ryan was a Major General for God’s sake. Is he really this obtuse? Apparently so. He believes that Ukraine’s failure to penetrate even the first line of Russia’s defenses in southern Ukraine is just an inconsequential blip and has parallels with the First and Second World Wars.
By way of comparison, 18 months into World War I, the allies had lost the campaign for Turkey’s eastern peninsula and the Battle of Verdun was still underway. And after the first 18 months of World War II, most of Europe was occupied by the Nazis, Singapore had fallen to Japan, and the United States was fighting on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines.
Hey Mick, ever heard of the Battle of Moscow or Stalingrad? How about the Battle of Kursk? By December 1942, Russia was closing the noose on the Nazi’s 6th Army at Stalingrad — that was 12 months into WW II. And in month 20 of that Global conflagration, the Soviets triumphed over Germany at Kursk (Putin recently commemorated that victory 80 years ago). Ryan, as is typical of many uneducated Western military leaders, does not understand the critical role the Soviet Union played in sending Germany on the road to ruin and defeat.
At the outset of World War II, the United States’ military was neither trained nor equipped to fight a combined arms war on two fronts. But it had a massive industrial base, an ample supply of men to fill the Army, Marine Corps and Navy and the protection of two oceans that permitted the United States to train millions of new personnel without fear of being attacked. That is not Ukraine today. Its industrial base is ravaged, its number of military-aged males is being rapidly depleted and Ukrainian military bases are vulnerable to attacks by Russian missiles. Japan’s attack at Pearl Harbor, as Japanese Admiral Yamamoto noted, awakened a sleeping giant. The Ukrainians, by contrast, are sleep deprived and without good shelter for rest. You cannot awaken a corpse.
So what is Magical Mick’s prescription for Ukraine’s victory?
To that end, the United States and NATO need to make clear that their explicit goal is for Ukraine to defeat Russia’s forces in Ukraine—and to silence Russia’s global narrative. They then need to provide Ukraine with standardized equipment and enhanced individual and collective training. They need to give Kyiv more mine-clearing equipment and help it develop new tactics to push through Russian defenses. Doing so is the best way of ensuring that Ukraine’s fight for freedom ends with an unambiguous victory.
Mick neglected to address one, teeny tiny issue — where in the hell is Ukraine going to get the trained personnel to operate that equipment and those weapons? In 2021 Ukraine’s population hovered around 40 million. Estimate now put that number at 27 million. I don’t care how much enthusiasm or desire Ukrainian recruits possess. Good morale does not compensate for the lack of able bodied, trained men to fill the ranks of ravaged Ukrainian brigades. Ryan blithely ignores this critical factor.
Ryan makes a number of absurd, contradictory claims. This is one of my favorites regarding Ukraine’s prospects for victory:
And they are no longer fighting Wagner convicts, as they were earlier in the summer. The Russian troops around Bakhmut are higher quality, regular forces, and their attrition will degrade Russia’s future offensive options.
Let me get this straight. The rag tag group of Wagnerian convicts kicked Ukraine’s ass at Bakhmut. Now Ukraine is facing “higher quality, regular forces” and that means that Ukraine’s chances of victory are better? If Ryan ever took a course on critical thinking, my guess is he failed.
The most astonishing delusional statement by Ryan is this:
Both the Ukrainians and the Russians possess the resources and the will for an extended war.
I suppose Ryan is spending way too much time watching Ghost of Kiev videos and believing those are real. Ukraine does not possess the resources for “an extended war.” Ukraine is totally, utterly dependent on Western financial and military aid. Without Western support Ukraine would not last a month. What resources is he talking about? Russia, on the other hand, remains the number one country in the world in terms of natural resources. It has mobilized rapidly its massive defense industry, which is churning out a steady supply of artillery shells, tanks, drones, missiles, vehicles, etc. Mick Ryan is not the only one embracing the myth that Russia is an industrial weakling, scavenging for compute chips in washing machines and refrigerators.
This kind of thinking, if you can call it that, is still prevalent throughout most of the Washington think tanks and the military/intelligence bureaucracy. That is dangerous because it increases the likelihood that Biden and his National Security team will make a rash, stupid decision and plunge the United States and Europe into a hot war with Russia. The West continues to behave like a degenerate gambler who depleted his bank account, is borrowing house money at exorbitant rates, and betting that he will draw a Royal Flush. Those are terrible odds. We can only pray that Western leaders wake up and realize they are playing a losing hand.
I saw a Foreign Policy fantasy article comparing Ye Olde Greate Springe Counteroffensive to the post D Day fighting in the Normandy bocage and predicting that Ukranazistan would finally break the Russian defence lines. It took two writers to come up with that fantasy and neither of them managed to mention that the Allies at Normandy had total air supremacy, substantial quantitative and qualitative superiority, and a friendly population behind the enemy lines.
Nevertheless from family oral archive I was told of fields mined in Normandy and Tiger tanks plunging through hedges as infantry grudges through bocages.
Air superiority is one thing but at ground level it is still taking weapons from „the line“ and bayoneting and watching a platoon shredded crossing a field
“Tiger tanks plunging through hedges as infantry grudges through bocages.”
That’s because every encountered tank was reported as Tiger, and some non-tanks too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/39hrif/apparently_us_tankers_encountered_tiger_tanks/
Well qualified comment.
Please do not forget the Russians on the eastern front because I believe no eastern front then disaster at Normandy.
Yep. Most of German troops were on Ostfront.
It’s easy to fight, when most of enemy force is absent. Last year’s Kharkhov region “offensive” could be compared to some Patton style breakthrough.
great point; anyway you slice the numbers, the Germany lost fewer than 15% of their ground forces in France. 75% in Eastern Europe.
By Front (per R. Overmans)[29]
Front Total Dead
Eastern Front until 12/31/44 2,742,909
Western Front until 12/31/44 339,957
Final Battles in Germany (East & West fronts Jan.-May, 1945) 1,230,045
Other (Germany,Naval, Poland etc.) 245,561
Italy (until the surrender in 1945) 150,660
The Balkans (until Oct. 1944) 103,693
Northern Europe (Scandinavia without Finland) 30,165
Africa 16,066
Prisoners of War 459,475
Total 5,318,531
For fecks sake, will somebody please save Ryan’s Privates……
LOL!
If only Micky Mouse Ryan were to read the following, he would be much better informed:
https://bigserge.substack.com/p/escaping-attrition-ukraine-rolls
Best porn title in history was “Shaving Ryans Privates”…..porn titles spoofing Hollywood movies in the 80’s and 90’s were borderline genius.
Bocage, yes
Didn’t UK officially say that Ukraine’s glorious offensive is slowed by evil Russian bushes?
The solution then is simple. Bring out the American bushes to declare ‘mission accomplished!’.
Yep! It was the fine work of British Intelligence. The same people that brought us Russian shovels of Bakhmut. I can’t wait for the next big battle, to see what they will come up with.
If you read enough history, you come across this Mick Ryan stuff quite frequently. Here was the initial German leadership reaction to the Allied invasion of Normandy:
“‘The news couldn’t be better,’ was how Hitler welcomed Keitel later
that morning. ‘As long as they were in Britain we couldn’t get at them.
Now we have them where we can destroy them.’ And to Göring: ‘They are
landing here – and here: just where we expected them!’ ‘The invasion is
happening just where we expected,’ echoed Goebbels in his diary for that
day, ‘and with exactly the means and methods we’ve been preparing for. It
will be the giddy limit if we can’t see them off.’”~ True Hitler
It took a couple of weeks for that to wear off and reality to sink in. Why this happens is a real mystery… but you could see it months before Ukraine even began the offensive. I think it is just something to expect, one of the immutable stages of war ???
The Atlantic Council passes out little talking point flash cards to all potential character witnesses. They’re quite nice. Wallet size laminated card stock in multiple colors with nice pics of Sevastopol with a NATO flag aflutter on the backside. Could become collector’s items along with Seattle Mariners World Series cards.
You sir have become a trusted source Larry. Thank you for your guidance in a world gone a bit off its rocker. Appreciate your insight. Listening to your Gardner interview again (present moment). You mean you didn’t play for the UNLV Running Rebs? Haha
It is because of asses like this that, in its history, Australia had so many casualties in Gallipoli, etc. Apparently, there is no lack of fools in uniform in Australia.
General Drop Kick, on the payroll LOL.
When I was in his Army, the lads fresh back from Vietnam had a saying about Aussie officers giving stupid orders….
“Hat off, pack off and Fuck off.’
The trust was in the platoon Sgt for leadership. Drop kicks never got a mention.
Australia for its time in Vietnam was supposed to have had more casualties back home in road accidents. Total dead from combat : on behalf of America was about 500. Someone should tell the idiot Ukraine is doing that every day of the week. In my barracks a Digger with only one leg, another with shocking scars on his legs and buttocks another shrapnel wounds and a crushed hand. For what….. “take-a-way Vietnamese Food,” in any city of Australia. They proved themselves to be hard working and their kids are doctors and nurses now and yes, a lovely people as well. So why were we killing them, General ?
(NOBODY made enquires and they never talked about it. The wounds or the War.)
Here is some proof in needed:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-14/adf-overhauls-gender-diverse-policy-captain-wears-female-uniform/102594080
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/04/worlds-most-senior-transgender-military-officer-says-she-was-surprised-by-sexism
I have just read that ABC report. It is hilarious, albeit, initially, confusing. Because, throughout, it referred to “they” “their” etc….. Even though it was talking about one person……..
Being a presenter for veteransradionet.co.uk (plug there, peoples) I know people who were in the Aussie forces. I’ll ask him/her/them/they/whatever for his etc opinion. Although, I know the response.
Indeed, in the UK forces, the female officer in charge of recruiting for the RAF resigned her position because she was being told that diversity came before quality: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/raf-recruitment-diversity-minorities-b2149844.html
Pretty soon this newly diverse military will be used to round up reluctants and doubters and send them off to reeducation camps, because we sure can’t use them on a physical battlefield.
OR you could just send your kids off to an Ivy League re-education campus for $50k a semester, like Musk did and they’ll have cushier surroundings than those bare concrete camp walls.
Either way works fine and dandy.
The Aussie military triumph was banning the song “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”.Give it a listen.
“It is because of asses like this that, in its history, Australia had so many casualties in Gallipoli, etc”
Churchill is responsible for that debacle as Australians were under his command.
“Apparently, there is no lack of fools in uniform in Australia.”
In Australia the military is the employer of last resort, attracting losers and dead enders. Some end up climbing the ranks thoroughly convinced of their mighty invincibility.
I hate to sound cynical, but I believe Ryan’s analysis, like most others, is as much for a Ukrainian audience, as a domestic one.
The rosy reports keep the cash flowing, and maintains morale in Ukraine.
Tragically, with the West handling propaganda, and a steady stream of cash and weapons, Ukraine’s weak link is manpower.
I would wish for any other factor to push them to surrender, but massive loss of life, and loss of combat capability, is what will eventually force them to capitulate.
I don’t think that Ukrainian cannon fodder audience reads paywalled articles in English, except maybe those 8 pilots that passed F-16 English proficiency tests (or 7, if the recently deceased “Juice” was one of them).
Maybe for the Ukies. But seriously, I fear this might just be how humans work (or don’t). My estimation of human abilities has taken big hits last few years. Curious, that doesn’t seem to apply to the Chinese or the Russians or the Africans; what’s with that? Is it my eyes or is something – literally – poisoning the west and destroying people’s ability to think? Maybe it’s the destruction of the English language? But the Germans and the scandos aren’t doing so well. It’s like IQ, which is a measure of social intelligence more than anything else, has fallen by a third.
But that’s not it; This Aussie media outlet makes its money putting this sort of crap out. How does that work? Perhaps this is mimlitary intelligence writ large? I wouldn’t let an idiot like Ryan work in my rice paddies, yeeesh. What is going on with society?
It seems self-destruct at every turn and every level here in the West. Or am I just getting older and more “conservative”? Thing about that, my views have not really changed a lot in the last 50+ years. How I’m labelled has. Maybe this is God’s way of taking out the wicked West.
You should differentiate between human abilities and culture. First one changes very slowly, while second one can change almost over night. Language is essential part of culture, and is first target for manipulation.
What people call The West, is actually USA Empire, plus some vassal states. The Empire is on the decline. That’s what is going on with society.
China, Rusia, (India, Iran,) are not empires, but civilizations. They’ve had their ups and downs, and are on the “up part” currently. Africans are colonized people that have been waiting for a chance to rise against their masters. They have noticed that The Empire is on the decline, and are trying to break free.
Meanwhile Kuleba the nasty loudmouth tells western critics of the pace of Ukrainian ‘victory’ to ‘shut up’, and ‘come fight the Russians yourselves if you’re so unhappy with us’.
Reminds me of the time years ago that Radislaw Sikorski was overheard saying ‘We give the Americans bj after bj and what have we gotten from them so far?”
Looks like Poland is welcoming you to the dissatisfied toady club, Ukraine. Moving on from mere porn to hard core snuff films …..maybe that’ll keep Uncle Sammy happy. Time to get busy with that mobilization no. 3, 4 whatever.
Indeed. It’s a “Go get ’em, chump. We’ll be here if you’re left with a rump, maybe.”
I don’t know shit about fighting wars, but it seems like some people are so puffed up with history that they think it’s all that matters. Sure, study past battles. They may have relevance, and they may not. Even the best historical analogies won’t fit perfectly. There’s always something somewhat different with the present situation, but even if there were a seemingly perfectly congruent historical precedent, stuff like available troops, available weaponry, available ammunition matters (as Larry stated). It’s like reading Victor Davis Hanson. Not everything has a parallel in the Peloponnesian War, ffs.
Larry, as someone who resides in the land “downunder”, am I severely embarrassed? Yes, do I believe that an ‘Aussie’ armchair general could write that crap,…yes! Unfortunately the level of hypnosis from years of propaganda and psychological games/warfare from the welfare state ‘government’ is extremely deep. Hence the level of stupidity here. I again refer to the ridiculous compliance levels with the covid mandates. Yes, those figures of 90+% jabbed were inflated, but in the main, most people toed the line, probably because of the debt levels they had from buying overpriced realestate. We are in for a rude shock in this country. I firmly believe that ww3 is inevitable and it will not be a happy campaign for us lapdog states. Who knows, maybe we will be the bargaining chip when the west finally capitulates. Anyway, the level of arrogance in ‘elite’ circles is extreme.
China will sort out you Aussies. Too many natural resources to go to waste.
Maine, the state of, sent a letter to the DOJ complaining about all the Chinese growing pot illegally, asking them to do something about it.
Poor Maine Po-po’s are scared of illegal Chinese pot growers!
Oh great, where can I get one of those missiles to take out the low level overflights. Oh hell, they will use drones, won’t they? Hmmm, that’s a product waiting to happen, an individual household scale AD system.
Australians don’t really need Generals, prior WW2 they just took orders from the UK, often with huge casualties or defeat, and since then take orders from the US. So what battle plan has this guy ever implemented? Sounds like another clown chasing media trinkets.
Australia’s Defence Strategy used to be “and then the British Empire arrives”, during WWII when the UK demanded Australia sends all it’s military to Britain when the Japanese were barrelling down through Asia, Australia said GFYS. Fortunately America was tricked (again) into the War and, needing a place to get started, found the front line was Australia. Australians believe that the U.S. came to their rescue, when the fact of the matter is that it was just a lucky happenstance. Since then Australia’s Defence Policy became “and then America arrives”.
FWIW, America is not Australia’s “friend”. Regime change has occurred there at the hands of America only everyone acts as if it’s a Scooby-Doo Mystery what happened to the Prime Minister that wasn’t on board with America.
I think she nails it in this piece: Caitlin Johnstone:
“Australia’s Real Fear Isn’t China”
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/03/15/caitlin-johnstone-australias-real-fear-isnt-china/
There is an Australian term: “brown-nosing” i.e. ass-licking the Americans. The current Australian elite in Canberra are actually “brown-footing” because they are so far up in the Americans’ ass…
Geez, the Aussies even stole the term ‘brown-nosing’ from us. Can’t you guys do anything on your own?
You were just kidding about being from a town called ‘popka’, right?
Larry is my favorite winner of the George Carlin award. He makes me laugh because he hits the issue on the head. Why these buffoons stick their necks out mystifies me. Someone must be holding a gun to their heads. Sandy Rinaldi, Arkansas, US Army veteran 1971 to 1974, 31 AUG 23
Remind me again of those illustrious criminals’ military victories.
I’m at a loss.
Only thing worse than the shitstains is shitstain light.
Aussie Gen. Ryan is the new NATO Homeopathy to Military Science, the quackery to end all charlatanism in military theory and practice. Forget Clausewitz and Schlieffen, we have the digger and his narrative to inspire the impressed 55 year old Ukrainian soldiers.
If you want this clown’s full bio you can go here: https://cove.army.gov.au/sites/default/files/bio_majgen_mick_ryan.pdf
But here are some excerpts: “Major General Mick Ryan graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1989 as a Combat Engineer. Major General Ryan has a Bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies from the University of New England and is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force School of Languages. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and a graduate of the USMC School of Advanced Warfighting. In 2012, he graduated with distinction from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, earning a Master’s in International Public Policy. ”
So he’s essentially a military academic and “a passionate believer in lifelong learning”. I don’t know if people living in the land of Oz realise what a woke catastrophe their armed forces have become, and nitwits like Ryan are largely responsible for it. If you want to read some of his more scintillating ideas you need only go to The Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au) and read his regular columns. Inane, delusional and with his nose up Uncle Sam’s butt so deep he’s lost his sense of smell. What a warrior!
Seems that these qualifications enable him to be a glorious paid propaganda presstititute. He is clearly singing for his supper … every time he churns out an article to please his masters he gets a treat … like a little organ grinding monkey doing his masters bidding.
He is either a spineless intellectual weakling …. Or has the characteristics of a physcho. Ignorance coupled with Arrogance….
Truly pathetic!
Mind if I compose a tune to that thought?
He is basically US-programmed and credentialed. He is a staff officer much like Germans – wined, dined, engaged in courses to gain chest ribbons, and bag-carrier for other credentialed imbeciles
The Military in The West has been a great life for commissioned officers who could have safe and secure employment – other ranks got to shovel sh,t and some deployment but officers had a cushion time.
It is a reason why peacetime officers in U.K. pre-WW2 went on half-pay. Peacetime armies are riddled with third-rate careerist officers unsuited to warfare
I recall an article in the 1990’s describing “a culture of violence” in the Australian Army and the top brass’s determination to stamp it out.
Looks like they’ve succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Mick Ryan was a major “expert” in an Australian 60 minutes piece in the last year whipping up public frenzy for a build up for a war with China. It was covered in a Caitlin Johnstone article in Consortium News. Com. You could probably find it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she contacts you. I guess in his military career he was known as the butcher of Falluja.
The Butcher of Falluja was Jim Molan, as deluded as Ryan but was also a real nasty fascist who would have turned on his fellow citizens if given the chance.
Happily I can say he died of cancer recently. Rest In Piss Molan.
Australia has some of the dumbest military personnel on earth. It is public knowledge that Australian SAS soldiers just kill innocent civilians for fun. However, what do you expect when Australia like Canada has never been free? Just one colonial master to another. When you are a house negra you do what your master tells you to do. This is why governing Australia in the foreign affairs area is easy…All the way with LBJ take orders and shut up.
Gallipoli ( ANZAC day) is celebrated in Australia. I have often wondered why you would celebrate a massive defeat led by a warmonger Winston Churchill who got fired and booted out of the war cabinet, later remade of course as a great hero. Why celebrate defeats? But the way the world is seems like Japan will celebrate the death of thousands of civilians deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a public holiday. Yes, it is a clown world led by the big pimp USA.
While WSC overall political career is one of disappointment, his advance of the Gallipoli campaign might have been a master stroke if it had succeeded. Responsible though he was for the germ of the idea, those tasked with implemented fluffed the chances, both initially and later at Suvla Bay. That was not Churchill’s fault. History might have been different if Turkey was forced out of the war, the 1917 Russian Revolution may have failed, a chance the people of Russia would almost certainly have benefitted from if they escaped from Communist tyranny. As for WSC’s leadership in WW2, he earnt whatever accolades are his, Britain would have struggled without his obdurate nature and gifted tongue.
Hi Larry, I enjoy your thoughts, both written and spoken. A small remark: WWII started on Sept 1, 1939, not June 22, 1941. Technically, the Aussie is right about the 18 months then. Though I must agree with your overall assessment of his piece of war-mongering NATO propaganda.
I understood that WWII began with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937. The Khalkhin Gol Incident was part of the war.
Calling them ‘incidents’ is pretty strange.
June 22, 1941 is when the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany and became officially and materially in involved in WWII. Since the article specifically refers to the Soviets’ capabilities, 1941 is the relevant date.
Actually WW2 started on 3rd September 1939 when Britain and France, rather at the behest of FDR, together with inconsequential countries like Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. That was the war that lasted. Germany’s war with Poland lasted about three weeks. Hitler was always puzzled at the British attitude since he never wanted war with the British Empire which he admired.
I can think of one worthwhile Australian general: Sir John Monash in WWI — and I’m not one to get all misty-eyed about members of the Tribe without good reason — but credit where due.
Current Brass in Australia however — perfumed princes and they’re very top-heavy with highly-remunerated chiefs lording it over not a whole lot of indians at the pointy end. Of course by the time they reach full Colonel or Brigadier, the name of the game is post-retirement gigs pimping for arms manufacturers, or on various other AU govt quangos or international bodies. So, to expect them to be invested in inconvenient Truths… Forgeddabout it.
One got the impression that the Australian Iraq / Afghanistan involvement was about ticking CV boxes and collecting tax-free overseas deployment danger pay bonuses. Doubtless some good people in the services, but like everywhere else the deeper motivations of the leadership are not exactly what’s written on the box.
Monash was a brilliant general and was the last person to have been knighted on the field of battle. The striking thing to me is that his parents were German born Jews and yet he managed to become the commander of the Australian Corps fighting the Germans, we in Australia get bombarded with propaganda from the left about how racist a country this is yet this fact (in contrast to the Dreyfus affair only a few years earlier) to me gives the lie to that. After the war he was behind the Shrine of Remembrance being built in Melbourne and headed up the State Electricity Commission. Lots of things in Melbourne are named after him.
I learned pretty quickly that I didn’t need to read Ryan’s articles unless I wanted a good laugh.
Indeed. And if there is one Aussie general that had a major hand in the winning of a war it was Monash who at the Battle of Hamel used tanks to smash through the German lines. Prior to that, he trained his infantry and tanks to work together and it was with this innovation that the Western Front was opened.
As for Ryan, the man’s an embarrassment. However he shows a fundamental truth about the Australian armed forces that is consistent throughout all the wars which is that in peace it the crawlers, the toadies, the perfect game players of the bureaucratic game that first have control and invariably they stuff up as would have Mick had he been given battle command. Only later in the conflict do the ones tempered by battle gain the control necessary to win the battles. Monash at the Western Front in WW1 and Lieutenant General Syd Rowell in New Guinea in World War 2. The overall commander of the Australian forces in WW2, Field Marshall Tom Blamey was a political toady so loathed by the troops that in New Guinea that it was thought apocryphally that he was lucky not to be shot by those troops when he went to ‘front line’ at Port Moresby. Rowell was universally respected.
Lt. General Leslie Morehead was another outstanding Australian senior command officer, possibly the only other Australian born one besides Monash of note worthy of further study. ( maybe that guy who had his shotgun confiscated on Gelibolu (Gallipoli) but I think he was south African born.)
Monash as a jew of German descent was definitely on the outside of the old boys club of class entitled imperial officers, but like Morsehead another major factor in him being shunned by his peers in the officer corps was that they were both reservist soldiers.
The full time professional officers hated that yet Monash’s civilian career as an civil works engineer and Morsehead’s career in teaching and managing shipping lines gave them both practical experience in running large projects with many disparate teams on site, managing logistics and operating to timetables, proficiency in mathematics and able to interpret plans and maps etc. Solid organisational skills.
Deadset practical skills that career officers such as Maj. General Ryan with his mostly humanities degrees could only dream of. No wonder the old boys club shunned them, even the official Australian war of the time Capt. C.E.W. Bean tried to downplay Monash’s achievements.
Andrei Martyanov repeats this incessantly, how the current crop of Western command officers have degrees in humanity subjects in lieu of the practical skills required to manage large scale projects.
Having degrees in Asian studies and languages might help to yell “we surrender” in Chinese, but that’s about it.
You’d probably find his staff officers and NCO’s did all the hard yards in any unit that he commanded.
Typo, official war historian Capt. C.E.W. Bean, I left out historian above.
My bad.
We must consider the possibility that Mr. Johnson has misjudged General Mick Ryan. Consider this essay the General wrote about an important element in the education of military officers.
*** Why Reading Science Fiction is Good For Military Officers ***
https://groundedcuriosity.com/why-reading-science-fiction-is-good-for-military-officers/
Possibly General Ryan has decided that WRITING Science Fiction is another important military skill.
Many retired American Generals appear to believe that the “fiction” part is a major part of their skill set.
“By December 1942, Russia was closing the noose on the Nazi’s 6th Army at Stalingrad — that was 12 months into WW II.”
WW II started on 9/1/1939 and operation Barbarossa (the attack on the Soviet Union) started on 6/22/1941. By any calculation that adds up to more than “12 months” even if one were to only count from the beginning of the Soviets’ involvement.
I was using Ryan’s benchmark, which basically uses the attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of the war in the Pacific as the benchmark. That’s what he had in mind.
That proves Ryan is a US-stooge since Australia was at war in 1939 with the rest of the Empire.
Just so , the AA was an important factor along with NZ in the eventual victory in Libya and as a spearhead force took heavy casualties. Most of this taking place before America actually got going in the war in November 1942 during Operation Torch.
No Australian thinks WW2 began with Pearl Harbour.
The Fall of Singapore, one of Ryan’s reference points and a major disaster for Australia, was February 15th 1942. 18 months prior would be August 1940, the middle of the Battle of Britain.
Ironically Singapore fell because a) Churchill as Finance Minister 1925 cut the funding for the defences at Singapore; and b) they put a Staff Officer like Percival in his first operational command as C-in-C Singapore ( but like von Paulus with 6th Army Stalingrad as Staff Officer assigned operational command)
History records Percival managed to surrender just ahead of the Japanese forces who had outrun their support. No one, it seems, could have been more surprised than the Japanese when the British surrendered. One positive outcome of the surrender and subsequent brutal occupation was the effect it had on the developing mind of the brilliant Lee Kuan Yew who lived through it as a teenager.
The Japanese landed further up the Malaysian peninsula far from Singapore with inferior numbers the Australian’s and some of the British advanced up the peninsula to take the fight to them where they could’ve had a chance but were recalled by the British brass back to Singapore allowing the Japanese to push right down the peninsula to Singapore.
Then when the causeway to island was blown they lost most of the access to freshwater.
Then the much smaller Japanese forces simply harassed the island until they surrendered.
Mick Ryan has been spouting inane rubbish since the SMO began and the State propaganda organ, the ABC has been inflicting it on the Australian public.
Agreed, we have three choices; a) Liar toeing the party line, b) Moron, or c) Both. The reasons why he should act in this way are as old as time, money, ego and both together, was tempted myself when I retired, but luckily my notion that “Officers (Retd.)” are a plague apon the earth saved me. lol
NB; (Retd.) refers to Retired not Retarded, retarded Officers are another story for another day, one thing to be sure is that there will never be a shortage of them.
“We can only pray that Western leaders wake up and realize they are playing a losing hand.”
Those idiots won’t.
If they did, they’d never admit it, even to themselves and each other. They’ll keep on going like they are, because their big, fat egos demand it. Arrogance, vanity, superciliousness, and stupidity. A lethal combination.
“We’re governed by unhinged lunatics, morons, and unrepentant fiends.” To quote an infamous character that I shall not name.
Yeah he is the ABC on-line goto guy about Ukraine.
Me I swerved him from the first time, I read his stuff. It makes no sense except its of a pattern that is the narrative.
Pity he never studied Monash. Monash was the first to use air as intell with creeping artillery and the wonder weapon tanks (fear factor).
Because Ukraine is early WW1 on the Ukrainian side and Late WW2 on the Russian side.
Combined arms is not that hard a concept. Control of the battle space in all dimensions is the goal. Moving artillery supporting mobile infantry and Armour with intell and fire raining from the sky nowadays add Missile, winged guided bombs and Drones as the latest.
But he was ever the Counter offensive is the good shit and on every band wagon as they came along, in bits and pieces since February last year. The problem is that Ukraine has never had a fully functional combined arms force, much less been able to deploy it.
He would not know combined arms, if it climbed up his legs, entered his anal orifice and poked a head full of fangs out his nose.
I heard a rumour he is not even Australian, well yeah Istarted that rumour.
Isn’t he just the epitome of the “modern major general” and maybe he should be in the Pirates of Penzance or something. He definitely has rehearsed his lines.
He’s a prime example of the old adage about cesspools. The really big turds float to the top. About this time next year we’ll be hearing a new song and dance from all these guys as the narrative will have shifted to one of Ukraine squandering all their assets and NATO help, and losing due to bad strategy, having failed to follow NATO’s direction. We’ll also hear that Russia has been significantly weakened in winning the war, and China better watch out.
Just wait. You think the narrative is nuts now, after Russia wins it will hit new heights of absurdity.
General Ryan is no more delusional than Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland & her merry band of neocons:
https://jamesburrillangell.substack.com/p/strange-diplomacy-victoria-fck-the
Phrase “Both the Ukrainians and the Russians possess the resources and the will for an extended war.”
50 Of Robin’s “Holy” Sayings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5hRPy-pDsY
Seems to me that the job requirements for promotion to the highest level of the war deadpartment, demand the candidate be; dumber, more ignorant, have less standards, inherently corrupt, pathological liar, fast and loose, easily controlled and tv ready.
It is guys like Douglas Macgregor that have the juice but because they are competent and thus pushed to the exit. Can not be trusted to lie.
It is the design for defeat. There is very little experience of anything else. Why not be the best at inept?
I’m personally surprised by the stiff resistance of the Ukrainian army. They have not been broken for the moment. As a very much non-expert, these men have me wondering how they can keep on fighting. Apparently, the narrative “Russia has lost the war” is active and the idea that a narrative wins a war stills works.
I remember reading in March 2022 that Russia lacked missiles. Now, she is so weak that it will break anytime soon. I also remember the joke: “Each time I find the bottom of the pit of stupidity, I find somebody busy digging deeper.”
Sir, you’ve found your “somebody busy digging deeper.” I laughed at the above joke, not it hurts. It was never meant to be a serious depiction of reality.
I do feel horror, disgust and terror at this war and how it is being treated. We could end up (a tiny few of us) in a world where the greatest and impossible dream is to go out for a Subway sandwich.
“wondering how they can keep on fighting”
Weed and alcohol when behind the lines, speed when rotated to the front. Being shot if you refuse to obey orders. Poor buggers caught between a rock and a hard place, but you gotta give ’em their due, they fight.
“wondering how they can keep on fighting”?
Captagon, “the poor man’s cocaine”, in massive amounts. Apparently produced in large amounts “Eastern Europe”(maybe in some of those 40+ CIA/Ukie biolabs?) .
https://www.theinteldrop.org/2023/08/31/us-backed-sdf-freedom-fighters-openly-discuss-trafficking-us-made-captagon-and-other-drugs/
Unfortunately the pretzel logic of who are the “good guys” is strong in this article, but it acknowledges that the US is ultimately behind large swaths of the Captagon/drug trade in their proxy war zones. Jordan recently attacked Captagon production/distribution locations in Syria… but of course the Assad gov’t get the blame, not the US Occupiers.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/jordan-conducts-cross-border-airstrikes-alleged-syrian-captagon-factory
If you follow the link to Reuters, you find this handy phrase: “As early as 2014, Syria WAS THOUGHT to be a major producer and consumer of the drug, and fighters including militants of the Islamic State group WERE THOUGHT to consume Captagon to stay awake on frontlines” THOUGHT by whom exactly? “Diplomatic sources”? Oh, ya, CIA/MI6/MOSSAD “diplomats”?
Wait, wasn’t US-backed ISIS “moderate jihadists” part of the attempt to overthrow the Assad gov’t? So the Assad gov’t was producing drugs to aid their enemies in overthrowing the Assad gov’t. Pretzel logic at its best.
So because SOMEONE THOUGHT the Assad gov’t was behind the Captagon production, it is now part of the boiler-plate of the US/ZATO narrative. Not the US, who holds Deir Azzor etc. But Jordan bombed the Captagon factory anyway.
The US is having a reverse Dale Carnegie moment, making enemies and influencing friends, to reconsider their ‘friendship” with the US. Like the Saudis joining the BRICS.
And don’t forget that when the US pushed back the Taliban, who had decimated opium production, said production again spiked under the watchful eye of US occupiers. Taliban kicked the US out for good, allowed one last opium harvest and are now shutting down the poppy fields for good, getting the farmers to produce FOOD to feed the country.
With “friends” like the US what country needs enemies…
I guess they’re now the Captagon Import Agency. Same business model, different product formulation and a new market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiC-ZghUYYs
“I’m personally surprised by the stiff resistance of the Ukrainian army.”
Ukrainian army is mostly staffed with Russians. They are stiff by default.
“… how they can keep on fighting.”
If they try to retreat or surrender, they get shot by their own, and family probably gets some punishment too.
Then these men are hostages of Zelensky, drugged by captain, shot if they refuse fighting and their families are punished if they surrender.
I do hate the way they are treated. I also do hate the fact that this “treatment” is efficient. It keeps them fighting in a very dire and desperate situation. I don’t know how this “treatment” has been put into place and if it’s planned I wish the responsible people for that will face trial.
This “treatment” is satanic.
“Then these men are hostages of Zelensky, …”
No, they are hostages of Washington (and Banderites). Zelensky has no power whatsoever.
“This “treatment” is satanic.”
Yep. There is increase in number of people thinking that “The Western Centers of Power” are satanic in nature.
I think you are mixing up the beginning of WWII with the beginning of Operation Barbarossa.
WWII in Europe startet at September 1st 1939 with the Invasion of Poland. 18 Month into the war makes March 1st 1941. The Invasion of the USSR startet at Juli 22nd 1941.
So 18 Month into WWII indeed looked great for the Axis and bad for the Allies.
However, neither the US nor the USSR, the two later Superpowers where 18 month into WWII involved. And that is where the comparison is flawed. There are no two superpowers available to get involved into the war and side withe Ukraine to turn the tide.
Close… but no Polish Cigar for you. Never heard of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Katyn?
(Regardless, I’m a present-day Russophile.)
Britain declared war at 11am on 3 Sept 1939 and France at 5pm
US declared Neutrality
Germany declared war on USA on 7 Dec 1941
Germany invaded Poland 1 Sept 1939 and USSR invaded Poland on 17 Sept 1939
I believe Germany declared war on the 11th Paul.
What i meant with “was not involved” is “was not involved in fighting the axis”, because that is the context of the comparison the general made. I did not know that i had to formulate my text this specific for people who take it out of context to argue about nitty gritty. Neither the little incursion of the USSR in eastern Poland nor the Winter War in Finland have any effect on the grand developments of WWII that finally led to the total collapse of the axis powers.
I thought this one took the cake: “…..and help it develop new tactics to push through Russian defenses.”
“Ok men, listen up. We have developed a new highly efficient tactic to push through the Russian defenses! So listen up and pay attention! Our new tactic will be: DO NOT DIE ON YOUR WAY TO THE RUSSIAN FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE!
Ok, off you go!”
I don’t know Larry, I am a bit ahead of you in the age game, but it is effing mind boggling how even close friends, often solid critical thinkers, have become absolutely brainwashed into IQ nullises.
I have followed you for quite a while now, and have seen your face change. This weighs heavily on you, and unfortunately, unless we all suddenly stand up and act out while shouting we are not gonna take this anymore, the crooked will lead us into Armageddon.
The big question is how do we get rid of this scum. I always thought Americans would stand up and defeat evil and corruption. Boy, was I off my rocket. As a son and grandson of resistance people (the Netherlands) against the Nazis, I am blown away by the disinterest of most people to right what is so wrong. Worse, they defend it, because Oh No, Trump might come back. Not that they know what he is about or any fact about his presidency, but he is now the focus, he gets back….oh boy…doom. I am not a Trumper by any means, but by Gawd, have they turned him into an efficient hate object to divert attention from the real sh*t.
Trump baffled me by an observation at the end of his interview with Tucker C. He said: I have never witnessed so much passion in America. And hate. A very dangerous combination, passion and hate.
The man is not as dense as I thought.
Stay safe.
A brilliant new tactical plan:
https://youtu.be/rblfKREj50o?t=10
Above the generals are the politicians.
I have lived in Australia for 50 years almost to the day, and in that tine I have seen two AUSTRALIAN Prime Ministers. Gough Whitlam was the first, and we all know what happened to him. That was a CIA coup that seldom gets mentioned. And Paul Keating who tried to float the idea of the importance to Australia of Asia and Australia’s only sensible place in the world.
All the rest have, to a greater or lesser degree, been Yankee stooges. Robert “British to the bootstraps” Menzies was succeeded by Harold “All the way with LBJ” Holt, and, with the two noted exceptions, it’s been follow me ever since.
Julia Gillard gave the Yanks basing rights, and now Albanese is trying to float a lead balloon in the shape of a nuclear submarine.
Oz remains a great place to live, but don’t, really don’t, read the legacy media.
As a supposedly professional military person, this Australian general should know that belittling the enemy is often the biggest mistake a novice makes. It’s amazing how Russian military in spite of far superior firepower never belittled their enemy for instance after ukrainian soldiers surrendered or when they lost Artemovsk.
Hi Larry
I have been following your commentary along with similar thinking American Individuals such as: Scott Ritter, Col MacGregor, to name a few coming to my mind, for sometime now from here in Australia.
Please do not even mention this idiotic guy commentary who is worth nothing in my view as I stopped reading his main stream media comments quite sometime back. But your response to his idiosyncratic analysis was simply brilliant and even a common man, who has never seen a firearm let alone use it, was able to comprehend from where you are coming from, to dismantle his worthless piece of funded journalism.
I have been an Ardent supporter of America until 2003 when they attacked Iraq with blatant lies and started the war which of course as you all have commented ended in total disaster not only for Iraq but also your country.
With this war, I have lost all hopes but follow you among other similar minded people who speak the truth, with my only hope is many people with start following the same. I am doing my bit by encouraging others who I have contact with to follow the same to drive some sanity in this insane world.
Thanks Larry, please keep doing what you are already doing to keep my sanity.
SKG
Funny how the imperial power of the US took a simple little covert action like toppling a democratic government to gain Sevastopol along with the Black Sea in toto, screwed that up and ended up with an existential crisis beyond its control that could result in it and the world going up in flames and yet it persists. I for one, am tired of this nasty clown show. Imperial powers ain’t what they used to be.
The 40M population estimate for Ukraine is very optimistic and even the UNCHR estimate for JANUARY 2023 was over 9,5 million. Number of refugee arrivals into Hungary the police discloses daily rose from 10-15k to 15-20k.
Plus the millions who got into RF controlled area… 18M is an optimistic number for Kiev controlled area
“In 2021 Ukraine’s population hovered around 40 million.”
Indeed, I was going to make the same case, only without specific numbers (since they can vary between even the best analysts) – but your guesstimate is pretty close nevertheless I’d say.
So my (humble) thing to Larry:
Ukraine stopped population census waaaay before even 2014 stuff, 40mil is LAST CENSUS that exists; they kept it like this to pump numbers for money making purposes. The “real” number pre-2014 was closer to 36+mil (Saker, for one, was pretty on top of this issue)…
So, from there, deduct Crimea+Donbass+casualties+immigration (both to EU and RF) and then deduct same things starting 2022…
Also please note that “missing persons” + “registered in Ukr but factually living in EU” factors.
Now one can see why I’ve said Gazenberg’s numbers are pretty close imho 😉
Thanks for great work Larry!!, keep it up – the longer the better – cause world needs this now more then ever.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly one third of its overseas trade, according to the Australian government.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/05/economy/australia-china-exports-record-intl-hnk/index.html
Do the math.
I am an Australian. Morons like Mick Ryan just convinced the morons in the Australian Government who plonked a total of $800 billion into the USA MIC to buy & run 6 (yes 6) nuclear powered submarines. To fight whom Mick? oh yes… of course, our largest trading partner China who buys most of our coal, natural gas, beef, wine & wheat. Good one Mick. 6 built in USA subs will scare the crap out of Chinese Navy. NOT. In the meantime all China has to do to TOTALLY destroy Australia is to close their Trade Mission. Game over. Australia…. You have just become the Ukraine of the Pacific. Morons. Absolute Morons.
Wotfigo, are those submarines a part of the “Trident Program”? All you guys have to do is write a check to the Americans and then relax:
https://youtu.be/neIMa5mODlo?t=26
Mate,
You are so bloody right, my friend.
Did you listen to Paul Keating’s NPC chat talk soon after Albo announced the deal. He simply nailed and decimated the deal. We in Australia are going to fund almost $1T by the time the nuke-subs come out, who knows when, but for sure will be obsolete before the first run like what Keating termed in that NPC chat-talk “throwing toothpicks at mountains”, what a leader and what a talk. There are nuclear powered not armed as far as my understanding from that talk goes, may need to refresh.
If you have not please take time to listen to it. I have multiple times and now that you have reminded me, I will once again.
At least truthful analysis coming out from real experts like Larry Johnson and others keeps my sanity and humor in full flight in this insane and crazy world, over which I have zero trust and influence as an unknown citizen of this world.
Take care
SKG
There must be the Darwin Military Award for the eligible generals for their strategic acumen and outstanding service.
Anyone that wants to understand the Mick Ryans of this world needs to read Donald Horne’s “Lucky Country”. A brief synopsis: once the dust had settled on the early convict years, Australians found that they could produce way more food than they could consume and had more natural resources than they knew what to do with. They sell both to the rest of the world and rake in a substantial income. The climate is mild and the living easy. But because they have had all this handed to them on a plate, nobody has had to put in much effort to achieve anything. This has had the effect of producing an apathetic population and second-rate “leader” class. Not all Aussies are dumb, far from it, but look at how many willingly complied with covid lockdowns and mandates. Add a dreadful, myopic, one-sided media to the mix, and it’s not difficult to see Mick Ryans everywhere you look: in politics, the police, medicine, industry…..
“But because they have had all this handed to them on a plate, nobody has had to put in much effort to achieve anything. This has had the effect of producing an apathetic population and second-rate “leader” class.” 100% Mickdfish, many Ozzies are apathetic and the “leaders” reflect that pathetic state. I was aghast at the compliance by the general population during the “plandemic”. There is no ‘spunk’, no passion left in a large portion of the population and they act as hypnotised drones.
Well here’s one part of the reason for your ‘hypnotised drones’.
Over three million (or 1 in 7) Australian adults take antidepressants for depression and anxiety every day, making Australia the second highest consumer of antidepressants of all OECD countries. In 2019, there were 27 million prescriptions provided for antidepressants across Australia, with around 86% of those written by GPs. The average duration of treatment is four years.
https://australia.cochrane.org/news/new-cochrane-review-explores-latest-evidence-approaches-stopping-long-term-antidepressants
Larry, your American is showing 🙂
“By December 1942, Russia was closing the noose on the Nazi’s 6th Army at Stalingrad — that was 12 months into WW II.”
For most participants, WWII started rather earlier than 1941.
This is what you get in a proxy war. The tune would soon change if these people were in charge of men and women risking their lives and dying. Then they would have to confront a very hostile press speaking on behalf of the grieving families. Instead we have an idiot proxy whose troops are just not willing to die fast enough, being, as we are told insouciantly, ‘casualty averse’.
The west has a poor record of direct warfare since its WW2 victory, actually achieved by the real and terrible sacrifice of the Russians and the fortunate sole possession of a wonder weapon which the US used in preference to risking its own men in hard battle. It has been downhill on the actual fighting fronts ever since, even against people who should be a knock-over, and the US has carefully picked its enemy here, not daring to go up against an equal.
The bloggers suggesting that all our glorious leaders really want is a good reason to intervene directly against Russia, are as deluded in their own way as the neocons. These leaders don’t. They could have done that at the start if they had wanted to. International law did not stop them going into Iraq or Libya etc. They don’t because they know that would be a disaster for them even if the fighting remained conventional.
And anyway, whatever delusions the US-UK might nurture, they are not shared on the european mainland beyond the Baltics. Old stately europe does not want to become an extension of bombed out Ukraine. This ‘we’re gagging for it, just give us a justification, Russia’ is more sabre rattling to impress Russia with our determination to outlast it. This is puff to encourage Ukraine not to throw in the towel (a real prospect now), and to terrify the Russians into doing some deal we can call a victory before this thing drags into the winter when various european nations will just pull out in practice if not in verbiage, and the whole western alliance will collapse.
If the US stays the course it will end up with a dirty rotten war that the red messaging will say was all Biden’s fault. He dragged the US and everyone else into it to save his own political skin and avoid jail, or at any rate some very adverse consequences for his son who may well have been threatened with a hit.
The effect this insalubrious war is having on America’s international reputation cannot be underestimated. The opposition in Taiwan is running on the slogan that ‘Taiwan must not become another Ukraine’. Any nation looking to the US ‘for protection’ is in danger of being turned into cannon fodder.
So the Europeans will quit for economic reasons, and the US will quit before it loses all semblance of authority on its own rickety international stage about to collapse under the weight of the risible hubris that has been loaded on it by the likes of the UK, Australia, Canada, and Borrell/Von Der Leyen for the EU. This war is a dead parrot.
Can we please ascribe Soviet Victory over German Axis to USSR and not simply Russia ? Lots of Ukrainians and Byleorussians and Lublin Poles and Uzbeks and Cossacks inter alia achieved that victory and in Soviet War Cemeteries there are many non-Russians –
A shame they cannot remember that.
Oh, the Ukrainians remember all right. They castigate and belittle anyone whose relatives fought against the Nazis. This I know from unfortunate contacts with that sorry excuse for a nation.
The West has decided to empower a bunch of losers, making them into even greater losers. There must be some method behind such madness, no?
Russia includes non-Russians too. Those same non-Russians are fighting for Russia as we speak.
“There are 193 ethnic groups and 277 languages spoken in Russia.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTlV04pfxs4
This comment you excerpt from the idiot ocker –
“To that end, the United States and NATO need to make clear that their explicit goal is for Ukraine to defeat Russia’s forces in Ukraine—and to silence Russia’s global narrative.”
Is it just me, or is the last part there a call for increased censorship?
Yes.
No. It’s a call for propaganda war outside of Western World. They want to convince those Africans that Russians are the bad guys.
Censorship can’t accomplish that & he knows it. Undeclared war against all uncooperative nations is the only thing that’ll do for General Meathead.
He is not stupid, he is an arms saleman. Any thing will do to keep the gravey train going.
NSFW profanity warning…..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U6AMDEMXlco
Larry, I have to correct you. Ukraine does not have 27 million inhabitants. The only population census in post-Soviet Ukraine took place more than 20 years ago, in 2001. “Official data” after that is simple manipulation, including the fact that in 2021 Ukraine had 41 million inhabitants (without Crimea). In Ukraine, even before the war, there was an exodus of the population, especially after the obligation of citizens of Ukraine to have a Schengen visa to travel to the EU was abolished. Quite relevant data, based on the analysis of the provision of medical services in health institutions, show that at the time of the beginning of the war, the territory under the control of the Kiev regime had a little more than 30 million inhabitants. After some parts of Ukraine came under Russian control and millions of people fled the country, now no more than 18 million people live under the control of the Kiev junta.
As for the nebulosity of the Australian general… Totally the opposite of him, I think the Ukrainian army is desperate. If we know what kind of Ukrainian army was created by NATO after 2014, their resistance to the Russians is terrible. As many as 700,000 armed and trained professional soldiers, as they had in February 2022, were defeated by 70-80 thousand Russian soldiers, who started the invasion. Almost without a fight, the Russians occupied the entire southeast of the country, so that today thousands of Ukrainians would be dying to return every meter.
The Russians were greatly helped by the total incompetence of the Ukrainian command staff. It is difficult to list all the tactical defeats of the Ukrainians. A trick with a column of tanks near Kiev blocking significant Ukrainian forces, while on the shores of the Sea of Azov the Russians finish the job. Or, allowing the Ukrainians to be surrounded in Mariupol. Or, the debacle of the counteroffensive. Or, as Prigozhin lured them into the meat grinder in Bakhmut: The whole tirade about “the importance of Bakhmut as a key place for the outcome of the war” was intended as pressure on Shoigu and Gerasimov to give up the submission of Wagner to the MD, and instead Shoigu and Gerasimov were caught by the Ukrainian generals and sacrificed tens of thousands of their soldiers in vain.
“The entire tirade about “the importance of Bakhmut as a key place for the outcome of the war” was intended as pressure on Shoigu and Gerasimov to give up the submission of Wagner to the MD, and instead Shoigu and Gerasimov were caught by the Ukrainian generals and sacrificed tens of thousands of their soldiers in vain.”
Please, could you clarify this part Bily? Whose speech? From Kiev or Prigozhin? And how did Shoigu and Gerasimov sacrifice tens of thousands of their soldiers in vain? From what I understand Gerasimov and Shoigu never intended to take Bakhmut. This is precisely when the great disagreement with Prigozhin begins. For the MOD, Bakhmut was just a meat grinder and Prigozhin insisted on taking Bakhmut for his or Wagner glory, mostly using prisoners. That’s why we also didn’t see more Wagner at UA.
I’m sorry my English is not good. So, the whole tirade about “the importance of Bakhmut as a key place for the outcome of the war” is Prigozhin’s idea to put pressure on Shoigu and Gerasimov, so that the two of them give up the submission of Wagner to the MoD on July 1. Instead of Shoigu and Gerasimov, Ukrainian generals swallowed the bait, who believed Prigozhin that Bakhmut was the key to the outcome of the war. Instead of the Ukrainians withdrawing from Bakhmut, they sent tens of thousands of soldiers into the meat grinder. In the end, the Ukrainians lost Bakhmut and 23,000-75,000 people. There, I hope it’s clearer now.
Ok. Thanks. Everyone has their own mother language.
What sort of an army can Ukraine create, composed of people snatched off the streets and re-patriated from abroad, where they fled conscription?
An army that’s put together with bailing wire and chewing gum, that’s what kind. The officers already dare not stay in the trenches with them, for fear of being fragged. The show’s already over boys, but the encore demands more body bags for the finale.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/mick-ryan
… He is a keen author on the interface of military strategy, innovation, and advanced technologies, as well as how institutions can develop their intellectual edge.—
As an Australian who has to put up with shallow, incompetent propagandists like Mick the Dick every day is it any wonder that I don’t subscribe to any Australian geo-political websites.
The self censorship of ALL Australian media and the mostly second hand lies they source and peddle from the US and UK is quite amazing. If you are an Australian and you want to know what is happening and why you have to ditch Australian Media of all flavors and go overseas.
That’s why I visit Sonar21, Moon of Alabama, The Duran, The New Atlas, The Real News, Martyanov, et al.
The problem is that most of Australians are interested in three things:
– Sport
– Overtime
– Days off.
When the Australian womens’ soccer team got into the latest finals Albo was promising a new public holiday to celebrate. This would have provided all three of these things.
The man has no shame.
You do understand, I take it …that Albanese is an Italian surname typically indicating an Albanian origin. No further comment.
AlbaNAZI loves NAZIs, Sumting Wong with dat.
I don’t mind sport, overtime or days off work. But Mick is just too much to suffer. And our ABC that publishes his piece each week is just beyond it.
I was listening to ABC Radio yesterday and they were wondering how to fix homelessness. It would be easy if we were buying into nuclear subs and himars I would reckon. But then, you’d be giving someone something for nothing.
No wait, we spend 400 billion on submarines we will never command and never be used in our defence, never crew, etc… Sounds like we are giving someone something for nothing afterall.
Crickets
Our delusional idiots are stupider than your delusional idiots, so nah!
Major Generals? – A Major catastrophe from a General stuff-up is to be expected from our lot.
“…that Biden and his National Security team will make a rash, stupid decision…”
They’ve got a great track record for rash and stupid so far, I think its odds on for more of the same from this talented team.
When Fondoff Lying was German Defence Minister, she equipped the Wehrmacht with broom sticks. I suggest the Germans send broom sticks to Ukraine, after training at the Harry Potter Land Warfare School, armed with the right spells, they’ll just fly over the Surovikin line, smash those pesky rooskies in the rear, glide on to retake Crimea and it’ll all be over by Christmas.
Hey Y’all…
Guys like Mick Ryan are a sideshow.
Tucker Carlson on Adam Corolla’s podcast made it plain what the real purpose of hot war with RF is all about. Won’t be no stumblin’ into it.
MAGA
“JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT RETIRED U.S. GENERALS ARE THE BIGGEST BUFFOONS, A RETIRED AUSSIE TAKES THE CAKE”
Some remain of the view that “Perception Management” is best achieved through comparatives within linear paradigms – including but not limited the question of fools; qui bono ?, or “game theory” – to serve their purpose in hope of sustaining linear derivative(s) of “the status quo” within “acceptable tolerances” through deflection from matters lateral/qualitative in hope of precluding transcendence.
Thank you for your illustration of this process not restricted to the quotation in “CAPITAL” letters above.
more on Mick :- https://www.lowyinstitute.org/mick-ryan
Mick is well regarded in Australia as a geopolitical/ military “expert” having earned this reputation through his work as a counter insurgency “expert” who was lauded by the Americans during the Afghanistan and Iraq escapades, and invited to share his “expertise” with them at “the highest levels”. Aussies like to think of themselves as a country that “punches above its weight” in sporting & military fields and Mick’s reputation among American military circles plays to that part of their national ego.
btw, the Lowy Institute (there is no Wikipedia page for Mick) is an Australian right wing think tank founded by Frank Lowy (an Australian grocery oligarch), who, together with one of the most loathsome Australian Prime Ministers, one John Howard, was jointly awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for saying the right things after 9/11 and backing Bush/ Cheney America all the way uncritically.
Personally (and I’m a sceptic who’s become a cynic) I think Mick is protecting his pension and protecting his children’s inside track to Oxbridge and good careers, as I suspect he has done throughout his career. I have no idea if he *really* believes the stuff he’s saying here or not; but, while he is definitely a 100 per cent establishment man, he may also really be stupid. Nevertheless many Aussies are proud of him.
alfred venison (an Edmontonian Canuck in King Charles’ Australia)
“the Lowy Institute (there is no Wikipedia page for Mick) is an Australian right wing think tank founded by Frank Lowy (an Australian grocery oligarch)…”
A better way to describe the tribal member Lowy would be to mention his status as a war criminal terrorist due to his membership in the Haganah.
After murdering Palestinians he emigrated to Australia and founded the Westfield shopping mall empire (all should boycott Westfield).
He is a despicable piece of shit.
In Canada, we have our very own Maj-Gen(Ret’d) David Fraser, the architect of Operation Medusa in Afghanistan, although a Liberal cabinet minister (Harjiit Saigan) tried to take the credit. He’s the “expert” on the Ukraine/Russia conflict according to Bell Media (CTV, iHeart Radio), Why just the other day, in a radio interview on CFRA580, he said that Ukraine is winning, their offensive is working, they’re pushing the Russians back and any day now, the Russian population is going to turn against Putin! The radio host was positively giddy to hear the good news (repeating the obligatory “brutal Russian invasion” statement).
Like other commenters on this forum, I follow The Duran, etc., also vloggers from within Russia, just the everyday people such as Valeria on Different Russia. I also have a Russian/Ukrainian neighbour who positively detests the Kiev Junta and what they’ve done to the country. Try telling anyone that this didn’t start in Feb.2022 and you’re denounced as a Putin propagandist.
[not sure if this got cut off ’cause I put the line up front]
Mick is well regarded in Australia as a geopolitical/ military “expert” having earned this reputation through his work as a counter insurgency “expert” who was lauded by the Americans during the Afghanistan and Iraq escapades, and invited to share his “expertise” with them at “the highest levels”. Aussies like to think of themselves as a country that “punches above its weight” in sporting & military fields and Mick’s reputation among American military circles plays to that part of their national ego.
btw, the Lowy Institute (there is no Wikipedia page for Mick) is an Australian right wing think tank founded by Frank Lowy (an Australian grocery oligarch), who, together with one of the most loathsome Australian Prime Ministers, one John Howard, was jointly awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour for saying the right things after 9/11 and backing Bush/ Cheney America all the way uncritically.
Personally (and I’m a skeptic who’s become a cynic) I think Mick is protecting his pension and protecting his children’s inside track to Oxbridge and good careers. I have no idea if he *really* believes the stuff he’s saying here or not; but, while he is definitely a 100 per cent establishment man, he may also really be stupid. Nevertheless many Aussies are proud of him.
alfred venison (an Edmontonian Canuck in King Charles’ Australia)
Let me just say without offending anyone. His red dye fulls no one and just shows immaturity with the focus on appearance. No substance here. So what can we really expect from this class of people. Patreaus is another one looking good on paper as a brilliant strategist. His most notable achievement was the surge in Iraq, but let’s get real. What else had he done of great success? Maybe getting caught passing classified material to his mistress? The great spy master could not eve control his little boy and gets caught. What a farse. A sad commentary on our leaders. In the old soviet days he would he have been blackmailed by some Russian spy and who knows what would have happened. Now it’s the generals time to be a fool. Sad, sad all around.
This is my thought to all MB, and Larry, I think the fate was sealed , for WWIII” when the international criminal court issued a warrant for Putin, I didn’t know how important that was at first, but I think it is” and going to be” a real big deal, Russia is obviously taking it seriously, with not attending the BRICS in South Africa, I kinda wonder if Xi pulled out of G20 in solidarity. In any case this is now a fight to the death.
China isn’t in the G7, so supporting the G20 is going to be somewhat problematic in the future. The G7, for all ostensible purposes is the core of the G20 and dominates it administratively (agenda setting), a bit like the relationship between the UK Parliament and the Cabinet. My guess is that Xi (and Putin) does not want to be led around by the nose by the G7…
Lavrov says Russia will block G20 declaration if views are ignored, dimming India’s hopes of consensus
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-g20-communique-lavrov-oppose-b2403301.html
It is a bit tough for Modi, but Xi (and Putin) sees the “cluster —-” that is going to come out of that and decided to send a delegation, probably without the authorization to agree to anything without consulting Beijing first. An Admiral Reginald Drax goes to Moscow – 1939 redux. IMHO
It’s been a fight to the death ever since those two fools Merkel and Hollande announced that Minsk II and UNSC Res 2202 were a mere subterfuge. Doing it is one thing but announcing it was more the fool’s errand than anything before or since. These aren’t leaders, they’re bleeders, as in blood-sucking slugs.
This Aussie was in Afghanistan. Did he ever hear of the
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brereton_Report
and of decorated (by the Queen) SAS Victoria Cross war-hero Roberts-Smith?
The Army is in disarray but top brass get off free.
Judge finds Australian war hero to be a war criminal
Canberra’s most-decorated living soldier loses the “defamation case of the century” over alleged murder of Afghan civilians
RT https://swentr.site/news/577350-australia-war-canberra-solider/
After AUKUS kowtowing is expected?
Kowtow : to show obsequious deference : fawn. kowtows to the boss. 2. : to kneel and touch the forehead to the ground in token of homage, worship, or deep respect.
These retired generals are inexhaustible source of material for this blog. Larry should send them some money. And some medals. They love money, and medals.
Je propose dans le segment russe des blogueurs militaires d’organiser une collecte urgente de dons pour soutenir les généraux américains. Sans leurs activités “utiles”, la Russie sera difficile à gagner.
¿Por qué francés?
I’m sorry, please.
I made a mistake, translated from Russian into French instead of English.
it was a joke.
I am ashamed.
I thought you were just flexing your multilingual skills, so I tried to play along. 🙂
Speaking of language skills, this guy got medal for his 🙂
https://www.bitchute.com/video/ISUrTfrYvOsl/
The Devil is in the details, literally – Russia just put Sarmat on active duty, an ICBM with 10 warheads and both Pole trajectories.
https://ria.ru/20230901/sarmat-1893638190.html
What does this dimwit mean by “and to silence Russia’s global narrative” ?
He realized that most of the World supports Russia.
How will Ukraine get the men? Here’s one way …
There’s many 100,000s of Ukrainian men of military age in the EU and Canada. An increasing number of voices in/out-side of Ukraine are calling for their repatriation.
Having recently fired dozens of recruitment officers for corruption, Ukraine is currently formulating an extradition request to repatriate those who bribed their way out of the country. Managing the optics will present some challenges, but the West has a confluence of compelling reasons to revoke their refugee status if/when the request comes.
Those in Canada are far away, but those in Poland are not. Considering how much Poles love them, they wouldn’t need much convincing before rounding them up, and sending them on one-way trip to Bakhmut.
The 3 M’s strike again! Military, Medical & Media. How deep does the corruption run? Of course all of western society is rotting to its core.
Can’t Ukraine solve the manpower shortage by getting every male pregnant? Or sex change operations for every Ukrainian woman? Just keeping up with 21st century western thinking.
Well, they have hired Sarah Ashton-Cirillo.
THE QUEEN’S COUP Queen Elizabeth II of England advised the Governor-General he could overthrow the elected government of Australia – and he did.
https://declassifiedaus.org/2022/11/11/the-queens-coup/
Truth laid bare. The documents that make up the Palace Letters are now available for public perusal online at the National Archive of Australia.
https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/kerr-palace-letters
Interestingly made public only recently.
Does the Monarchy want “to silence Russia’s global narrative” ?
It does indeed ever since 1905 at the latest.
If the US goes into a hot war of course Australia will do the right thing and follow along immediately. Of course by that stage the incompetence of leadership will be moot.
Not follow along, but lead the charge.
…They then need to provide Ukraine with standardized equipment …
like this :
Australian High-Tech Cardboard Drones ‘Used in Spectacular Strike on Russian Airfield’
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/21035
High-tech?
They are radar stealthy for sure.
Maybe the general like playing with these?
Has anyone else ever noticed that having a logical discussion/debate/argument with four “types or categories” of people is pointless?
1) Liars (politicians, propagandists, journalists)
2) Illogical thinkers
3) Losing Military Leaders
4) Cat ladies
Identify the category of individual before wasting your time trying to get Pythagorean logic to shine any light on their “vision or wishful view of their reality”.
Great piece. The Pentagon is desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2-decade long, $2 trillion debacle in Afghanistan which ended in Aug, 2021, showcased by desperate Afghans clinging to the wings and engines of US military transport planes taking off from Kabul airport. Not only was this a PR disaster for the Pentagon, it vividly portrayed the limits of American military power to the global population. A US/NATO loss in Ukraine is an admission of failure and by extension military weakness. This will call into question the very survival of NATO and further undermine that status of the dollar as world reserve currency, which has served as a key pillar of post-WWII US power.
From my perspective, Joe Biden has backed himself into the proverbial ‘corner’ with no good exit strategy, violating a fundamental tenet of Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’. As you conclude- ‘That is dangerous because it increases the likelihood that Biden and his National Security team will make a rash, stupid decision and plunge the United States and Europe into a hot war with Russia.’
Larry… an excellent explanation and to the point video about the unintended results of the US imposed sanctions on Chip sales to China.
https://youtu.be/ZgRcYCJAg-U?si=3CXN7yBZvb5Tyzhh
Research has shown that 1 out 3 retired Generals is just as delusional as the other two.
Nimarata Randhawa Haley was on a radio show the other day talking about how Russia was losing in Ukraine. They all believe their own BS.
He looks too much like Hodges not to be stupid. And already blocked me on X.
I just have to share this extraordinary combat footage:
https://t.me/IntelRepublic/26860
https://www.bitchute.com/video/ISUrTfrYvOsl/
As for absurd claims contest, my fav is
> help it [Ukraine] develop new tactics to push through Russian defenses
This is so absurd it is hard to comment.
So, this flawless knight tacitly admits they have a little problem that their existing tactics can not break Russia defs.
I’d say, this one sounds a major problem for any offensive/recapturing. Even, perhaps, a “blocker grade issue”.
If he’d proposed Ukraine to just hold the ground and sue for peace at de facto frontlines, then okay. But he wants to re-occupy Donbass, at least, doesn’t he? Then breaking Russian defenses is a requirement. And… Need for a new tactics is a MAJOR thing then!
And he puts it to Ukraine to do it, with “some help” from NATO.
Seriously, if NATO *can* – it should not be *helping*, it should be *providing* a new shining ready and successful method.
Equally, if Ukraine could invent such a new tactic – it already would, and won’t need help.
So, wee have two parties, none of each CAN develop the absolutely required tactic, sine qua con, and this, obviously, by any look, is a BLOCKER.
But, enter smoothtalking: “Ukraine should just do it, with some help from Aussie”.
Oh, sure, “mice, you just have to became hedgehogs”, so simple.
They must be thinking about teaching Ukrainians to cut bushes! That terrible weapon of the Russian defense that ruined the most famous counter-offensive in the world.
Larry & friends; Normandy
Despite a preponderance in material & manpower in Normandy, the Allies made poor headway. They lunged forward with naval artillery backing them up but thereafter a slog. German lines needed to be blown up for an advance to work. The Americans finally worked it out; single engine ground attack & medium bombers, not Brit heavy bombers that blew up everyone! The ‘bocage’ was good defensive ground, so the Germans used a few good divisions to hold bigger Allied forces at bay, until the inevitable breakout!
Cela “vaut” les énormités des divers “Gamelins” (“qualificatif” emprunté par Xavier Moreau au général Gamelin, responsable du DESASTRE français de mai-juin 1940, pour dénoncer l’incroyable fatuité des “experts” militaires français actuels) sévissant sur les chaînes françaises telles que LCI ou BFMTV …
I thought the Führer was the Propagandameister, but he is dead now.
Anyway: What will the Russians do? Looks like they play endlessly defensive, wait for the Ukraine army to surrender.
BRICS Summit Proves Geography Trumps Currency
A brilliant article – a little bit offside to the article, but top up to date!!!
Recommend this article to all those interested in BRICS, with a great deal of detailed background information and previously unknown complexities about the BRICS startegy!!!!
“If there is a common theme among all six of these countries that goes beyond geography (more on that in a moment), it is their relationship to what is supposed to be the former British Empire. From the Arab states and Egypt to those that defied the British in the past – Iran and Argentina, for example – these new additions represent a profound shift in power.
Accessing or bypassing historic chokepoints in world trade is a long-held goal of both Russia and China. And it looks like they have finally succeeded with these new additions to the BRICS bloc.
The main reason I keep harping on why Europe is in such trouble is that it is now obvious that those with physical collateral, including the U.S., are no longer interested in selling that collateral on the cheap to a colonial-minded Europe.”
https://tomluongo.me/2023/09/01/brics-summit-proves-geography-trumps-currency/
Many of the BRICS decision-making backgrounds are revealed and now being discussed.
In my view, the BRICS will have to prove themselves first.
I’m sorry to go a bit off-topic but the piece you quoted by Luongo is very interesting nut it has one error, I think.
Luongo is wrong when he says that the real loser in the fiat currency markets is the euro and therefore talk about de-dollarization is a distraction, and by implication the USD is safe.
He is of course right that the euro is losing badly outside the EU (that’s data) but this drop is consistent with the reality of the threat of de-dollarization when you understand that the euro is a buffer for the USD.
IOW, the euro is supposed to go down in reserves and settlements before the USD because that is its role, so the euro going down in those markets is a marker of the process of de-dollarization, not a random or contrary signal.
The euro as a buffer is giving time for the USA to react to de-dollarization, a process that has happened consistently since 2000 (20% reduction in USD in world reserves from 2000 to 2021).
You have to admire the planning that go into these things.
To support my view, not that the whole idea of the European Union and a common European currency started in the USA in the 50s and 60s. The USA was providing funding for the first individuals and organizations seeking to have a united Europe and a common currency. This was discovered in de-classified documents in the National Archives by a researcher of Geogetown University.
Larry you have to understand & know a little of this idiot Australian Generals mentality, which as a NZer, I know extremely well? Aussies are brash loudmouths, they shoot their mouths off all the time & make stupid comments & observations, but you have to make allowances for the fact that Australia was founded by convicts & anglo saxon dregs who were transported there to settle & genocidally displace the Indigenous aboriginal people! For God sakes, Aussies & NZers celebrate on April 25th of every year, one of the biggest Military disasters in our shared History in 1914-1915 at Gallipoli in the Peninsula at the Dardanelles in Turkey! Thousands of ANZAC’s died in this pointless battle that was the brainchild of the inept Winston Churchill! Australia has taken this battle & mythologised this humiliating defeat to ridiculous levels & took this Historical event, rewrote & reinterpreted then eulogised it in a grandiose way that states that Australia & NZ became Nation’s after Gallipoli, forged & tested from the heat of battle & Human loss? Then the Aussies since 1918, really plunged headlong into delusion & self indulgence when they created the so called Legend of the Australian DIGGER, the noble larrikin Aussie Soldier who chafed at authority & was sent to War with noble, heroic intentions? It’s utter crap, even Kiwis winch at this ridiculous & deluded creation but Larry once you understand this mentality, the stupid Australian Generals lunatic comments make perfect sense as you delve into the historical context of what this Moron was raised to believe in, which is Anglo saxon & British & American superiority, even when they are defeated in Battle, it becomes a Heroic defeat not a Military disaster which Gallipoli was, its groupthink & a shared mindset of Imperial stupidity, arrogance & a attempt to rewrite History & put lipstick on a Pig (of a Military Defeat), nothing more!
Good comment. Thanks for that.
It reminds me of how Remembrances Day and wearing a poppy for “never again” the carnage of the two World Wars has been morphed into a glorification of war in general and turned all the poor sods who were killed or maimed, to enrich some hidden clique no less, into veritable jihadi martyrs so that it can all be repeated again in perpetuity with no lessons learned.
Even as a teenager I intensely disliked Remembrance Day in Canada and would argue with my schoolmates that we should remember all the dead and not just our own.
Too right. And now we have the soldiers that participated in the illegal invasions of Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, and Iraq marching proudly – as if they have something to be proud of.
VietNam veterans in particular were shunned for a few decades but when the WW1 & 2 veterans died out these war criminal scum were remade.
And many still haven’t moved past the ignorance they had back then. One recently tried to debate with me last year that “Vietnam asked us to go, so we went – to help them”. Fucking morons.
Do you know who is really asking you to go? Ukraine. More people should go and help them. Zelensky is not picky. Tell those “friends” that their help is needed in Rabotino.
No boots on the ground in Sweden, because there´s such lack of boots for those new armyrecruits, that the already serving personnel must return what they got of army materiel, claims today a Swedish brigadier General.
Why not produce shoes of old car tyres like the Viet Cong, or use Mujahee-din´s flip-flop shoes, and sheets for the uniforms, both those insurgent armies beat the U.S Army, to depart, escape with chopper from the embassy roofs.
But Sweden sent 50 pcs CV90 vehicles to Ukraine, maybe they can return a lot of vacant boots, for the Swedish army, in order to fell with the boots on. Sweden is not afraid of Russia, they know the Russians have an angels patience with Sweden.
But now a long time since any submarine was located in the archipelago, to cause a periscope fear, among the people, no one takes such US/Nato-PsyOps serious, anymore, that´s outdated, what to do ?
To send in B1/B52 bombers with JAS-escort, over Sweden, is today ” too much” , ”too often”, it doesn’t works, because of the the imagined acute
Islamistic terroristthreat, that’s enough, of psychological warfare, to cope with for ordinary people, so it is a calm weekend, so we don’t expect pinpoint raids from U.S AF., if they don’t unleash their drone fleet, that should by something new.
But maybe the Al-Quaida threat is used of the authorities for some purpose, exercises, don´t miss to use a crisis, like the Nato application, still not ratified, and we are still alive…a miracle…
Nato since 1981 , at least, knows how to manage a policy of fear and danger, in the greyzone, against the poor Swedes, but no subs can
be used as 1980s.
The only clickbait today, was that Russia, Belarus and Iran will be invited to the Nobelprize awards ceremony, (10.12) what many of the party leaders protesting against, but maybe not to the official banquet., but most a ”placard” policy, to show their devotion for Ukraine. That´s the policy of today, dutiful, compulsory.
“We can only pray that Western leaders wake up and realize they are playing a losing hand. ”
As Socrates once quipped: be careful what you pray for: you just might get it.
My guess? Gen. Mick was among the very first Aussie military men to get a COVID jab and he still thinks it was a brilliant move on his part.
@LJ i find this is not unique for high ranking veterans from western militaries , it is like they are handed a script and told to support the official narrative no matter how stupid/silly the narrative is.
i remember how the usually objective and obviously experienced Col Pat Lang suddenly become rabid russophobe in his website with his name on it. And how his website become a pro ukrop propaganda site with insane fake news posted by col lang’s handler the so called TTG.. It just embarassing and sad to see senior experienced person like Lang to succumb to this nonsense
Come on Bundy. Colonel Lang thought you were right about Syria, but wrong about Vietnam and Ukraine. You thought he was wrong about Vietnam and Ukraine, but right about Syria.
He supported the Syrian government because it was fighting al-Qa’eda. He believed the official 9/11 story, and could not stomach his country backing the official 9/11 enemy. He got very cross when people took him up as a spokesman for “un-American” positions.
When Larry set up this site, he gave it a very warm endorsement, linking to it, and saying, “I think a lot of you will be much happier over there”.
At the time, the Saker was actively trying to divert people away from here. If Andrei Martyanov put Larry’s name in a headline (which was often), the Saker would not link to it. All the while you praised the Saker, while flinging mud at the Colonel. Even when you were told he was a devoted husband, nursing a wife who no longer knew him, hoping he might one day see a flicker of recognition, you kept on claiming he was being sexually blackmailed to support Ukraine.
The Colonel set up his site for his old army friends to discuss issues of the day. He wasn’t talking to you. Isn’t it time to stop this ridiculous vendetta?
Pat was a changed man during the last year on earth. Really sad. I valued him as a mentor. He had enormous experience. Let the dead rest in peace.
I have yet to meet an Australian that would not agree with the “General”
I have a different take on this. Call it the deep state or whatever else it is that runs the Anglo-American / Five-Eyes Empire wants the war to continue. So the narrative told to the people has to be moulded to this purpose, and whoever can help spin the web of fabrications is put before the TV cameras.
The world is full of fools and idiots of every stripe and colour. But who is it who puts them on the stage, and to what end? That is the bigger questions, IMO.
There is one good general, in India.
Major-General Bakshi gives a monthly talk on The Grand Strategy at Republic World’s YouTube site.
His analysis is very close to yours. He believes the conflict is in its decisive phase, and that only India is placed to find a peaceful resolution which meets Russia’s security needs. His main concern is the catastrophic effect of an extended war on the Global South.
He’s a very deep fellow, wide-ranging in his interests. When he was at school, his revered elder brother was one of the first to die in the India-Pakistan war. As soon as he could, he joined the Indian army to ensure his brother’s ideals would not die with him.
He saw the Prigozhin mutiny as essentially a case of combat fatigue. Prigozhin was a man of weak moral character who cut too many corners at Bakhmut, which all caught up with him once victory was won. The only way to deal with this is by honest talk, so the Russian generals chatting to Prigozhin on the verandah were doing exactly the right thing to defuse the situation.
His latest piece is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq_a4bwBFSI&pp=ygUUbWFqb3ItZ2VuZXJhbCBiYWtzaGk%3D
I saw West Point’s Profile on him.
Fluff Piece. No Direct Combat Engagement – “Reconstruction Battalion” Role in the Mideast imply his “Clean Up” Role.
Colonel – maybe Brigadier General. Giving him 2Stars shows how Top Heavy the AUS Armed Forces are Staffed.
He’s obviously not qualified to comment on the Proxy-War in Ukraine – total waste of time.
I presumed that should the AUKUS Alliance would provoke+engage CHN where Beijing decide to “Settle the Score” with the AngloMuricans from the Opium War Days; and Invade+Rid the AngloMurican Masonic-Zionists from Territories of PHL, AUS, and NZL (AUS were targeted by CHN Expansionists since the 1970s, with Maps depicting AUS as “New China”) – it would be methodical.
CHN now have a Ocean-Traversing “Blue Water Navy” with plenty of Military/Auxiliary/Private Airlift+Sealift to support the takeover of those 3 Countries – just for the Real Estate, Natural Resources, Oceanic_Territory/Sealane_Control. No One would be able to stop CHN should they do so.
AUS will fold like a Hallmark Greeting Card; and NZL will immediately Surrender. Guam, Okinawa, and Hawa’ii will most likely get Cratered (CHN_PLA have been playing “Cornhole/BeanBag Toss” with TBMs+Hypersonics over Silhouettes of Murican Airfields in the Region); and whatever Fleet Assets AUKUS can deploy would be sunk – especially those unfortunate enough to be assigned near Taiwan.
Taiwan gets surrounded now by PLA Exercises within Hours due to the Strait being just 110 Miles across – that’s Helicopter Range. People musing about Amphibious Invasions aren’t thinking hard enough – it’s only 20 minutes Beach to Beach before Airborne Boots could be dropped on Taiwan. PLA Air/Naval/Missile Forces will have Neutralized the DPP Separatist Forces in the First Hour. Outside of SpecOps probably on site at the beginning, I expect Airborne Boots to drop from Helicopters+Planes by the Fourth Hour.
I understand that COL MacGregor fantasizes about the efficiency of Submarines; and Brownstone/PeakProsperity Amateurs think CHN could be stopped by a few Diesel Submarines around Singapore. Both of my Midshipman Cruises were on Attack Boats; and I’ve done my Junior Officer Sea Tour on a Cruiser – all of my Deployments were across the Pacific+Indian Oceans, Persian Gulf, and the Far East.
Submarines are effective for the Initiator during the First few days of a Modern War. In case of the a forewarned Country, even less. This “Conflict” with CHN involves CHN playing a “Defensive” War – even invading PHL/AUS/NZL would give CHN the Home Field Advantage.
Why? Anti-Submarine Warfare are handled by All Platforms – Satellite, Airborne, Surface, and Subsurface. – can’t outrun Satellites, Sonars, Sonobuoys, Magnetic Field Detectors, Depth Charges, and Torpedoes. Once a hidden Sub shoots Torpedoes or launches Missiles – the general location is given up.
IMHO, CHN have enough Hardware+Troops/Sailors/Airmen to be at an advantage out to NZL and SGP. They’ll be vulnerable across the Indian Ocean to IRN+Gulf; but IND’s Positions in the conflict affect that. Any Foul Play by Murica/NATO/AUKUS/Israel(since they love IRN) on CHN-Gulf Shipping will have disastrous consequences on the Actors, since IRN already host CHN+PRK Military Advisors, will most likely host CHN+RUS Forces (RUS are only few hours away by Bomber), KSA+UAE won’t tolerate the Foul Play on Shipping, and IRN can shut down the Hormuz as their Drones will make short work over Murican/NATO/AUKUS/ISR supporting Tankers+Rigs+LNG/Crude_Terminals+Refineries in the Gulf and Club_Med.
Add in PRK(who WILL invade KOR to Settle the Score and Aid CHN – even launch a few TBMs/Hypersonics/Cruise Missiles with the PLA) and RUS – this whole Murican MICC Money-Laundering Racket based in Taipei over the SouthCHN_Sea is a Disaster in making for AUKUS, NATO(who are stupid enough to antagonize+provoke CHN and send Naval Ships near CHN), and mainly – Murica and their Hegemon-Plutarchy.
The Pacific Theater have just as volatile venues as the Ukraine Proxy-War again RUS – to escalate from a Regional War to a Transcontinental/Multi-Oceanic War.
Strangely, Useless Generals like this Aussie are fanning the flames and may set off Conflicts far beyond the capabilities of the Western Forces and MIC to contain.
Mad Mickey Ryan is a fully qualified war mongering moron (scuz the tautology) and I yield to none in my detestation of that desk jockey and his gutless ilk – never having fought a peer enemy, just the occasional ‘policing action’ against 3rd World peasants – but, to paraphrase “Hey Larry,…by December 1942 the war had been going on for…” NOT 12 months but 3 years.
As usual, the USA was late to the WWII party, waiting for the real combatants to exhaust each other then waltzing in to gather the spoils.
Rather like WWI with the Doughboys finally managing to find their way to Europe in 1917 of the Great War, 1914-18.