"Live to fight another day"
This is the advice which social media say the U.S. Government is today giving to the Zelensky regime in Kiev. It follows by a day or two the public release by German intelligence operatives of their own assessment of the latest course of the war, saying that the stubborn resistance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to advancing Russian ground units in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), just as the defense of Soledar (lost to the Russians a week ago) was and is a death trap set by the Russians for the Ukrainians. As the U.S. overlords understand today, continued losses of Ukrainian forces in these hopeless PR stunts are compromising any chances of their making a spring counteroffensive when the advanced military gear now being shipped to them arrives and is put into the field.
What conclusion can we reach from “withdraw from Artyomovsk”? Very simply that the notion of 1:1 death and ingured rates that the Anglosaxon news disseminators have been shouting for weeks to slant the news towards some “stalemate” between the opposing sides is pure nonsense. It would be safer to follow the figures put out by the Russian military, which indicate a 10:1 imbalance in casualties on the Ukrainian side.
Meanwhile, the big news in the past 24 hours was the meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in the German army base at Ramstein. This was most notable for the failure of the defense ministers of the 50 participating countries to reach any agreement over delivery of tanks to the Ukrainians. Tanks are allegedly needed to support Ukraine’s spring counter offensive, with the objective not merely to push back the Russians to the line of demarcation in Donbas prior to the start of the Special Military Operation, but even to recapture the Crimea.
The central issue at Ramstein was German Chancellor Scholz’s refusal to send in German Leopard heavy tanks or to allow the many NATO countries where Leopards are held in the inventory to send any of their tanks to Kiev. Scholz is said to insist the Americans first ship their own Abrams tanks to Kiev before Germany will lift a finger. And why is he being so stubborn in resisting all the jackal states in NATO on this very issue? Western reports say he is fearful of leading the pack on delivery of tanks and incurring special Russian wrath.
Let us decode this message: the German chancellor is not some indecisive imbecile, as our newspapers hint. No, he is a cunning fox who is unwilling to allow Washington to send him and Europe to hell in what could easily become a Russia-NATO hot war if the Russian red lines forbidding heavy armaments deliveries are crossed.
So all the Ukrainians will get by way of new weapon systems as per the decisions announced yesterday in Ramstein are token deliveries of armored personnel carriers and armored machine gun and cannon vehicles that one might just call light tanks. That and a lot more howitzers of every variety coming from several different NATO countries.
But in terms of the big picture, what difference would tanks make? The vision of big tank warfare across the Ukrainian steppes that underlies the Washington war scenario is fallacious. As I have pointed out repeatedly, despite the lies and PR blasts from Washington and London, the war is being fought according to the Russian scheme, not the U.S. scheme.
We have heard how poorly the Russians coordinate air and ground. We have heard how they just cannot put together any good shock and awe. But this is beside the point. The Russians are waging an artillery war for good reasons: they have the world’s largest manufacturing industry of cannon, multi-rocket field launchers and munitions and they are waging a war of attrition on the ground which can only favor their armies.
If the slaughter of Ukrainians continues at its present rate, if the United States and its allies cannot ramp up munitions production, if the destruction of the Ukrainian energy infrastructure continues, if the logistics for conveying Western military supplies to the front are further impaired, then the Russians will find themselves against a disarmed Ukrainian army some time in the early spring, and they may get the capitulation they seek without shock and awe heroics.
I think this is a good plan. No more throwing Ukraine troops at Russia just to get killed and hopefully there will be a sane response to end this war and no more lives are wasted. Biden’s handlers who are actually running the Biden administration thought that Russia would fight like America did in the Iraq war with lots of shock and awe and senseless destruction of infrastructure and innocent civilian lives. Russia has said from the get go that people in Ukraine are not their enemy and more like their brothers.
And as for why this is taking Russia so long is two fold. One reason is because Ukraine had 8 years to build up defenses and second is because Russia values its soldier’s lives.
Here is some video of the defenses Russia is facing.
Recently captured Uke fortifications around Avdiivka. Can see why this is taking time… pic.twitter.com/D8J5bheqBQ
— The Human Fund pct (@TheHumanFund5) January 20, 2023
Also if you missed it here is Big Serge on what is happening in the Donbas. Lots of people are posting his essay including b from MoA which gives it high praise.
One thing to keep in mind is what will happen if it looks like Russia is going to meet their objectives. Already there is talk of helping Ukraine retake Crimea. Will that mean that NATO will send its own troops to help Ukraine? Right now there are 100,000 American troops in Europe and lots of military equipment is being sent there including more nuclear weapons. NATO recently held a nuclear war game close to Russia. Maybe the Biden classified documents scandal will see him stepping down and someone more sane will become president.
Everything you said since WW2 became a joke when you invaded Yugoslavia you dope! Then you added on with the invasion of Iraq and your shock and awe! If Putin needs to be charged for war crimes then so does Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden and probably every US president that supported the Monroe doctrine.
Theseare getting really desperate. pic.twitter.com/8SXVC9pM1n
— Blackrussian (@Blackrussiantv) January 21, 2023
Every congress member who supports this war should have to send their family to Ukraine if Biden puts boots on the ground!
Yup this!
The US empire is telling Moscow "I'm the craziest motherfucker around, I'll keep ramping up the brinkmanship looking you right in the eye and daring you to use nukes," while telling the rest of the world "I am the voice of sanity that you should all look to for leadership."
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) January 21, 2023
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What the hell is a "Propaganda War?"
From the start of this bizarre affair, what has been most significant has been the similarity between the war against Putin and the war against covid. Both are presented by the Main stream media as utterly obvious necessities, with wall to wall rhetoric that makes it look like there is no other side to the issue at hand. Both red and blue teams agree on the premise that the effort of stopping the spread of Putin or covid is a self-evident necessity. The text of the rhetoric in both campaigns overtly dismisses any contrary opinion as either insanity or malevolence. Unless you put some effort into internet research, you will know nothing other than the unified message blaring at you. To the extent that there is any disagreement between the Red and blue teams, it comes down to arguing that the Other Side is not waging the war effectively enough.
Well, three years and one year in, respectively, both wars drag on and nothing has stopped either menace -- sanctions and vaccine have both failed to bring the enemy to heel, and underground media voices are pointing out the collateral damage coming from the questionable but unquestioned campaigns.
The predominant main stream narratives roll on, oblivious to the underground opposition and still unless you look for alternative messages, you are still left with only one side of each story.
In both cases, our government and corporate news industry are winning the propaganda wars. Here is what I thought about this as of last May, early in the war against Putin:
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
Remember the "Madman theory"?
This was Richard Nixon's rationale for the Christmas bombings of Hanoi in 1972. Make the United States look insane, and maybe the "enemy" will cave and give up on its objectives. One would have thought that, even in 1972, they could have come up with a theory more psychologically sophisticated and less narcissistic than the "Madman theory." Two and a half years later, Nixon's objective, preserving the Republic of Vietnam, failed.
Alan Dawson's book 55 Days, a rather readable book now out of print, details the primary reason for that failure, on page 20:
Nixon's "Madman theory" reeks of people, Nixon but also those you cite in your diary here, people who have spent their lives puffing themselves up and accumulating money and power and the things money buys while at the same time failing to ask, "why?" Well, the ARVN, the army of that once-upon-a-time client nation, asked why, and failed to come up with an answer. So they decided they didn't want to fight.
I can't really say what motivates the nice liberals in the US to hang Ukrainian flags in front of their homes. They too have failed to ask "why." Zelensky's regime is a neoliberal regime, and its intolerance of alternatives achieved its fifteen minutes of fame in March of last year. Do they think Zelensky is some kind of champion of values they hold near and dear? Once again, we must ask, "why?"
In the December 2022 issue of The Atlantic Anne Applebaum an article titled Putin Must Lose (well, that's the title of the paper edition -- the online edition has a different title). What is Applebaum's rationale for her desire for a Russian defeat? Well, Applebaum is motivated to oppose Putin's regime because of the sheer numbers of dissidents his regime has criminalized and because of his regime's autocratic and imperialist character. Here's what she says:
We might readily concede that Putin is a pointless autocrat with a crap regime while at the same time asking "why?" about the neoliberalism which characterizes Applebaum's own beliefs. In recent years, David Klion told us in The Nation, a great many of Applebaum's own friends have joined various causes of garbage authoritarianism (think Trump, or Orban), because, apparently, they are searching for a reason why. In all arrogance, Applebaum's former friends think they've found that reason. They haven't.
The thing about neoliberalism is that, while as a set of interlocking doctrines it may have conquered the world with a vigor never before seen in history, and while it may have invaded the minds of the world's most well-connected scholars (e.g. Anne Applebaum), the neoliberals don't really stand for anything more profound than "more money for me." This is why you see the sort of war you see in Ukraine. The US will pointlessly fund Ukraine just enough to keep Zelensky's regime in business while also keeping the execs at Raytheon et al. happy with an adequate revenue stream for them. An outcome will probably take awhile.
"If genocide is not a deal-breaker for you, there is something wrong with you." - Nick Cruse
Excellent post
A note about the "guts" issue raised in the quote box.
Guts is a vernacular reductive expression of the willingness to fight with people who will be trying to kill you. Who really lacked guts in our Vietnam adventure was us. As Mohommed Ali put it, "No Viet Cong ever called me nigger." Of course, most draftees would not put it that way, but you had to be some kind of a fanatic to imagine that you had any beef with the people you were supposed to exterminate.
The antiwar movement was driven by disgust with the draft. Thus Nixon Vietnamized the war and phased out conscription. This led to Nixon and Kissinger with very little leverage in negotiating a face-saving end to the war that included a "decent interval" that would not make us look like wimps. So instead of fighting it out on the ground in South Vietnam, which required soldiers with guts, Nixon just ordered aerial bombardment of the North. The Mad Man theory was how this crazy tactic was sold to our "gutless" population. Maybe our citizens were rationally reluctant to try to control the future of Vietnam with our own young men, but Tricky Dick was crazy enough to rain fire on North Vietnam to buy a couple of years of saved face.
The proxy war with Russia in Ukraine is a reincarnation of this American lust for painless domination of the world.
Although I am sure that there was much actual courage amongst our men fighting in Vietnam, the underground story of "fragging" could not have become such a prevalent legend without the collateral truth of rank and file distaste for combat being prevalent.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
What did you edit?
I wish when people edit comments they make a note to why they did. If it’s spelling just note that, if it’s adding something then note that.
Edit to add, ETA is easy to do. I think that’s just curtesy especially if a post has thumbs ups and it’s hours later.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
when i correct typos I do not call attention to it
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
"virtual South Korea"
Anne Applebaum doesn't know anything about South Korea. Does she mean the weak pretense of democracy in South Korea that keeps drifting back to dictatorships with US backing? The US replaced the Japanese Empire in Korea. The early Rhee government was staffed with Japanese collaborators because the US occupation was unpopular and met with resistance. The early ROK army leadership was staffed with former Korean officers/collaborators of the Japanese Imperial Army. Syngman Rhee was a corrupt US imposed puppet. He violently suppressed, massacred, jailed and tortured the indigenous opposition to the US occupation. Dictator Park Chung-hui was a former Japanese Imperial Army collaborator cultivated by the ROK Army General Staff of similar ilk.
To this day, the conservative parties in "democratic" South Korea consist of the heirs of the collaborator class that prospered from the Japanese dominance of Korea as a colony and the subsequent US imposed dictatorships. These people are not found of democracy at all, and typically will resort to dictatorship to suppress the democratic/independence movement in South Korea. They are willing to sell out to foreign powers namely the US and Japan, to preserve their exclusive status as the national power elite. The current president Yoon Suk-yeol a dictator in the making is the current manifestation of the authoritarianism reemerging in South Korea presently. Rarely if ever discussed honestly in English language media.
語必忠信 行必正直
Since South Korea was Garry Kasparov's example
However, generally the point is taken that the war between bad alternatives is full of bad options.
"If genocide is not a deal-breaker for you, there is something wrong with you." - Nick Cruse
okay
語必忠信 行必正直
Thank you snoopy
We are lucky to have you sharing your eye for the meaningful and ability to convey it clearly with your own views.
As an addendum, I just found that access to Macgregor's current videos appears to be restricted.
Thanks.. I found this from Alexander Mercouris
Russian Zaporizhzhia Advance
This goes on to explain how important Bakmut is to both Ukraine and Russia. Also more kudos to Big Serge.
Ukraine is running out of troops and equipment and whatever equipment they finally get is not going to do much to help them retake territory that Russia has taken. It’s said that Ukraine had the biggest army in Europe before the war and had lots of equipment from the western countries, but Russia has destroyed both. Biden flooded Ukraine with more equipment and Russia destroyed that too and now NATO is scouring the world for any leftover Russian equipment and is also taking weapons from its allies. Biden just robbed Israel of half its bombs and begging South America to donate their equipment to Ukraine.
For some reason this reminds me of Laurel and Hardy's Who’s on First?
America is in no shape to build military equipment quickly because it not only offshored its workforce, but it has to import a lot of the metals used to make it. It’d be a very boneheaded move to take on China when we depend on it for so many things that we no longer make. Besides how will we equip Taiwan and fight China if we are out of everything? Smdh over the stupidity of war.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
comedy footnote
.
Who's on first. What's on second. Third base? I don't know.
-- Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Personally, I think Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were much funnier, but they had no signature bit like Who's on first. They had some great tag lines, like Ollie saying, "why don't you do anything to help me?"
My favorite line in Who's on First is the opening words from Bud, setting the absurd premise: "nowadays ballplayers have some funny names."
--- I was an open mic comic for six years in the 90s and I am full of . . . trivia.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
Ahh and oops
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Thanks for the correction. I was very young when they were popular, but that’s got to be one of my favorite jokes. I love the old comedians and recently watched George Burns crack jokes.
He said that Gracie did most of the work. He asked how her brother was and she talked about him for the next 38 years. Red Skelton is my most favorite because he reminds me of my grandpa. Both were very funny and kind men. Also Costello was my grandpa’s last name.
Thanks!
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Hola snoops. I'm in a quibbling mood today, so ...
With enuf work and time NATO could, I'm sure, position the Ukie-Us-NATO-EU tank contingent so as to play out Kursk 2.0, replacing the German forces in the original.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Isn’t that what Germany wants to avoid?
A replay of battles from ww2 when German Nazis attacked Russian forces? I’m not a history buff, but from what I’ve read I think that is why Germany is so reluctant to be the first country to supply tanks.
From the above essay:
Also regarding the tweet with Graham having a hissy fit over Germany dragging its feet on sending tanks why is he so angry? He’s lying that if they don’t stop Russia in Ukraine that Russia will go on to conquer other countries. Russia’s goals are to stop Ukraine/NATO from being a threat to Russia which Putin laid out in his many speeches on why Russia was forced to act.
1- stop the genocide in the Donbas.
2- denazify Ukraine.
3- roll back the threat of NATO’s encroachment on Russia.
No #4 to recapture the country Russia had when it was the USSR. Others just made that up to make Russia seem more threatening.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Do you want history to repeat itself?
ETA this transcript of the tweet:
"So that's an interesting approach that you are driving German tanks against Russia in Ukraine that your grandfathers have already tried by the way back then with the Melanies and Banderas and what is the result unspeakable suffering millions of deaths on both sides and in the end Russian tanks here in Berlin and two of them are standing here in front and you should pass by it every morning to remember."
Last time Germany sent tanks into Ukraine it ended up with Russian tanks in Berlin. And millions died!
Glad to see someone calling out this insanity. But what with Russia’s air power just what are those tanks supposed to accomplish that the ones that Russia destroyed didn’t? And the Bradley semi tanks are going to do what?
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Enough! Or I'll kick you down stairs
All of this shit is irrelevant. It's only castles burning.
Hola Shah. Channeling Father William? Wonderful!
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
@shaharazade Dag all this brouhaha
Just a note on Col. Doug Mcgreggor comment
The Col. said in Iraq he commanded a tank group. He was in a tank when the Iraqis started shelling them. So he has seen it, been there, and got the tee-shirt. However, he said that it was beyond his imagination what an artillery attack would look given the amount of shells the Russians were expending on a DAILY basis.
Says it all. Ukraine is winning.
I’ve seen a few mercenaries that went to Ukraine
and luckily survived to return home saying that the amount of shelling from Russia was beyond imagination and nothing like what they experienced playing in the sand. We’ve been the country that put the hurt on the people fighting against our invasion and now that shoe is on the other foot.
The editorial board of the WaPoo is absolutely livid with Germany for not sending its 14 tanks to Ukraine. They ought to change their motto of democracy dies in darkness to it dies in a nuclear flash.
Besides hasn’t Ukraine been bragging that they have captured hundreds of Russian tanks? Why aren’t they using them instead of asking for ones from various countries? As others have written Ukraine had the biggest and most supplied army in Europe before the war, but now they beg every day for more equipment that once it gets there Russia blows up.
Biden is going to send Ukraine cluster bombs to use against Crimea. They have been using old Russian ones against the people in the Donbas for 9 years and of course there is no outrage from the world. Milley and Austin are saying that they are sending offensive weapons to Ukraine after Biden has said that he wouldn’t and would just send defensive ones. Graham is becoming unhinged after spending a decade getting Ukraine ready to wipe Russia off the map and seeing it fail. Another reason why Russia went slow was so that America wouldn’t freak out when they saw they were going to lose. It’s hard to hide that fact so stay tuned…
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Heard that about captured Russian weapons/equiptment
Right now it seems to me that Russia is in the beginning phases of some offensive which is systematically destroying the Ukrainian army to levels not seen in the past 11 months.
As a result, my fear is that with the obvious and impeding Ukrainian defeat, that the US/NATO may truly escalate into ways the Russians cannot tolerate which will bring a continental wide European war. With of course, greater risks of going nuclear.
somewhat agree with your analysis
the minor caveat, in my scope of things to come, I do not see the Rus expanding into EU
territories, unless Poland gets provocative. I think the Poles know this reading of red lines.
Germany is being set-up to be the fall guy in this theatrical tragedy. If the German
were to back down at this late stage, the NATO, Poles and maybe even Turkie
may fall by the wayside. Whenever Eastern Europe realizes the USEU will sacrifice their
populations and economies for the sake of USNATO's ambitions, it may be too late to do
anything about it.
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
Yup, I agree
@MrWebster
Just a bunch of prisoners that swill vodka all day and are too drunk to fight right. They are also orcs and anyone who disagrees with the pro Ukraine narrative are called tankies. Check the outrage at Germany on DK for holding up tanks to Ukraine. No problem with Germany and Japan once again building up their military or seeing German tanks supporting Nazis in Ukraine.
Agree that Russia has no intention of going into more countries if they win in Ukraine. Russia has set out their plans numerous times and one of the biggest reasons they crossed the border was to protect people in the Donbas that Ukraine was attacking bigly just before they did. Russia didn’t fire the first shot of the war, Ukraine did and they had been for years. Funny how what Poreshenko, Merkle and Hollande deliberately deceiving Putin with the Minsk agreements while he kept trying to get them to adhere to it hasn’t been mentioned by the corporate media huh?
Biggest damn propaganda attack ever! It’s sad that so many people fell for it, but then that’s why democrats pushed Russia Russia Russia for 5 years. Most that fell for it still believe that Hillary only lost because Putin put Trump in office. Even the propaganda media has come out with the truth about how it never happened. Selective reading I guess?
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
thanks snoop
you know way more about this stuff than I. I only see trends, river water flowing, tides and
currents (I'm an ancient mariner). Russia has no intent beyond protecting their oblasts and
borders. Ukraine is a suicide mission egged on by NATO and the west. Bloody hell.
It is difficult for me to see a peaceful ending to this skirmish unless the west ceases to
arm the ukonazis. Like most wars, it makes no sense. People fighting for their lives, culture
and national identity has nothing to do with EUUSNATO. Except for war profiteering.
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security