The New York Times’ Shift on Victory in Ukraine

As the war becomes less popular and it takes its toll, an electoral disaster looms ahead in 2022 and 2024 for Biden and the Democratic Party, for which the Times serves as a mouthpiece, writes John Walsh.

Entrance to The New York Times. (Niall Kennedy, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)

By John Walsh
Antiwar.com

On May 11 The New York Times ran an article documenting that all was not going well for the U.S. in Ukraine, and a companion opinion piece hinting that a shift in direction might be in order.

Then on May 19, the editorial board, the full Magisterium of the Times, moved from hints to a clarion call for a change in direction, declaring that “total victory” over Russia is not possible and that Ukraine will have to negotiate a peace in a way that reflects a “realistic assessment” and the “limits” of U.S. commitment.  

The Times serves as one the main shapers of public opinion for the elite and so its pronouncements are not to be taken lightly.

US Limits

The editorial contains the following key passages:

In March, this board argued that the message from the United States and its allies to Ukrainians and Russians alike must be: No matter how long it takes, Ukraine will be free. …”

“That goal cannot shift, but in the end, it is still not in America’s best interest to plunge into an all-out war with Russia, even if a negotiated peace may require Ukraine to make some hard decisions.” 

And, to ensure that there is no ambiguity, it went on:

“A decisive military victory for Ukraine over Russia, in which Ukraine regains all the territory Russia has seized since 2014, is not a realistic goal. … Russia remains too strong…”

The, to make certain that President Joe Biden and the Ukrainians understand what they should do, it adds:

… Mr. Biden should also make clear to President Volodymyr Zelensky and his people that there is a limit to how far the United States and NATO will go to confront Russia, and limits to the arms, money and political support they can muster. It is imperative that the Ukrainian government’s decisions be based on a realistic assessment of its means and how much more destruction Ukraine can sustain.”

As Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky read those words, he must surely have begun to sweat.  The voice of his masters was telling him that he and Ukraine will have to make some sacrifices for the U.S. to save face.  As he contemplates his options, his thoughts must surely run back to February 2014, and the U.S.-backed Maidan coup that culminated in the hasty exit of President Viktor Yanukovych from his office, his country and almost from this earth.

Alexander Mercouris of The Duran explains the shift in Western media reporting:

Too dangerous

In the eyes of the Times editorial writers, the war has become a U.S. proxy war against Russia using Ukrainians as cannon fodder – and it is careening out of control:

 “The current moment is a messy one in this conflict, which may explain President Biden and his cabinet’s reluctance to put down clear goal posts.

“The United States and NATO are already deeply involved, militarily and economically. Unrealistic expectations could draw them ever deeper into a costly, drawn-out war …

“Recent bellicose statements from Washington — President Biden’s assertion that Mr. Putin ‘cannot remain in power,’ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s comment that Russia must be ‘weakened’ and the pledge by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, that the United States would support Ukraine ‘until victory is won’ — may be rousing proclamations of support, but they do not bring negotiations any closer.”

While the Times dismisses these “rousing proclamations,” it is all too clear that for the neocons in charge of U.S. foreign policy, the goal has always been a proxy war to bring down Russia. This has not become a proxy war; it has always been a proxy war.

 Paul Wolfowitz, then deputy secretary of defense, on March 1, 2001. (DoD photo by R. D. Ward)

The neocons operate by the Wolfowitz Doctrine, enunciated in 1992, soon after the end of Cold War 1.0, by the necoconservative Paul Wolfowitz, then under secretary of defense:

“We endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.

“We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global power.”

Clearly if Russia is “too strong” to be defeated in Ukraine, it is too strong to be brought down as a superpower.

What Changed?

OSCE monitor in Ukraine, July 2016. (OSCE, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

After seven years of slaughter in the Donbas and three months of warfare in southern Ukraine, has the Times editorial board suddenly had a rush of compassion for all the victims of the war and the destruction of Ukraine and changed its opinion?  Given the record of the Times over the decades, it would seem that other factors are at work.

First of all, Russia has handled the situation unexpectedly well despite dire predictions from the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support exceeds 80 percent.

Out of 195 nations, 165 —including India and China with 35 percent of the world’s population —have refused to join sanctions against Russia, leaving the U.S., not Russia, relatively isolated in the world. 

The ruble, which Biden said would be “rubble,” has not only returned to its pre-February levels but is trading recently around a two-year high of about 60 rubles to the dollar compared to 150 in March. 

Russia is expecting a bumper harvest and the world is eager for its wheat and fertilizer, oil and gas all of which provide substantial revenue.

The EU has largely succumbed to Russia’s demand to be paid for gas in rubles.  U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellin is warning the suicidal Europeans that an embargo of Russian oil will further damage the economies of the West.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at World Bank meeting in March. (World Bank, Brandon Payne)

Russian forces are making slow but steady progress across southern and eastern Ukraine after winning in Mariupol, the biggest battle of the war so far, and a demoralizing defeat for Ukraine.

In the U.S., inflation, which was already high before the Ukraine crisis, has been driven even higher and reached over 8 percent with the Federal Reserve now scrambling to control it by raising interest rates.  Partly as a result of this, the stock market has come close to bear territory.  As the war progresses, many have joined Ben Bernanke, former Fed Chair, in predicting a period of high unemployment, high inflation and low growth — the dread stagflation. 

Domestically, there are signs of deterioration in support of the war.  Most strikingly, 57 House Republicans and 11 Senate Republicans voted against the latest package of weaponry to Ukraine, bundled with considerable pork and hidden bonanzas for the war profiteers.  (Strikingly no Democrat, not a single one, not even the most “progressive” voted against pouring fuel on the fire of war raging in Ukraine.  But that is another story.) 

And while U.S. public opinion remains in favor of U.S. involvement in Ukraine there are signs of slippage.  For example, Pew reports that those feeling the U.S. is not doing enough declined from March to May.  As more stagflation takes hold with gas and food prices growing and voices like those of Tucker Carlson and Rand Paul pointing out the connection between the inflation and the war, discontent is certain to grow.

Finally, as the war becomes less popular and it takes its toll, an electoral disaster looms ahead in 2022 and 2024 for Biden and the Democratic Party, for which the Times serves as a mouthpiece.

Note of Panic

There is a note of panic in this appeal to find a negotiated solution now.  The U.S. and Russia are the world’s major nuclear powers with thousands of nuclear missiles on launch-on-warning, aka hair-trigger alert.  At moments of high tension, the possibilities of accidental nuclear Armageddon are all too real. 

Biden’s ability to stay in command of events is in question. Many people of his age can handle a situation like this, but many cannot and he seems to be in the latter category.

The neocons are now in control of the foreign policy of the Biden administration, the Democratic Party and most of the Republican Party. But will the neocons in charge give up and move in a reasonable and peaceful direction as the Times editorial demands? 

This is a fantasy of the first order.  As other commentators have observed, hawks such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have no reverse gear; they always double down. They do not serve the interests of humanity nor do they serve the interests of the American people.  They are in reality traitors to the U.S.  They must be exposed, discredited and pushed aside.  Our survival depends on it.

John V. Walsh, until recently a professor of physiology and neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, has written on issues of peace and health care for The San Francisco Chronicle, EastBayTimes/San Jose Mercury News, Asia Times, LA Progressive, Antiwar.com, CounterPunch and others.

This article is from Antiwar.com.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.

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26 comments for “The New York Times’ Shift on Victory in Ukraine

  1. Joey
    May 30, 2022 at 02:48

    Guess it’s now ‘All the Way with the 88’.

    So much for Z.

  2. lester
    May 29, 2022 at 20:11

    I have faith in US militarism. Even if we negotiate an end to this proxy war, our Fearless Leaders will probably switch to war (proxy or otherwise) with China , or even an invasion of Venezuela.

    I’d be glad to be wrong!

  3. lester
    May 29, 2022 at 20:08

    We can’t afford to reduce or end homelessness, but we can always find money for a war (proxy or direct) a coup d’etat or any kind of violent nonsense in foreign countries.

  4. Donald Duck
    May 29, 2022 at 18:09

    Why was the outcome of the war between Russia and Ukraine ever in any doubt. Bear in mind that Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe and Russia is the most powerful. Does this mean that there was ever any notion from the brainless collective western PTB that Ukraine would be defeated and that the defeat be nothing more than absolute?

    This is the sort of wishful thinking – particularly on display in the halls of power in the media and in the corridors of NATO – that have informed the myopic strategies of the western alliance.

    This has been, and is, turning into a comprehensive defeat for the Western alliance. Russia and the West have been outplayed, outgunned and outfought. You could leave it there, but NATO and company are sure to have another shot, basically on a matter of honour rather than a statesmanlike face-up to strategic realism.

    But guess what they are going to up the ante once more. A return bout no less.

  5. ontoiran
    May 28, 2022 at 17:47

    huh…i should be on the nyt editorial board. i could have saved them and zelensky and the ukrainians a lot of death, misery and destruction. i predicted back in february this would be the end result and they should negotiate for the best terms they could get. zelensky screwed up by getting in bed with the pos in the american government. live and learn huh?

  6. robert e williamson jr
    May 28, 2022 at 17:01

    [Re: last submitted post]

    The last line of the post read, “Neither I or this country have time enough left to play his endless game of charades.” Direct reference to what I’ve written here previously about this county’s bogus two party system as it has represent the populace for the last 70 years.

    In reference to, “Neither I or this country . . ” These idiots are wasting time no one has to waste dealing with the misuse of the government given powers. All of them Dimos & repugs, see my use of the term charades in my next sentence.

    It should have read “. . . THIS endless game of charades.”

    My defense is based on the fact that Mr. Walsh, if my memory serves me correct, hasn’t made an endless series of submissions for CN to print. It was type – 0.

    Conversely other writers and commenters continue to play the partisan politics game of bashing one party or the other. Two parties I am convinced who are at this time equally of no or little value in correcting the course of the ship of state.

    Make no mistake however, again write what I believe based on the best information I have available to me at this time. Mr. Walsh has is opinion and mine is that his effort here is of little or no utility to solving some very serious problems with our government. Namely two the two controlling political parties who have taken up permanent residence in D.C..

    Be quite sure that I will rewrite my offering and send it ASAP. Be equally sure the tone will remain somewhat testy.

    In his last paragraph the man calls out three administration officials saying, ” they have no reverse gear and always double down.” The same can be said for far too many in both parties in DC. especially neo, zio-con types. And by the way Biden fills the bill as being both zio and neocon in his political makeup.

    He continues, ” They do not serve the interests of humanity nor do they serve the interests of the American people.”

    Point of fact when is the last time an administration tried that approach and who was it that opposed those efforts most strenuously? Not being partisan but truthful Obama tried to get his health care bill through, right? And who was his opposition ? But Obama also was convinced that his gig was pretty much up and became a huge disappointment to many. I expected as much. In addition it came as no surprise when one has so many death threats made against them the government was loath to publish the number. The democrats proved again they had no spine by failing to point this out.

    Walsh continues to drone on about traitors. “They are in reality traitors to the U.S.. They must be exposed, discredited and pushed aside.” Point of fact Mr. Walsh might desire learning when and what treason or being a traitor actually means. By his definition we might be able to clear half the populace of D.C. Realizing that Mr. Walsh is entitled to his opinion I have this to say. If he thinks that those three people are the only people responsible for this debacle he is far from any expert on D.C. and seems to desire to push a very biased narrative. I have to wonder why.

    His last sentence is a doozy. “Our survival depends on it.” Depends on what? I ask. Punishing three people? He cannot be serious.

    You all need to understand the clock is running out on humanity. We can EITHER let the status quo end up vaporizing us all or we can get our collective heads together stop all the Dog damned bull shitting and try to save whats left of this rock on which we ALL live.

    Thanks CN

  7. Humwawa
    May 28, 2022 at 06:03

    I have told every Ukrainian I have encountered in the last 8 years in person or online that it’s in Ukraine’s best interest to make peace with Russia and that Americans aren’t your friends. It’s always been the same reply: “you don’t know Ukraine, you don’t know the Russians, we do, Budapest Memorandum, yadda yadda yadda”

    You can talk to them until you are blue in the face, they just don’t want to understand. They want to indulge in their nationalistic hatred and historical revisionism and their hate-drenched dreams about beating the Russians. They hold firm to their belief in almighty America like in Santa Claus bringing them all the gift they want. Many seem intelligent and it beats me how they just don’t want to understand that they are being used by US imperialism or that there are limits to what almighty America can do.

    They are in for a rude awakening.

    Moreover, my compassion for people who want to draw us into WWIII is not exactly overabundant.

  8. WhatsItallAbout
    May 28, 2022 at 04:32

    “The New York Times’ Shift on Victory in Ukraine”

    Perhaps a more pertininent observation is that some continue to be immersed in win/lose binaries.

  9. Kalen
    May 28, 2022 at 02:56

    Great article. Especially pointing out that NYT editorial is an expression of panic not a change of heart.

    In fact what Kiev regime faces is imminent collapse of entire Donbas front, mass mutinies, surrender and desertions. At this point at least 16,000 of Ukrainian POWs are being held in LDPR camps many including high ranking officers of AFU moved to Russia because of lack of space and political sensitivities. The harsh reality of war including military deaths started to leak into MSM although in a qualified manner.

    Just in two days Ukrainian military from the 101st and 115th Theroborona brigades complained about lack of food, weapons and ammunition but most of all about abandonment by command who fled in civilian cars and clothes and left them to die.

    The servicemen of the 71st Jaeger brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine joined them. “there is nothing. How can we fight for a country that doesn’t care about us?”, – complains one of the fighters.

    Tens of Thousands of tons of NATO weapons apparently went into black hole nowhere to be found on Donbas frontlines even admittedly by Pentagon and..CIA.

  10. Anon
    May 28, 2022 at 01:43

    “Fool all of the people some of the time…”
    Cliches earn their title thru exposing a grain of Truth folks relate with…
    MSM media $ells but one product: News…
    which requires Credibility…
    Could competition w/ net pubs (as CN) be forcing that grain into public sight?

    • WhatsItAllAbout
      May 29, 2022 at 05:51

      ““Fool all of the people some of the time…”

      The current focus/version being implemented is that of Mr. Rove, namely

      “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you should concentrate on”.

      Efforts outwith “The United States of America” increasingly being rendered window dressing.

      “MSM media $ells but one product: News…”

      No, mostly aspirations/beliefs/hopes in furtherance of fooling some of the people all of the time – the focus and framing on/of “Ukraine” largely being excercises in damage and focus limitation.

  11. Colin Cameron
    May 27, 2022 at 17:33

    165 countries who refuse to implement sanctions, including India and China « make up 35% of the world’s population. » I think it’s much higher than 35%!

    • David F Pasteris
      May 28, 2022 at 15:07

      12% of the world supports US sanctions.

    • WhatsItAllAbout
      May 29, 2022 at 06:20

      “make up 35% of the world’s population”

      Thank you for your illustration of:

      “No, mostly aspirations/beliefs/hopes in furtherance of fooling some of the people all of the time – the focus and framing on/of “Ukraine” largely being excercises in damage and focus limitation.”

      In furtherance of:

      ““You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you should concentrate on”.

      “Statistical analysis” is often a function of sampling and linear extrapolations upon a past when the survey of constantly changing (dynamic) data was implemented – a recurring apparently successful tool in facilitating “”“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you should concentrate on”.

      No one knows the present population of the world since it has changed since I wrote the last sentence, and will have changed further when/if you read this last sentence, and even futher if some others read this last sentence not simulateously with when/if you read this.

      “165 countries who refuse to implement sanctions”

      You appear, in addition to seeking to assign significance to the quotation above, to conflate countries with their “representatives”, and that the opinions within countries are homogenous and wholly match/reflect the opinions of the representatives of these countries.

      “make up 35% of the world’s population.”

      Since your denominator is missing your attempted relationship cannot be sustained except in belief.

      Thank you for illustrating an illusion which facilitates and sustains the oxymoron “representative democracy” and other “virtual realities”.

  12. Jeff Harrison
    May 27, 2022 at 16:56

    Tell it! Tell it! I can tell you that this part of the American public opinion is firmly opposed to the US’s war to maintain American hegemony such as it is. The likes of Carl Gershman and “Cookies” Nuland (who wanted her very own coup) are neo-cons and, therefore, not very bright (they’re streetwise with an aura of aggression). They don’t understand the very foundation of the United States – the power of the people. This is dismissed by the autocrats in the Washington regime. This is why they don’t understand that Castro could completely take over Cuba in 6 months but the US couldn’t crush in with 60 years of embargo. Why, after ravaging Central and South America with coups and right wing death squads trained in the School of the Americas, Daniel Ortega is back in power, a Chavinista still rules Venezuela, Lula is looking poised to take over in Brazil and AMLO is poised to sink Biden’s summit of the Americas when he doesn’t invite everybody. Or why the Afghans kicked the US out after 20 years of our “help” or why the Iraqis want us out or why the Samoans went to China for help or why the Kazakhs didn’t ask for US help in dealing with their US fomented unrest.

  13. James McFadden
    May 27, 2022 at 16:44

    To answer the question, “What Changed?”, I think the correct answer is that Congress passed the $40 billion for the arms industry signaling Democratic Party fealty to the war machine. Not that this bill really mattered other than symbolically. Since the Pentagon can’t seem to pass an audit, they can spend whatever they want. It seems the only limit to military spending is how fast Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman can produce weapons.

  14. May 27, 2022 at 16:38

    It is mildly heartening to see the likes of NYT, WaPo, and (yes) even Henry Kissinger at the W0rld Economic Forum () fleetingly indulging some heterodox commentary on the Ukraine crisis, and displaying the rhetorical foresight to provide us with a diplomatic ladder to ultimately climb down from it, whether or not their particulars for how to accomplish it are sound (as always, the devil is in the details).

    Kissinger certainly deserves every negative appraisal and demand for accountability for his ghoulish legacy (in Cambodia, Bangladesh, Chile, East Timor, etc.) that he has received from perceptive critics like Christopher Hitchens, Noam Chomsky, William Shawcross, Greg Grandin, etc., such that he is now a pretty unequivocally infamous personage outside the Beltway. Furthermore, the fact that even “humanitarian interventionist” Samantha Power cozies up to him is surely an indictment of just how little divergence there tends to be on the destructive fundamentals of hegemonic power projection in US policy circles.

    That being said, I was always a little annoyed by how Kissinger is made out to be some uniquely monstrous individual (compared to, e.g., Zbigniew Brzezinski, Madeleine Albright, or frankly even James Baker and Brent Scowcroft, to say nothing of the PNAC clique), largely due to neoconservative-adjacent Hitchens’s influence over the discourse on him. On the contrary, Kissinger’s Council of Vienna-esque conceptions of “realpolitik,” double-edged sword though they are, compare relatively favorably to the maximalist imperial agendas prevalent in neoconservative policy circles (which began to become a more prominent strain in policy thought than Kissingerian realism with the “Halloween Massacre” of 1975).

    • May 27, 2022 at 16:56

      UPDATE: I meant “Congress of Vienna-esque conceptions of ‘realpolitik’,” not “Council of Vienna.” Also, I meant to parenthetically include the date of Kissinger’s WEF comments at Davos (May 23, 2022) for posterity’s sake.

  15. Realist
    May 27, 2022 at 15:42

    One of the most powerful and concise descriptions of the reality surrounding this conflict that has ever been penned. Doesn’t leave anything out to be diplomatic or avoid rubbing someone in “authority” (either in government or publishing) the wrong way.

    Kudos to the professional neurophysiologist from a professional biochemist. Most scientists keep aloof from the debating arena of geopolitics. Not their magisterium as Stephen Jay Gould once attempted to explain. Rubbish, I say, as Finnian Cunningham, the trained biochemist and writer for RT, quite excels at the task almost daily. I shall have to visit Antiwar.com more often. Thank you immensely, Professor Walsh.

    • robert e williamson jr
      May 27, 2022 at 23:14

      “One of the most powerful and concise descriptions of the “REALITY” surrounding this conflict that has ever been penned.”

      Seriously? Sorry I don’t feel much inclined to take your word on this, based on your comments left at “Nuland , Patt Video Returned to YouTube.”

      Could you born around 1980-2000 I don’t know.

      Or could be you glossed over the parts of this article you didn’t particularly agree with. I have no clue. But let us set the record straight.

      FYI – The Project for the New American Century was formed 1997. Nulands husband , Robert Kagan was co-founder along with William Kristol – ! No Obama to be found.

      At this point it is pertinent I remind you that it was around 1991-2 that James A Baker III told Ukraine NATO had room for them and his boss 41 GHW Bush soon after said that would never happen. What gives?? This is part of this Ukraine War history the author fails to acknowledge.

      PNAC was a neoconservative think tank based in DC focused on US foreign policy. I strongly suggest you go to the PNAC wiki and read it thoroughly . Especially those who signed the Statement of Principles. The PNAC was over with by 2006, after a terrible start to the Iraq war and a new think tank was born, again by Kagan and Kristol in 2009 the year Obama took office. How convenient!

      Note,I never ever felt Clinton behaved like a democrat president but more like a republican puppet. After learning about his conduct while Gov of Ark. my gut proved to be right. I told many Obama was doomed and actually surprised he won a 2nd term.

      I guess the fix is in, at least I believe so, before and after Obama. I figured when he ran he was in for more that he ever bargained for. Turns out I was right. The two hapless parties are either in cahoots or the intelligence community is calling all the shots. But that conversation is for another time.

      Now for this article. This is the last sentence before Note of Panic, “Finally as the war becomes less popular and takes it’s toll an electoral disaster looms ahead for 2022 and 2024 for Biden and the Democratic party for which the Times serves as a mouth piece.”

      Starting at Note of Panic. About Biden’s ability to govern. I never thought Biden was the right nominee. Another “Lesser of two evils, for the Democrats”. You best start believing the fix IS in.

      “The neocons are in control of foreign policy of the Biden administration, the Democratic party and most of the Republican party.”

      Hot damn now we are getting somewhere!! At least Walsh has the balls to at least hint at the problem here. But no cheers yet, he goes on. “But will the neocons in charge give up and move in a reasonable and peaceful direction.

      Smell lots of BS right here. So what part of the Republican party do the neocons not own? The Turtle and the Orange mans part. Give me a break.

      Walsh continues to be deceptive . ” This is fantasy of the first order.” Sure is,in his statement listing only hawks in the Biden admin Blinken, Nuland and Sullivan decrying that they have no reverse gear and always double down.

      I wonder if he ever heard of GHW Bush, Wolfowitz, Chaney, Rumsfeld et all. This is more propaganda no matter how the hell you cut it. My Dog its as clear as the puzzled look on their faces.

      Nope, I refuse to buy this bullshit any longer from those who have no respect for the recent bullshit histroy as written by politicians and those who own them, the Corporate Deep State.

      He drones on to the bitter end sounding more and more like a bitter Trump. “They are in reality traitors to the US. They must be exposed discredited and pushed aside. Our survival depends on it.”

      No additional mention of neocons. Hmmmm, I wonder why. I don’t know mister Walsh and he said his piece, which I definitely am in disagreement with. His torturous winding and squirming to find just the right words to avoid condemning any one but democrats show me his true partisan colors.

      Neither I or this country have time enough left to play this endless bullshit game of charades.

      Thanks CN

      • Realist
        May 29, 2022 at 02:27

        Jeez, who the hell do you think you are? Because others here do not agree 100% with whatever model of the world and its politics you have in your little head you have to cast ad hominem attacks against them? No I was not born twenty years ago, but am probably old enough to be your father, you impertinent whippersnapper.
        Both I and, more importantly, Barack Obama have been cognizant of the PNAC since it was issued to the public. I have no role in politics so that is of absolutely no import in my case, but Mr. Obama was president and he had plenty of time to digest the PNAC and all its implications. I have mentioned and condemned the PNAC many many times at this venue, but why should you bother with facts when you can make such snarky insults, eh?

        In spite of such extensive knowledge Mr. Obama signed the arch-neocon Kagan husband and wife team on to his administration (or he allowed his warmongering secretary of state, Ms. Clinton, to do so). And, if he was not aware of Mrs. Nuland’s activities in Ukraine, paid for to the tune of $5 billion off his budgets, he should have been impeached. So, yeah, “thanks, Obama,” for delivering us to the brink of WWIII. No, he did not arm Ukraine by shipping them endless weapons amounting in cost to more than the entire yearly defense budget of the Russian Federation. Thank heaven for small favors… but very small and entirely fleeting. The arming of Ukraine for a potential coming Armageddon he left to his maniacal former vice-president whom he had named as virtual viceroy of Ukraine, a position that the Bidden family milked for all it was financially worth.

        As for the long list of the neocon authors of PNAC that you lament being left out of the present discussion, so what? Everyone and his brother (in your case, your dog) knows that history which does not have to be recapitulated in detail every time to establish that one is not politically biased in favor of the idiot Dems or the equally imbecilic Republicans. Walsh confronts the yahoos who are presently in control. You seem to be the one who is playing some sort of game here (whether it’s charades or some other tomfoolery I do not know), lambasting others, not on anything that is going to make the slightest difference in the ultimate outcome but just for no damn good reason. I’ll waste no more time with you, sir. I would appreciate seeing this rebuttal posted by the CN blog.

        • robert e williamson jr
          May 29, 2022 at 16:38

          I’m 73 1/2 so I’m doubting you are old enough to be my father. If you are, that might explain quite a lot. same as if you are, 35 or 40.

          Now lets examine your last paragraph here.

          As for my brother, I seem to have hit some sensitive spot with you more than once judging from your responses to me. I do have a brother. He , like me is a Dog lover and he worked at a vet clinic. I also have Cindy, my rescue mix who had been formerly abused. I can try to get a picture of her and myself posted here it you want proof!

          Your implication that my brother is a Dog is interesting. It’s that sensitive spot “thing” with you again, I guess. But I’m certain you know neither by brother or my late mother.

          As for my continued references to Dog, my Dog, Dog damned, Dog Damn it. etc. I make those in an effort trying not to offend the sensibilities of others who cringe every time someone takes their Lord’s name in vain. I’m and agnostic / theist. I’m not sure what to believe and I tend to identify with the theist ideology. That said, I’m pretty much convinced, based on the last 73 1/2 years of my life, that the arrogant human is hardly intelligent enough to comprehend just such an entity.

          My experience during my lifetime tells me the human is hopelessly lost in pursuit of shiny objects or acting out to condemn all those who do not share their beliefs. Far too many seem willing to give up and vaporize the rest of us in the insane belief this would initiate the “Second Coming”. For the Sake of Dog, give me a break.

          I’m supposing you did read my post here of 5-28-22 @ 17:01, if not you need to waste some more of your precious time and do exactly that. At the end of my post above I made a tragic type “0” as I often do. In my 5-28 post I go to great lengths to explain my error. My reference to this repug / dimo game of charades is something I refer to often here, nothing new about it.

          Regarding your second sentence in this last paragraph. “Walsh confronts yahoos who are presently in control.” To what end? This indicates he has fallen victim to the slow con. Read the third to last paragraph of my 5-28 offering here. Read it again!

          Focus on my last 2 sentences there. Again, I have to wonder why he doesn’t get it. He has bought into the game of charades, apparently. Taking on the current administration for what it is, a puppet being handled by the corporate deep state. But shit, I forgot this is my bad. I can say the quiet part out loud because I’m not a professional , Walsh, on the other hand, might risk his stellar career by speaking truth to power. It takes guts.

          Per the PNAC wiki, PNAC ceased to exist in 2006. The Foreign Policy Initiative was established in 2009, again by Kristol and Kagan, just in time to get geared up to continue the Slow Con by both parties fueled by their inaction. The Foreign Policy Initiative was dissolved in 2017.

          What you choose to ignore in your response here is very telling. The problem with our government is that it has passed any usefulness to it’s citizens at large and serves, rather, the corporate world. Largely the result of shadow players in our government who continue to bamboozle those who cannot separate their station in life,from the reality of that same life.

          We all are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Sadly for the rest of us, Self reflection by the “pompous ass” is very difficult, if not impossible.

          If actions are not taken to call out those shadowy figures who steal from us, and torment the remainder with endless war, we all lose. Doing what Walsh did here serves absolutely no useful purpose other than reinforcing the International Corporate Deep State’s belief in what they have already invested in. FIGURE IT OUT, the game they play is crooked they know well in advance where they are headed. This is the reality we live.

          Walsh, his effort here as yours seem to be dedicated to treating the symptoms rather than the disease. I am left to wonder why!

          To those at CN, thanks so much I hope you have just a last bit of patience with my ravings and have a giggle at the same time.

  16. Robert Johnson
    May 27, 2022 at 13:08

    Blinken, Nuland, Austin

    “They are in reality traitors to the U.S.” (about fking time somone said it out loud)

  17. May 27, 2022 at 12:54

    I am also a neuroscientist, and I have been predicting a major defeat for Ukraine, and a significant victory for Russia for some time now. It was always clear that a corrupt and divided country like the Ukraine was never going to win a war against Russia, who is right on their border (no matter how many stinger and javelin missiles we send). In fact, I expect Russia to get a much better outcome from this than they would have if no war had broken out, and things remained as they were with the Eastern Ukrainians being slowly killed. Now there will at least be some autonomy in eastern Ukraine, and the people there will be safe, at least compared to how things have been since 2014. Russia will now be dealing with Europe at a new level, with trade being done in Russia’s currency. Europe will eventually realize what a mistake they made siding with the extremely unreliable and fickle Americans, and will probably sue for peace with Russia in the next few months. They will probably even approve the Nordstream II pipeline. All America got was a black eye, a massive tax bill for the weapons, increased inflation and even less trust of our allies. Nice Job Joe Biden!

    • renate
      May 27, 2022 at 23:17

      All NATO governments are committing treason against their people, it is hard to believe that this is all by choice. It must be more than just coercion. They are destroying their economies, currencies, and countries on orders from Washington. There is no way they don’t know what they are doing. Would they really sacrifice their countries in even a conventional war for US interests only? Biden is bellicose, even Scholz must have noticed. It is all so absurd, NATO is really an insane asylum where the inmates are running the show. President Putin will go down in history as Putin the Great, he is the only rational head of state, Russia is standing alone and Biden wants to mobilize the whole world against Russia, only except for NATO dunces, the other great powers China, and India don’t dance to his tune.
      It is Biden’s war, he created the nightmare.

      • eddie escobar
        May 29, 2022 at 06:38

        We can perhaps chuckle that in spite of all of the hysterical propaganda dished out by the fascist-loving media representing the western 12%, 88% of the planet isn’t buying it.. It smells like Progress!

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