The West’s recent approval of more military assistance for Kiev risks nuclear nightmare, fails Ukrainian expectations and rebukes the World War II history enshrined in a prominent Soviet war memorial in Berlin.
Soviet War Memorial, Tiergarten, West Berlin. (Mike Peel, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
On Tuesday the White House decided that it would send about 30 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, which was seen as political cover for Germany, which decided to ship 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev.
By Scott Ritter
Special to Consortium News
Early on the morning of May 2, 1945, General Vasily Chuikov, the commander of the Soviet 8thGuards Army, accepted the surrender of the German garrison of Berlin.
Two days prior, soldiers from the 150th Rifle Division, part of the Soviet 5th Shock Army, had raised the victory banner of the Red Army over the Reichstag. An hour after the banner went up, Adolf Hitler and his mistress, Eva Braun, committed suicide in his study inside the Furhrerbunker.
Chuikov, the hero of Stalingrad whose battered 62nd Army was renamed the 8th Guards Army in honor of their victory in holding that city in the face of a massive German onslaught, had led his troops into the heart of the Nazi capital, battling stubborn Nazi resistance in the Tiergarten district of Berlin, where the den of the Nazi beast was located. The Soviet general was rewarded for the courage and sacrifice of his soldiers by being in position to accept the German surrender.
“Raising a flag over the Reichstag” photo by Yevgeny Khaldei. (Russian Defense Ministry)
In honor of this accomplishment, and the sacrifice it entailed, the Soviet Army inaugurated, in November 1945, a commemorative monument along the Tiergarten. Constructed from red marble and granite stripped away from the ruins of Adolf Hitler’s Neue Reichskanzlei (New Imperial Chancellery), the monument, consisting of a concave colonnade of six joined axes flanked by Red Army artillery and a pair of T-34 tanks, with a giant bronze statue of a victorious Red Army soldier standing watch from the center pylon.
From 1945 until 1993, when the Russian Army withdrew from Berlin, Soviet guards stood guard over the monument. Since that time, the monument has been maintained according to the terms of the German Reunification Treaty of 1990, which brought West and East Germany together in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Carved into the granite of the monument, in Cyrillic letters, is an inscription that reads “Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in battle with the German fascist occupiers for the freedom and independence of the Soviet Union.”
In a turn of events which must have Vasily Chuikov and the Soviet heroes to whom the Tiergarten war memorial was dedicated turning in their graves, the forces of fascism have once again reared their odious heads, this time manifested in a Ukrainian government motivated by the neo-Nazi ultra-nationalistic ideology of Stepan Bandera and his ilk.
Soviet military commander Vasily Chuikov, second from left, at the 62nd Army command post in Stalingrad in December 1942. (Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Bandera and his murderous movement had been physically defeated by Soviet forces in the decade following the end of the Second World War. However, its ideology survived in a western Ukrainian diaspora formed from the survivors of that movement who found safe haven in West Germany (where Bandera himself settled until assassinated by the Soviet KGB in 1959); Canada (where Chrystia Freeland, the granddaughter of a former publisher of pro-Bandera propaganda, currently serves as deputy prime minister), and the United States (where the followers of Stepan Bandera have constructed a “heroes park” outside Ellenville, New York, including a bust of Bandera and other neo-Nazi Ukrainian ultra-nationalists.)
[Related: SCOTT RITTER: The Death List]
The ideology also survived in the shadows of the western Ukrainian districts that had been absorbed by the Soviet Union following the dismemberment of Poland in 1939, and later, after the reoccupation of these territories by Soviet forces in 1945.
CIA-Funded Political Underground
Here, beginning in 1956, (following the de-Stalinization policies instituted by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in the aftermath of his “secret speech” to members of the Communist Party), thousands of members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)/Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-Bandera (OUN-B), who had been arrested and convicted by Soviet authorities, were released from the Gulag and returned to their homes, ostensibly to be reintegrated into Soviet society. This reintegration never materialized, however.
Instead, Ukrainian fascists, funded by the C.I.A., operated as a political underground, running sabotage operations and fomenting anti-Soviet/anti-Russian ideology amongst a population where the precepts of Ukrainian nationalist ideology ran strong.
[Related: JOE LAURIA: On the Influence of Neo-Nazism in Ukraine]
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, at the end of 1991, these Ukrainian nationalists emerged from the shadows and began organizing into political parties backed by gangs of violence-prone extremists who promulgated, through physical intimidation, a cult of personality built around the person of Stepan Bandera.
Protesters with OUN-B’s red and black flag among Maidan Square protesters in Kiev, December 2013. (Nessa Gnatoush, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Political parties such as Svoboda (“Freedom”) and the Right Sector came into being. Although lacking support among the majority of the Ukrainian population, these groups were able to leverage their penchant for organization and violence into a dominant role in the riots that broke out in Maidan Square in Kiev, in early 2014, that led to the ouster of democratically-elected Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych and his replacement by a government of people hand-picked by the United States, including the future prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
An intercepted phone call between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, which took place in the days prior to the ouster of Yanukovych in February 2014, had Nuland positioning Yatsenyuk as the future leader of Ukraine and, in this context, was actively encouraging Yatsenyuk to coordinate with Oleh Tyahnybok, the head of Svoboda, who was being openly backed by armed radicals from the Right Sector.
May 16, 2015: Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland with U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt (left) at the police patrol training site in Kiev, Ukraine. (U.S. Embassy Kyiv, Flickr)
The close coordination between the new post-Maidan government of Ukraine and the pro-Bandera Svoboda and Right Sector political parties manifested in these organizations having an oversized role in Ukrainian security affairs.
By way of example, Dmytro Yarosh, the former head of Right Sector, became an adviser to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi. In that role, Yarosh oversaw the incorporation of numerous volunteer units of the Right Sector into the regular armed forces of Ukraine.
One of the units created because of this reorganization is the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade, which since November 2022 has been undergoing training in the United Kingdom.
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The fact that NATO members, such as the United Kingdom, are actively involved in the training of Ukrainian forces is well-established. In July 2022 the British Defense Ministry announced that it would begin training approximately 10,000 Ukrainian troops every four months.
That they are playing an active role in providing combat training to ardent neo-Nazi military formations is something Western media outlets appear to eschew.
Ukraine Defense Contact Group
The issue, however, is far more complex — and controversial — than simply providing basic military training to a few thousand adherents of Stepan Bandera’s hate-filled ideology.
The 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade is likely to be one of three Ukrainian brigade-sized formations that will be trained and equipped using billions of dollars of military assistance recently approved during the eighth session of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
The contact group was first convened at the sprawling U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany, in April 2022, and has served as the primary mechanism of coordination between the armed forces of Ukraine and NATO regarding the provision of training and material support to the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks via video at the eighth Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Jan. 20. (DoD, Jack Sanders)
The most recent convocation of the Ramstein Contact Group took place in the shadow of an interview given by the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, to The Economist, in December 2022. According to Zaluzhnyi, the primary problem facing Ukraine was the need “to hold this line [i.e., the Soledar-Bakhmut defensive belt] and not lose any more ground.”
Since that interview, Soledar has fallen to the Russians, and Bakhmut is threatened with being surrounded. Moreover, Russian forces are on the offensive north and south of the Bakhmut front, in some instances advancing up to seven kilometers per day.
Zaluzhnyi also stated that the second priority for Ukraine was
“to get ready for this war which can happen in February [2023]. To be able to wage a war with fresh forces and reserves. Our troops are all tied up in battles now, they are bleeding. They are bleeding and are being held together solely by courage, heroism, and the ability of their commanders to keep the situation under control.”
The Ukrainian commander noted that the February “war” would have Ukraine resuming the attack:
“We have made all the calculations — how many tanks, artillery we need and so on and so on. This is what everyone needs to concentrate on right now. May the soldiers in the trenches forgive me, it’s more important to focus on the accumulation of resources right now for the more protracted and heavier battles that may begin next year.”
The goal of this offensive, Zaluzhnyi said, was to push Russia back to the borders that existed on Feb. 23, 2022, the start of the Russian invasion. He also indicated that the liberation of Crimea was an objective.
“In order to reach the borders of Crimea, as of today we need to cover a distance of 84 km to Melitopol [a strategic city in the south of the Donetsk Republic]. By the way, this is enough for us, because Melitopol would give us a full fire control of the land corridor, because from Melitopol we can already fire at the Crimean Isthmus.”
General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, right, with Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi during the Battle of Kiev, March 2022. (Commander in Chief of Ukraine, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Zaluzhnyi exuded confidence. “I know that I can beat this enemy,” he said. “But I need resources. I need 300 tanks, 600-700 IFV’s [infantry fighting vehicles], 500 Howitzers. Then, I think it is completely realistic to get to the lines of February 23rd.”
Zaluzhnyi spoke of an upcoming meeting with U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “I will tell him [Milley] how much it is worth, how much it costs. If we don’t get it, of course we will fight to the end. But as a movie character said, ‘I don’t vouch for the consequences.’ The consequences are not hard to foresee. This is what we have to do.”
In short, Zaluzhnyi was saying he could win the war with Russia if he received the requested amount of military equipment. Otherwise, Ukraine would likely lose the conflict.
The Eighth Session
The eighth session of the Ramstein Contact Group convened on Jan. 20 and the Ukrainians pressed hard for their Western allies to provide the material support Zaluzhnyi had requested.
Defense ministers from more than 50 countries participated, including Ukraine’s Oleksii Reznikov who, speaking at the Davos World Economic Forum a few days before the Ramstein meeting, declared that “We [Ukraine] are carrying out NATO’s mission today. They aren’t shedding their blood. We’re shedding ours. That’s why they’re required to supply us with weapons.”
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov, right, with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Sept. 8, 2022. (DoD, Chad J. McNeeley)
The Contact Group took the Ukrainian demand for material support under consideration, and by the end of the meeting had committed to providing Ukraine with a multi-billion dollar support package, including air defense weapons, artillery ammunition, support vehicle, and (perhaps most importantly) approximately 240 of the 500 infantry fighting vehicles it had requested, broken down roughly into one battalion (59 vehicles) of U.S.-made M-2 Bradleys, two battalions (90 vehicles) of M-1126s, one battalion (40 vehicles) of German Marders and one battalion (approximately 50 vehicles) of Swedish-made CV90s.
The Ramstein Contact Group also promised delivery of four self-propelled artillery battalions, consisting of 19 Swedish-made Archer’s, 18 British-made AS-90’s, 18 U.S.-made M-109 Paladin’s, and a dozen French-made CEASAR’s. When added to the 24 towed FH-70 pieces, the total of artillery pieces being sent to Ukraine amounts to just under 100 artillery pieces, a far cry from the 500 requested by Zaluzhnyi.
Missing from the Ramstein Contact Group list was anything remotely resembling the 300 tanks Zaluzhnyi had requested; the best Ukraine’s European allies could muster [until Tuesday] was a promise from the United Kingdom to supply a company’s worth (14) of Challenger 2 main battle tanks.
Ukrainian trenchline at the Battle of Bakhmut, November 2022. (Mil.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Zaluzhnyi, in his interview with The Economist, had indicated that he could not accomplish his planned offensive with anything less than the three armored and three mechanized brigade-equivalents he had requested.
The collective West had responded with barely two brigade’s worth of equipment.
These two, when added to a third mechanized brigade that had previously been formed and was undergoing training in Poland, gave the Ukrainian general half of what he claimed he needed to launch a successful offensive against Russia.
For U.S. General Milley, the equipment shortfall wasn’t the issue — training was. Prior to arriving at Ramstein, Milley toured the sprawling Grafenwoehr training grounds in Germany. There the U.S. Army is in the process of training some 600 Ukrainian soldiers to effectively move and coordinate their company-and battalion-size units in battle, using combined artillery, armor and ground forces.
Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at podium during a press briefing after a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Jan. 20. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin on left. (DoD, Jack Sanders)
Speaking to reporters, General Milley said such training was critical in helping Ukraine recapture territory lost to Russia last year. The goal of this training, Milley said, is for incoming weapons and equipment to be delivered to Ukraine so the newly trained forces will be able to use it “sometime before the spring rains show up. That would be ideal.”
What the West is Giving
Operational training, no matter how competently delivered and absorbed, does not paint an accurate picture of the true combat capability being turned over to Ukraine by the West. The reality is most of this equipment won’t last a month under combat conditions; even if the Russians don’t destroy them, maintenance issues will.
Take, for instance, the 59 M-2 Bradley vehicles being supplied by the United States. According to anecdotal information obtained from Reddit, the Bradley is, to quote, “a maintenance NIGHTMARE.”
“I can’t even begin to commiserate how f***ing awful maintenance on a Bradley is,” the author, a self-described U.S. Army veteran who served in a Bradley unit in Iraq, declared.
“Two experienced crews MIGHT be able to change one Brad’s track in 3 or 4 hours, if nothing goes wrong (something always goes wrong). Then you got the track adjuster arms, the shock arms, the roadwheels, the sprocket itself, that all need maintained and replaced as needed. I haven’t even started talking about the engine/transmission pack yet. When you do services on that, it’s not like you just raise the engine deck lid. You got to take the armor OFF the Bradley so an M88 Wrecker vehicle can use its crane to LIFT the engine/tranny out of the hull.”
The Stryker isn’t any better. According to a recent article in Responsible Statecraft, U.S. soldiers who used the vehicle in both Iraq and Afghanistan called the Stryker “a very good combat vehicle, so long as it traveled on roads, it wasn’t raining — and didn’t have to fight.”
Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle, M1126. (U.S. Army, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons)
The Stryker is also a difficult system to maintain properly. One of the critical features of the Stryker is the “height management system,” or HMS. In short, it is what keeps the hull from riding on the tires. A failure to constantly maintain and monitor the HMS system will result in the hull rubbing up against the tires, causing tire failure and a non-operable vehicle.
The HMS is complex, and a failure to maintain or operate one component will result in the failure of the entire system. The likelihood of the future Ukrainian operators of the Stryker properly maintaining the HMS under combat conditions is near-zero — they will lack the training as well as the “logistical support” necessary (such as spare parts).
The German Marder IFV appears to represent a similar maintenance headache for the Ukrainians: according to a 2021 article in The National Interest, “The vehicle was considered unreliable from the outset: Tracks rapidly wore out, transmissions often failed, and soldiers could not easily remove the vehicle’s engine for field maintenance.”
While Germany is preparing to invest a significant amount of money to upgrade the Marder, this hasn’t yet been done. Ukraine is inheriting an old weapons system that brings with it a considerable maintenance problem Ukraine is not prepared to properly handle.
The Swedish CV 90 saw some limited combat in Afghanistan when deployed with the Norwegian Army. While there is not enough publicly available data about the maintainability of this system, one only needs to note that even if the SV 90 proves easy to maintain, it represents a completely different maintenance problem from that of the Bradly, Stryker, or Marder.
In short, to properly operate the five battalion-equivalents of infantry fighting vehicles being supplied their NATO partners, Ukraine will need to train its maintenance troops on four completely different systems, each with its own unique set of problems and separate logistical/spare part support requirements.
It is, literally, a logistical nightmare that will ultimately prove to be the Achilles heel of the Ramstein tranche of heavy equipment.
But even here, neither NATO nor Ukraine seems able to see the forest for the trees. Rather than acknowledging that the material being provided is inadequate to the task of empowering Ukraine to carry out large-scale offensive operations against Russia, the two sides began haranguing each other over the issue of tanks, namely the failure of Germany to step up to the plate in Ramstein and clear the way for the provision to Ukraine of hundreds of modern Leopard 2 main battle tanks.
German History & Optics
The Ramstein meeting was hampered by concern within the German Parliament over the optics associated with Germany providing tanks which would be used to fight Russians in Ukraine.
This angst was perhaps best captured by Petr Bystron of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party. “German tanks [fighting] against Russia in Ukraine,” Bystron challenged his colleagues, “remember, your grandfathers tried to do the same trick, together with [Ukrainian nationalists] Melnik, Bandera and their supporters.
“The result was immense suffering, millions of casualties on both sides and, eventually, Russian tanks came here, to Berlin. Two of those tanks remain on permanent display nearby, and you must keep this in mind when you pass them by every morning,” Bystron said, referring to the two Soviet T-34 tanks at the Tiergarten memorial to fallen Soviet soldiers.
Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten, West Berlin. (Klearchos Kapoutsis, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)
The issue of Leopard tanks, however, was more political than technical, with Poland threatening to ignore Germany’s refusal to allow the tanks to be sent to Ukraine, announcing that it was prepared to dispatch 14 of its own Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in the near future. When combined with the 14 Challenger 2 tanks being promised by the British, Ukraine was getting 28 of the 300 tanks it said it needed for any future offensive. [Now roughly 58 with the U.S. Abrams.]
The numerical disparities and maintenance difficulties aside, NATO politicians seem quite pleased with what was accomplished at Ramstein. According to British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, in an address to Parliament,
“The international community recognizes that equipping Ukraine to push Russia out of its territory is as important as equipping them to defend what they already have. Today’s package is an important increase in Ukraine’s capabilities. It means they can go from resisting to expelling Russian forces from Ukrainian soil.”
Wallace seems to ignore that by empowering Ukraine to expel Russian troops from what are — following the annexation of the four former Ukrainian territories (Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson) last September — permanently part of the Russian Federation, NATO would be potentially creating the conditions under which Russia would be able to doctrinally employ nuclear weapons. Those conditions would be to defend against the accumulation of conventional military power capable of threatening the existential survival of Russia.
Russia, however, has not ignored this. Speaking after the Ramstein Contact Group finished its meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters “Potentially, this is extremely dangerous, it will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level, which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security.”
Senior Russian officials chimed in on social media. Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, declared on his Telegram channel that:
“It should be clear for everyone — we will destroy any weapons supplied to the Zelensky’s regime by either the United States or NATO. That is true now as it was true during the Great Patriotic War. The emergence of tanks, bearing Nazi insignia, on the former Soviet soil unequivocally makes us aim at toppling the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine and creating normal conditions so that the neighboring peoples in the region could live peacefully like in the old days.”
Dmitri Medvedev, a former Russian president and close adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, added on Twitter that those who promote a Russian defeat risk unleashing global ruin. “None of them gets it that a nuclear power’s loss of a conventional war can lead to a nuclear one. Nuclear powers haven’t been defeated in major conflicts crucial for their destiny.”
The Consequences for Ukraine
The reality is, however, that the consequences of the Ramstein Contact Group’s work will be far more detrimental to Ukraine than Russia.
Under pressure from the West to carry out a major offensive designed to expel Russian forces from the territories captured last year, General Zaluzhnyi will be compelled to sacrifice whatever reserves he would be able to assemble in the aftermath of Ramstein for the purpose of engaging in fruitless attacks against a Russian opponent that is far different from the one Ukraine faced in September and October of last year.
Then, a reconstituted Ukrainian army, bolstered by tens of billions of dollars of NATO equipment, training and operational support, was able to take advantage of over-extended Russian forces to recapture large swaths of territory in Kharkov and Kherson.
Today, Russia’s military presence in Ukraine is a far cry from what it was in the autumn of 2022. In the aftermath of Putin’s September 2022 decision to mobilize 300,000 reservists, Russia has not only consolidated the frontline in eastern Ukraine, assuming a more defensible posture, but also reinforced its forces with some 80,000 mobilized troops, allowing for Russia to sustain offensive operations in the Donetsk regions while solidifying its defenses in Kherson and Lugansk.
From Feb. 24 through the autumn of 2022, Russia deviated significantly from how it doctrinally prosecutes armed conflict. Moving forward, Russia will be waging war by the book. Defensive positions will be laid in a manner designed to defeat concerted NATO attack, both in terms of troop density along the frontline, but also in depth (something lacking in the Kharkov offensive in September 2022) and with sufficient dedicated fire support (again, lacking in September 2022).
By General Zaluzhnyi’s own admission, Ukraine has insufficient forces for the task. Even if Ukraine were able to concentrate all three brigades’ worth of men and material that are in the pipeline following the Ramstein Contact Group meeting at one place at the same time, the 20,000 or so troops this represents would be unable to breach a Russian defensive position laid out in doctrinal fashion.
Ukraine and NATO should heed the history lesson that Petr Bystron presented to his fellow German parliamentarians — German tanks do not historically fare well against Russian tanks on Ukrainian soil.
And Ben Wallace and Mark Milley should pay attention to the order of battle of the Russian forces opposing the Ukrainian Army, especially around the critical battlefields in and around the strategic city of Bakhmut. There, Russian soldiers belonging to the 8th Guards Army are poised to continue in the tradition of Vasily Chuikov’s heroes of Stalingrad and Berlin, destroying the forces of fascism on the field of battle.
While the modern-day soldiers of the 8th Guards Army may not be mounting a new generation of tanks on display in the Berlin Tiergarten, rest assured they know fully well their historical legacy and what is expected of them.
This, more than anything else, is the true expression of the Ramstein effect, a cause-effect relationship that the West does not seem either able or willing to discern before it is too late for the tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers whose lives are about to be sacrificed on an altar of national hubris and ignorance.
Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD. His most recent book is Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika, published by Clarity Press.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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Russia will win the war, the Zelensky government will flee to the West in the last moments before the victorius Russians roll into Kiev. Russia will patrol and own right up to the Polish, Romanian borders. UkraNazis will be put on trial for war crimes an crimes against humanity and executed and buried in mass graces or sent to die in prison camps in Sibirea, living on shitty food and not ever seeing the sun again. This is what is deserved for a nation that tried a genocide against the ethnic Ruasians in Ukriane. And the chapter on Ukriane will be closed and Russia will add another 250,000 square miles of territory to its vast country. And the defeat of Nazis will be cheered throughout the world again, except in the West who seem to have fallen in love with the group responsible for killing 6 million Jews and another 6 million Europeans in concentration camps as well as resulting in 50 million dead. The West has become a sick ideologically perverted group of parasite nations that cannot be trusted.
What few people here seem to realize is that the kinetic war in Ukraine is just one aspect of a much wider conflict; a spiritual war. The corrupt West is being run by a cult of devil-worshiping, demon-possessed theistic Satanists who’ve launched a spiritual war against all of humanity, seeking to proselytize the whole world for their “god” Satan, and mighty Russia stands in their way. Based on statements made by Russian government spokesmen e.g. Dimitri Medvedev, the Russians realize this. They know they are fighting an existential war against Satanic evil.
And Russia will win that war thanks to God and Russian engineering, military supremacy, political superiority and outstanding leadership by Putin and his team. Much respect for what Putin and his nation have accomplished since 1999. A tremendous achievement in barely over 20 years.
If only we could get Dick Cheney to bomb the pentagon again.
well it is not a nightmare for the bomb-makers, is it.
in fact it is almost a dream come true.
Well it seems to appear that the Americans and their Euro Quislings are bent on a nuclear war. I just wonder what, if anything, goes on in their collective brain functions. They seem to think that they are going to somehow stage a war and win: playing with fire seems currently der rigeuer among the shakers and movers in the WEF.
There was an old song which the British soldiers used to sing in the trenches in 1914-18 war. It went as follows:
Whoosh, here comes a Whizz-Bang (Artillery shell)
Whoosh here comes a Whizz-Bang
Come on you soldier boys get down those stairs
Into your dug-outs and say your prayers
Whoosh here comes a Whizz-Bang
And its headed straight for you
And you’ll see all the wonders
Of No-Mans Land
When that Woosh-Bang hits you.
Now the updated version.
Whoosh here comes a Sarmat
Whoosh here comes a Sarmat
Come on you neo-cons
Get down those stairs
Into your fall-out shelters
And say your prayers.
Whoosh here comes a Sarmat
And its headed strait at you
And you’ll see all the wonders
Of a nuclear holocaust
When that Sarmat hits you.
Russia responded by announcing their goals have changed to the Zelenskiy regime’s complete destruction. Mr. Ritter correctly quotes,
Anatoly Antonov, Russian ambassador to the United States, “The emergence of tanks, bearing Nazi insignia, on the former Soviet soil unequivocally makes us aim at toppling the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine and creating normal conditions so that the neighboring peoples in the region could live peacefully like in the old days.”
Thomas Paine: ”To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead.”
Russians have heard all the promises, watched treaties signed and quickly ignored with cynical lying contempt for peace and human rights. They know of racist genocides committed and planned. So it won’t be the vacuous opinions of irrelevant Westerners that define this war’s end. It will be blunt demands and brutal facts on the ground that define Ukraine’s public defeat. This war will end with NAYOYO humiliated, Russian tanks shaking the ground at western borders, and the Global South dancing drunkenly in the streets for a week.
Great commentary & very likely to age well.
Hey Scott,
Great piece as usual. It is great on tactics and military information. I’ve served (very close to you, at a high level in the government), and can appreciate your perspectives. I just request you discuss the political and economic reasons behind this nonsense. It would be grand if you could elaborate on the “why” factors, such as colonialism, bankster and elite fears of Russian resources, old school thought about Project X, and so forth. I believe you could nail it, and help the common folk to understand why the US is engaged in this war.
A good text by Scott and a beautiful tribute to one of the best independent journalism consortia and to it’s wistful founder Robert Parry! Whom I still heard many times explain how the CIA kept Bandera’s hateful ideology alive! For the same reason as always! The shared hatred of Russia.
That’s why I’ve also written many times that if FDR had lasted another decade, the world might have evolved entirely differently after WWII. Namely with regard to this disgusting relationship but also with regard to the functioning of the NU! Certainly without the iron curtain of another hateful character in history, the crook Churchill much like the populist BoJo we know today. And in Churchill’s case, he is certainly the most overrated political loser in the West!
And behold, we find ourselves at another crossroads in history! That I can’t find a better word to define in the West as an authentic vomit. Especially in countries where the CIA’s cancer for conflict coverage, CNN has already settled and metastasized! Like a true Orwellian dystopia from which no one has yet managed to see the way out.
Russia, contrary to many predictions, continues with all the calm in the world in the theater of operations! Even with Ukraine, government and army, crumbling. Perhaps because the Russia already realized that the conflict does not end with the collapse of the Govt or the Ukrainian army. Who already counts the days until the end of winter as if spring also strengthened armies falling apart?!
Perhaps because the reason for this conflict was never military but economic and the US cannot give up the hegemony of the dollar. But on one prediction I am in complete disagreement with Scott. I am fully convinced that Russia is open for Poland to occupy Galicia with the Bandera horde. Which I consider a very smart move after 77 years! Since not even the Gulags – which were so bad – got rid of them. What many detainees at Guantanamo and other illegal CIA prisons around the globe cannot say! So let’s hope we don’t all make it to Doomsday!
The fear of Russian Nuclear warfare seems real weird to me. Why would they consider suicide when they are in position to win conventional war or at least humiliate Zelensky and the corrupt Ukrainian military and make recruitment impossible. Most commenters are more concerned about US neocon led fantasies of winning a nuclear war. I would suggest that an article really looking closely at this fear would be worthwhile even if it is an insoluble question. Simply hyperventilating over the fear is very human but does not help us think clearly about what is going down in the highest circles of power. My feeling is that even the biggest idiots hesitate at this level of self destructive, everybody-loses-big kind of gamble. I suspect this is a calculated bluff and that neocon nuke nuts are seen as the perfect voices for such a bluff. I do not think they are ready for a world without London, NYC, DC, Berlin, Chicago to name a few of the first targets anymore than Russia is ready for a world without Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk….
It looks to me like the US/Nato strategy is to trigger unacceptable aggression by Russia or stage a false flag event and so expand the defense of Ukraine to other EU powers. The problem is they have no plan for losing their corrupt empire of funny money and police state violence even as their power drains away.
So…Germany has blocked sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine?
Scott are you sure? I thought I read that some were getting sent.
No nuclear war yet? Welll, don’t the Leopard tanks carry nuclear coated missiles.
Please explain.
The article was written before the German decision and it was clearly updated at the beginning of the piece.
Its only the know-nothing American people who believe that they are not involved in this war. Russia has no illusions about who they are fighting.
This war is proudly proclaimed to be a Hybrid War by American politicians, who brag about all the ways they are attacking Russia economically, culturally, racially and by any other means available. The Americans apparently refer to the old children’s saying about Stick and Stones while putting forward the notion that only those who wield a Stick are fighters in the War, and those who are throwing stones are somehow neutral, untouchable and inviolable.
But, from the Russian side, as they get hit by American economic attacks and American diplomatic attacks and get bombed by American weapons targeted by American intelligence and controlled via America satellites, from the Russian side, it is very, very clear who is fighting against them. This will not work out well for the Know-Nothing Americans who let this be done in their name.
The Woke Americans have already slept-walked into World War Three. They just don’t know it yet, and probably won’t until they fall out of bed and realize that the floor is hard and cold.
The “West” (the Anglo-Zionist Empire) will bite off and swallow more than it can chew, causing a severe and painful stomach ache, is it’s foaming from the mouth like a rabid animal who can’t think straight in their dangerous plan to topple the Russian Federation, plunder their resources and take control of the vast land mast, for the imperialist/capitalist class and the international “usury specialists” and could care less how many people are killed and wounded, not to mention radioactivity poisoning of the planet.
The American public prefers willful ignorance when it comes to the war-mongering psychopaths in Wash. D.C. of both the DemoRAT and Repulsive Parties who engage in theatrical melodrama during Congressional sessions with a few differences, but on War, Wall Street and pro-Corporate Policy Control, and of course Israel, they are like two peas in the same pod.
Abrams tanks from the US and Leopard 2 tanks from Germany and Poland going to the Ukraine? And too many folks are still in denial that the US wants to start World War Three? They probably drank the spiked Kool-Aid about” Russian aggression?” Unbelievable!
The American people have been terrorized for some time to cling to the illusion that our leadership “protects” us from their latest boogeyman and therefore has our best interests at heart, when, based on our lack of M4A, a modern functioning infrastructure, modern mass transit, modern sustainable energy, $trillions are diverted from these needs at home to the endless for profit regime change wars that could otherwise end homelessness, and provide a well functioning economy that serves everybody.
Our “leadership”, which climbed to power serving that machine, courtesy of the corrupting influence of Citizens United, fears the multipolar world that we see blossoming around us. They see it as a threat to their hegemony.
The multipolar world, tired of the threats, sanctions, theft of their PETRO$ deposits and GOLD that are on deposit for safekeeping in the U.S. and Britain, has been uniting in their determination to bring an end to our bullying, threatening, sanctions and thieving ways, by cutting themselves off from the PETRO$ reserve currency. The move to join the BRICS and/or trade bilaterally with their own currencies has been sped up by the Biden administration’s flurry of decrees against the countries who haven’t bought into the tragic Ukraine hysteria. These countries see through the hype and recognize the reckless G7/NATO game of threatening Russia’s borders to drag them into this tragic Ukraine war.
Big powerful countries in the Global South in South America, India, Africa, Southwest Asia, Asia and Eurasia except of course the G7 countries and their acolytes ( a fractional part of the world’s population) are developing ways to trade without using the PETRO$ reserve currency so they can free themselves from the shackles of the IMF and the World Bank and U.S. sanctions by trading among themselves.
This is happening at a time that we are $31trillion in debt and have used the dominance of our reserve currency to buoy our Petro$.
This might have been a 20 to 30 year process but as Alex Christophorou and Alexander Mercouris suggest, our president may have sped up that process to 2 or 3 years:
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYwVDwrkpJ8
President Lula da Silva of Brazil, recently reelected after a stint in prison on false charges, was a cofounder of the BRICS and is a very bright guy who years ago was also a victim of our foreign policy NEOCONS, is now working with Venezuela to set up a trade system in their own currencies.
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mudBO1iffOo
The Geopolitical Economy Report’s Ben Norton also covers this subject here:
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryKuoB9JEBE
I had though previously that Europe would avoid a war with Russia because they (the Europeans) had a historical consciousness about what happened in World War II. After reading a survey of Western Europeans on which country was the most responsible for defeating the Nazis, realized they had forgotten history. The majority thought the Americans played the biggest role. When I read what various European leaders have said I seriously doubt if they know very much or next to nothing about World War II. Get ready. I would say to put your affairs in order but why when there will nobody around.
On a lighter note. Regarding “Raising a flag over the Reichstag” photo by Yevgeny Khaldei. I was working in St Petersburg 20 odd years ago and the story I was told was that one of the two soldiers in the picture was wearing a whole bunch of watches and so they had to airbrush them out for the western audiance.
In the cemetry they have plot after plot. 50,000 dead in each one.
Thanks you Scott for fleshing out some of the logistical parameters of the war ON Russia prosecuted by US/NATO in Ukraine.
My takeaway from the piece——> The US would prefer NOT to escalate hostilities to the point where a nuclear response by Putin would be inevitable. The aim. I think, is to bleed Russia dry through a prolonged war in a similar manner in which Afghanistan was a 20 year engagement that weakened the USSR to the point of dissolution. …………. Weapons will be meted out to Ukraine in a way as to sustain the war, but, not to WIN it. This would be an ongoing bonanza for America’s most prosperous industry, the weapons manufacturers. This aspect of prosecuting the war ON Russia should not be overlooked.
Will EU states EVER say enough is enough, as their countries suffer economically from this war ON Russia? Stay tuned.
Here in the West we have lost touch with reality. This has been brewing for many years with the each groupthink phenomenon being worse than the last. Our culture is mentally/spiritually ill. Some type of awakening must come soon
Chris N you are so correct. CIA is legit organized crime and partnered with the Nazis after WWII and brought them to USA to work in DARPA and other medical arenas. You should look up Wellcome Trust and Wellcome Leap. The Rothschilds and Rockefellers were huge supporters of Nazi eugenics. CIA funds itself through arms and drug sales. There is collusion between big tech, big Pharma, and the security state and people need to be made aware because the mainstream news is not covering this. Beware of what the WHO is doing, and look up the background of Farrar, the man they are about to put in charge. I can’t help but hope Russia wins. They dropped out of WEF because they weren’t going to play along with their plans to rule the world. We are on the brink of some dystopian world these finance leaders are trying to bring into existence. See Radical w/ Maajid Nawaz and his interview of Whitney Webb and also her book, One Nation Under Blackmail.
hi i looked Farrar up, but didndt understand what you meant. Thank you in advance. Have a nice eve be safe
Thank you Scott for providing a bit of hope in a sea of despair, the hope, or should I say ‘clarity’ is that I can now see a more accurate position that Russia finds itself in, its not as desperate as I thought initially, despite being 11 months into this conflict with the entire weight of NATO trying its damned hardest to destroy Russia and risk life on this planet.
As soon as I heard that Scholz had relented about supplying Leopard tanks to the neo-con axis of evil, I felt that this could be a game changer and be disastrous for Russia; that’s my fault for spending too much time reading the disturbing and myopic comments posted by 99% of the Financial Times online readership.
There is a FT poster who goes under the name of ‘RiskAdjustedReturn’, who posts several thousand messages a month, hundreds every day, in every single Russia related article (he must be getting paid)!
Every comment of his either demonises or ridicules Russia, often he throws in the Russians are ‘raping babies’ in Ukraine line wherever & whenever. Every single anti war comment he sees he attacks, often copying & pasting a single comment about ‘Putin accepting Sweden & Norways NATO membership, so how can Ukraine be a red line’. The majority lap it all up and goad anyone for having a different view.
Sadly, he represents 99% of a liberal / Tory based readership, all seemingly & collectively lobotomised to be so brainwashed.
The FT, being part of the MSM, allow this censorship and therefore are complicit in this warped-hysteria, they regularly remove sound sensible anti war comments.
It seems like we’re in the 1% on this here in the gullible west, I know it’s different in the global south. Thank goodness for CN, your a sane voice in this sea of insanity, keep up the good work!
Actually advanced model Nazi tanks did quite well against Soviet tanks in World War Two. But thankfully for history there weren’t enough of those Nazi tanks, while there were vast numbers of Red Army T34s.
It is amazing that the West has no spine when it comes to standing up to America. I guess that most politicians are essentially cowards. The US still wants to support Ukraine in spite of the fact that Ukraine has just been shown to be the most corrupt country in Europe and we are supporting it just to please America in it’s drive to weaken Russia. It is plain to see that America orchestrated this war, using it’s “influence” on Europe and NATO to supply support and weaponry to Ukraine while sanctioning Russia and blowing up Nordstream 1 and 2. America is used to initiating wars , coups and invasions of countries such as the 2014 Maiden coup, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, (where it is stealing it’s oil) America has killed millions since WW2 and it is not stopping and the way it is going will not stop until this world is destroyed . It is well on it’s way in achieving this.
Thank you for the all-important historical contest.
The symbolism of German Kampfpanzers (battle tanks) fighting Russians in the territory of the former USSR is jaw-dropping. How many young Germans would like to volunteer to fight on the New Russian Front? (Drang Nach Osten)
I am reminded many times in recent years of the George Carlin quote: “The Germans lost WW2, but the Nazis won” I did not understand that years ago, but I do now.
I fear that this proxy war will last a long time, thousands more will die. Ukraine is a sacrifice zone and NATO is willing to fight until the last drop of Ukraine’s blood and the last dollar the Feds steal from Medicare and Soc. Security.
Thank you Scott Ritter. Not much remains to be said. It was a little surprising that the Davos people are solidly behind this madness. But, considering the hidden reasoning behind this conflict, that is of bringing under its control the resources of Russia, one can see the point more clearly.
Really, their lives aren’t on the line but they stand to make huge amounts of money. War is good for business.
Stop kidding yourself. Assuming that these tanks, howitzers, etc. are chewed up, the West will continue to send more, for as long as Russia continues to dither.
Not one of our “Loser General’s” has shown the capability of prosecuting a hot war. Just keep feeding the sheep into the meat grinder and stay home for the parades and promotion. They weren’t around for the lessons of WW2. Ukraine is the loser in this conflict and our polits and war industry will keep on marching towards the next sink hole.
Not new, but hyped again:
regardless of how realistic at the moment, this is one beloved plan, in Germany yet not acknowledged as such publicly:
“Russia Could Collapse Into ‘New States’ After Ukrainian Victory: Economist”
hxxps://www.newsweek.com/russia-could-collapse-new-states-ukrainian-victory-1775841
p.s. Scholz has confirmed today, definitely no warplanes and no troops, as he had said from the beginning.
Well, until he does otherwise.
A genuine question for the excellent Scott Ritter and a terrific article:
You make no mention off the quality or size of the Russian armaments/artillery etc…
I realize you may not have the answer, but do the Russians I. Ukraine they have sufficient resources themselves?
Very good question. An additional question for Scott Ritter is what is the quality of the 300,000 new conscripts and reservists that Russia is mobilizing – have these soldiers been sufficiently trained or are they very raw recruits?
I know a woman in Volgograd. She said at the factory she works at a number of men were called up. They all had previous military experience and not just boot camp. In fact, a few came back because there was not enough room at the re-training facility. At least that is what they were told. I suspect they had too many issues to re-make into competent soldiers.
Unfortunately, thanks to the financial sanctions imposed on Russia by the Biden Administration, and the forces they have set in motion, this war has become existential to the US. This means its also a war that is destined to escalate to the conclusion we all fear the most.
hxxps://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/01/23/the-most-egregious-mistake/
Nice way to support the US economy, right? Produce more and more weapons and voila — problem solved! If it’ll be terrible in Europe, where will the workers flee to? More than likely not to China…
thx to S.R.
as to Petr Bystron. He is first in the wrong party to be “heard”.
Second: Nobody in the German main publications gives a damn.
This might only change with fear when things heat up at the battle front.
Regarding the memory of Soviets:
On June 22nd last year an activist gave a speech at the Soviet memorial in Berlin-Treptow.
This speech can be read here.
hxxps://cooptv.wordpress.com/2022/07/04/22-juni-1941-wir-vergessen-nicht-sowjetisches-ehrenmal-berlin-heiner-bucker-coop-anti-war-cafe/
It´s a bit long but not Dickens so it´s simple to translate via deepl.com.
His speech would have been no problem 1 year ago.
But since suddenly the last 100 years of history have mysteriously changed.
Therefore this activist for giving this speech was fined paying 2000 Euros or 40 days in custody after a Berlin attorney had reported him and court now convicted him for possible incitement of the people following a new version of that particular article in German criminal law originally intended mainly to counter Holocaust denialism but now open to all kinds of “denialism”.
His mistake was to not condemn the Russian attack on Ukraine and calling for undertanding the Russian position.
It is an absolute disgrace.
You may even harshly condemn any action by the Russians and ignore the Ukrainians – even then in case you are in favour of the freedom of speech and in favour of communication and diplomacy you cannot concur with this decision.
Even worse is its signal.
Since the law on denial of war crimes / Holocaust has been sharpened last November in a midnight Parliamentary vote, activists have been wondering what that could mean for future actions.
Well you now have your first precedent case.
The Bulletin of American Scientists yesterday have of course been entirely ignored in the media.
Everybody is glad those Leopards are out.
And yes this is a nighmare.
I’m still reading what looks lik a good article but I believe that Eva Braun was Hitler’s wife, not mistress, at the time of their deaths having been newly wed. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Dear Carolyn,
IMHO, ‘Empire-Thinking’ is the most dangerous condition that can exist in our world — particularly centered in the what a significant deadly percentage of Americans believe — which is that America is the richest and most powerful country in our world — “And Now a Few Words About How Power Makes” ‘we Americans’, and the U.S. the core of a metastasizing cancer of EMPIRE.
Thus, it should be understood that when pro-US figures use the term, “rules-based international order,” they are not referring to anything analogous to the rule of law. Quite the opposite, they are using Orwellian language to describe a system in which essentially no rules can be established and/or observed, given that the dominant state has the prerogative to violate and/or rewrite “rules” at its whim.
Good, Aaron (2022-06-20T23:58:59.000). American Exception: Empire and the Deep State . Skyhorse. Kindle Edition.
Which explains why “The Quiet American Empire” [apologies to Graham Greene] should be recognized as this:
Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Racist Propagandist Criminal Ecocidal ‘Children-Killing’ & ‘War-Starting’ EMPIRE, controlled by the ‘Ruling-Elite’, UHNWI, <0.003%ers, TCCers, arrogantly self-appointed "Masters of the Universe", and "Evil (not-so) Geniuses" [Kurt Andersen] — which hides Empire behind their totally corrupted dual-party Vichy-facade of duopoly faux-democracy.
As the 'TIMES' Ron Suskind extracted from Karl Rove, and was printed in the 'TIMES' in Oct. 2004 — "We're an EMPIRE Now" believe it!
Just commented to the ‘TIMES’ on the insanity of “ginning-up” the next World War:
As “these ‘TIMES’ they are a-changing” reported recently:
At the Pentagon, Laura K. Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, said last week at a briefing that “we absolutely agree that Ukraine does need tanks.”
“This is the right time for Ukraine to take advantage of its capabilities, to change the dynamic on the battlefield,” Ms. Cooper said.
However, I have it on good authority that Laura K. Cooper is the daughter-in-law of the infamous Ukraine ‘War-Starter’, Victoria “eff the EU”, PNAC, Kagan’ Nuland.
As the saying goes, “the female lions do the killing” — and as Bob Dylan sang:
Now, the rovin’ gambler, he was very bored
Tryin’ to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said, “I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes, I think it can be very easily done”
“We’ll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61”
Good God, at least these ‘TIMES’ ain’t involved in ‘war-starting’, eh??
Alan MacDonald
Wells, Main
PS. What the hell — what could go wrong?
Put aside for a moment the logistical enormity of trying to train a thousand or so Ukrainians in how to service, operate, and then fight 40-50 M1 Abrams tanks. Never mind that for now, and that my friends is an admittedly fairly large “Never mind.
Instead, Americans must ask themselves a far more fundamental question. What is the vital American strategic interest at stake in all of Eastern Europe, much less in only Ukraine, that might cause our elected leaders in Washington, DC to risk a nuclear WW III with Russia? What has it ever been?
If Americans were to suddenly wake up to discover the potential costs of this dangerous game, most will be shocked to learn that their proudly displayed, but completely useless Ukrainian yard flags will not begin to pay the bloody costs for where we are all headed. D*MN!
To hear our own soldiers express such disgust with our military machinery rather aptly suggests how frequently we pay big bucks for inferior product. It reminds of the big three auto makers in the ’70’s when they turned out ugly, unreliable rust buckets who were outdone hands-down by reliable and affordable Hondas and Toyotas. The Pentagon can’t pass an audit, and it would seem our MIC does a great job of generating profits selling junk. So surprised!
Of course, the USA is able to take this approach because there is no, obvious, repercussions on the american homeland. It’s all dead Ukrainians over there with the MSM ensuring the american people only hear the official story of what’s happening. Plucky Ukraine, brave Ze, evil Ruskies.
If this war was in America’s backyard, like it is Russia’s, the story would be different. Maybe the economic reality will, eventually, wake up America ?
Well said
“Throwing good money after bad”. What a folly. And what potential devastating consequences. Yes Drew, psychopaths. If they were normal citizens, they’d be locked up. No-one to rein them in, as you say.
Since the start of the war US aid to Ukraine totals $68 billion which makes it roughly $200 million a day.
Despite everything the MSM says, the US is patently making war on Russia.
Great article, as usual.
But I think the withdrawl from Afghanistan had some very important lessons. To the extent the US “wins” a battle, it does it through overwhelming and very asymmetric force; particularly with the use of airstrikes. It is not evident to me that we can progress without destroying the enemy ahead of any ground advance. Once we withdrew our airstrike capability in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan military collapsed – this is what the Afghani generals said.
If I am on the right track, how is Ukraine going to advance without the asymmetric air strikes that I propose characterize the US/NATO war strategy?
Mike maybe the answer lies in all those documents that are being found everywhere currently.
I’ve said it for years now, these people present a clear and present danger to themselves and the entire world.
Nothing like having a gang in control with no flag or moral compass.
The US has never fought a war against a modern military with an air defense system and other capabilities that Russia possesses. Shock and awe is for fighting brown people in the desert. It won’t work here. A war with Russia will be a long, drawn out test of each side’s military industrial capabilities.
Makes sense. Which brings me to my next thought, is Ukraine meant to be a test-bed for the US to develop new tactics and strategies? Did Biden push us into this in order to run experiments at with the main cost being Ukrainian lives and a few $1oBs? We can only hope that the Afghanistan withdrawl taught us some lessons. Is Ukraine a place to start trying to make corrections?
Bob, not if it goes nuclear, you watching here Mike? The definition of “MAD” = Mutually Assured Destruction, which by no other definition means, every person on the planet, all wild animal and plant life are ensured to be impacted in a most efficient and deadly manner. The military calls it collateral damage. Total annihilation ! See Afghanistan and lessons learned, then see Julian Assange and his plight for reporting the truth.
What you say about a” test bed” could very likely be true, Biden is the type, arrogant self serving and in denial. Afghanistan taught the U.S. nothing, Deep State calling the shots, they got exactly what they wanted, the U.S.A. be damned. Nothing like killing hundreds of thousands conventionally to prove no war is beyond the human capability to inflict death and misery on itself and others.
Is Ukraine a place to start try to make corrections? Seriously Mike, I can’t buy that bull. I have said all along this entire deal could have been handled much differently, but oh hell no! For the sake of empire the US & NATO must drive Russia into the ground. WTF, over!
How many $10billionsBs you profited from from this fiasco.
Makes sense, does it, hell it’s a given Bob McDonald and you trust the fools involved here to not make a deadly mistake in judgement. This makes no sense fellas,. The use ofall this treasure and human energy would “make sense” if is were directed to solving climate change.
Dog give me strength! Thanks CN
Not all of us in the United States support this madness. We abhor it as a crime against peace. If you get information from outside the mainstream media echo chamber, as I do, you will realize that the U.S. is all mouth and no trousers. Their attempt to defeat Russia with economic sanctions has failed abysmally. Their bluffs about overpowering Russian troops on the battlefield is going to fail, too, at the cost of thousands of lives, both military and civilian. But they don’t care. The U.S. and its terrified “allies” in Europe (more like hostages) care not one whit for the lives lost as a result of this, including the lives of American citizens who are being deprived of social programs whose funds are being cut to divert money into war and war materiel. That is our health care, our schools, our infrastructure, our social security, our pensions, and the cost of housing, food and fuel. The warmongers don’t give a damn.
Even from the slanted media reports one can comprehend the desperation of Ukrainians who lack electricity and often
water. They are being told again and again that they can win against the Russians. This is delusional. It is a version
of the myths created by defense contractors themselves that with this weapon, the biggest, and most expensive ever,
some kind of “victory” is guaranteed. Some offer their lives for this illusionary battle. It is a battle for profits for
defense contractors. It is a battle which will most probably be lost. The Ukrainian army in Mariupol made such
“courageous” promises to give their lives for the ideals of race supremacy. They lost. Those with insight are fleeing
by the millions for survival. Being white and “just like us” they are welcomed in Europe.
Agree entirely, Ms. Zaremba. The U.S. needs to stop bullying other nations around the world. Sanctions are warfare too. The U.S. provoked Russia first with all of the nukes on European soil pointed only at Russia. The CIA destabilized a pro-Russia government in Kiev by funding a neo-Nazi group and then installed a puppet government in its’ place. A motley crew of deep state department operatives have been funding the corrupt regime in Ukraine for years while Hunter Biden collects kickbacks for himself and his old man. I don’t get how this is lost on Europeans who drone on and on about the poor victims of Ukraine fighting for freedom and Democracy. European governments have never looked so weak and dependent on the U.S. military for their defense. It seems they have some kind of sick need to punish or dominate Russia. OK, Poland and the Baltics have an axe to grind with Russia from past dominance. But what explains war mongers Von der Leyen and Baerbock other than some kind of TDS association of Putin with Trump. As Putin himself remarked about the Trump-Russia hoax, ‘Have you people all lost your minds over there?’ It seems to come down to globalists versus nationalists. Everything is black and white to these types. The left is desperate to control every thought and action and are willing to risk WW3 to get their way. They have no clue about what they are playing with and won’t until it is much too late. There is no middle ground or reasoning with these people. They will get what they deserve from Putin. Good and hard. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of lives lost for no good reason whatsoever. Hubris and ignorance, as Mr. Ritter observes.
I’m constantly frustrated at these madmen labelling themselves, and being labelled, ‘the left’. They are not. The true left wing is anti-war, anti-nazi, anti empire and wouldn’t have anything to do with this madness. The term ‘left’ is increasingly hi-jacked by liberal extremists (yes it is possible to be a liberal extremist). This ‘rule of law’ nonsense is increasingly being shown up as actually a ‘rule of war’.
“The left”?? Von der Leyen is the daughter of a Christian Democatic politician, and one herself. And Baerbock is fairly obviously an agent or tool of the Integrity Initiative & co. rightist conspiracy.
I agree that some terms are fluid right now.
The Ukraine war mongers of Europe cannot be called neo-cons.
But they do follow the neo-con doctrine of U.S. and NATO global hegemony.
But they call it the ‘rules based order.’ By which they mean, their rules are your order.
The E.U. government is largely Socialist, Globalist and Feminist.
That certainly includes Von der Leyen and Baerbock, the main E.U. cheerleaders for the Ukraine war.
Nearly all of the Western propaganda press are part of this belief system.
As are the Biden Regime and the Democrat party.
All of them oppose anything conservative and Republicans in the U.S.
They are secular over religious, anti-Trump and anti-Putin.
It is odd but the ‘Green’ party have become the war-mongers of Europe.
Putin at his core is a conservative Christian.
Russia under Communism was left wing, but no more.
Their opposition in the U.S. leaned right wing.
Most everything has been turned upside down.
Except that Germany is arming Nazis in Ukraine once again to fight Russia.
Once again.
Amen! And thank you for your tireless efforts to educate our zombified citizens.
Listen now and listen good!
The Washington neocon imperialists have lost their marbles! No one in Washington is present to rein in these psychopaths.
The escalatory spiral is playing out before our eyes. Just seven months ago the four major NATO powers — UK, Germany, France, the United States of BlackRock-Vanguard Israel, sending scores of major tanks to the Ukie Russophobes, neo-Nazis and conscripts would have been unfathomable. Now it’s a disgusting and reprehensible reality. No one in Congress, no one in our flunkie sick media have any stature or backbone to call this out for the insanity it is.
Make no mistake though, our leaders in Washington definitely want to ramp things up with sovereign Russia. They want to put the world on the brink of nuclear war to see if that will foster regime change in Moscow.
It appears the American public is allowing these ruthless cretins to make a dangerous brinkmanship a reality.
” They want to put the world on the brink of nuclear war to see if that will foster regime change in Moscow. ”
that´s it put in a nutshell.
What is so astonishing: it has all been written down and published well before, they all knew what is being planned.
And they ought to know what is yet to come.
It really is astonishing. Just quickly skim over a few papers by Leo Strauss and his mad disciple Paul Wolfowitz.
And no one is saying that Russian ‘regime change’ might be for the worse !
“Regime change” in Russia would definitely be for the worse! It would mean going back to the 1990s for 85% of the Russian population.
Lost their marbles – yup a pretty good description – as Biden himself said (with regard to the documents) “i wasn’t aware …” when too many of your marbles are lost, you can’t play with a full deck (mixing metaphors is often appropriate :) )
Good one!
“… our leaders in Washington definitely want to ramp things up with sovereign Russia. They want to put the world on the brink of nuclear war to see if that will foster regime change in Moscow.” I think, You’re right with that.
They consider themselves as invincible, so this might be correct too: “They want to put the world on the brink of nuclear war to see if that will foster regime change in Moscow.” I’d go further and say, not only “on the brink”, but over the cliff. They consider MAD as outdated by their newest and most superior technologies – who could hit any missiles in time – from space.. like in this interview “A CHILLING WARNING From a Wise Old Man About Whats Coming…” Joe Stoukens mentions (24:00). Those who observed could see where the big money goes since a long time.
I’m not sure if the American public does allow it. The “public” might be all over the world in quite a strange shape, unable to turn the wheel around.
F-16s are next. F-16s to the Ukies will be a reality in a couple of mos.
That will represent the most dangerous point of escalation yet.
Astonishing there’s barely any outrage and condemnation from any officials in Washington. Astonishing. Greasing the skids to World War 3.