Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Wed 05/28/2025 View Tue 05/27/2025 View Mon 05/26/2025 View Sun 05/25/2025 View Sat 05/24/2025 View Fri 05/23/2025 View Thu 05/22/2025
2021-12-24 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukraine, the United States and its allies face a complete failure
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] The American political class is about to get into yet another self-brewed mess, this time in Ukraine, which is an ideal mixture of foreign policy mistakes and defensive miscalculations that are likely to unleash the American people in a series of future crises and conflicts.

Unwilling to acknowledge Moscow's vital interests in this former Soviet republic, the US now wants to put Kiev and NATO to a dangerous and unnecessary test by engaging in armed confrontation with Russia, albeit not a nuclear one. In turn, the United States and its allies also face a test that they could easily avoid and which they are likely to fail. First you need to turn to the facts, writes retired US Army colonel and former senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense Douglas McGregor. For more information, see an August 23rd article in The American Conservative.


Continued from Page 4


The administration of US President Joe Biden is allocating $ 768.2 billion for national defense. Russia spends only $ 42.1 billion for the same purposes, which is less than the spending on defense of South Korea, which spends $ 48 billion. and striking power superior to the American ground forces and marines, even if they can deploy in Ukraine.

The superiority of the Russian ground forces is partly due to the strategic advantage of fighting close to Russia. In addition, the Russian authorities have carried out extensive military reforms and reorganizations.

During this reform process, old generals who had resisted the change were expelled from the army. A new, determined fighting force was created, consisting of young single men with a deep sense of Russian patriotism and firmness. This policy has led to the creation of an operationally flexible grouping of smaller Russian combat formations, created for the ruthless use of the striking power of Russian rocket artillery, tactical ballistic missiles and loitering ammunition.

Far to the west, across the Polish border, lies a clumsy group of US and NATO ground forces that, despite decades of cooperation, still have not learned how to effectively interact as one force. Over the past 20 years of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, most of Washington's allies have rarely been able to make any tangible contribution to US military operations. They either participated in them for show, or sent inexperienced military personnel who were forced to operate within a very tightly limited political framework.

Thus, like the US Army that leads them, the Allied Ground Forces still remain under the illusion that NATO can fight as effectively on land as the Anglo-American allies did during World War II, with the help of large, densely packed divisions, corps and armies. These are lucrative targets for Russian strike forces.

In addition, institutional policies to impose diversity and inclusion on the US military through combat capability, competence, and intelligence demoralize US troops. As a result, the dedication, cohesion, and pride in the achievements necessary to sustain America's professional fighting forces have been severely undermined.

The consequences are obvious: a confrontation between the United States and Russia in eastern Ukraine could easily end in the same way as the operations of the Anglo-French troops in 1940, when the conflict provoked serious foreign policy consequences.

Supply disruptions, consumer goods inflation and rising energy prices could be exacerbated if events in Ukraine spiral out of control. As more and more Americans become aware of the falling standard of living, how will they react to yet another war for suspicious targets that have absolutely nothing to do with their own vital strategic interests and will make their daily life even more difficult?

Key processes will develop on the eastern border of Ukraine, and not in the South China Sea or in the Taiwan Strait, and Washington supposedly cannot do anything about it. The political class in Washington should be concerned with the following questions: Will NATO survive its infamous retreat in the face of overwhelming Russian military power?

And why is Washington pursuing a policy not from a position of strength, but of weakness, which until now has been hidden behind an external demonstration of military power in conflicts against weak adversaries without armies, air defense or air forces?

"War makes the victor stupid," wrote Nietzsche. Since 1991, America's top military and political leaders have found many reasons to spend huge sums on defense, but there has been no reason to change the way the US military operates or to develop a national military strategy tied to tangible, concrete interests and the preservation of America's national power.

As the American economist John Kenneth Galbraith warned, "Privileged people will always risk their complete destruction, rather than give up any material part of their advantage. And this is caused, no doubt, by intellectual myopia, which is often called stupidity. But the privileged also believe that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, fundamental right given by God."

Washington's corrupt and morally bankrupt leaders are walking through a minefield. If they drag the US military and allies into yet another mess in Ukraine, they will face extreme resentment at home and abroad. However, like many other privileged classes before them, the Biden administration may opt for "total annihilation" rather than admitting that its deepest beliefs are a complete delusion. It's safe to say that no matter what happens in Ukraine, this chapter will not end well for President Biden or Washington's political class.

Posted by badanov 2021-12-24 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11139 views ]  Top

#1 The superiority of the Russian ground forces is partly due to the strategic advantage of fighting close to Russia. In addition, the Russian authorities have carried out extensive military reforms and reorganizations.

During this reform process, old generals who had resisted the change were expelled from the army. A new, determined fighting force was created, consisting of young single men with a deep sense of Russian patriotism and firmness. This policy has led to the creation of an operationally flexible grouping of smaller Russian combat formations, created for the ruthless use of the striking power of Russian rocket artillery, tactical ballistic missiles and loitering ammunition.


Nonsense on stilts, as usual. The problem with Russia is the problem with all autocracies that aren't German - each and every military officer is a contender for supreme national power. Consequently, no Russian leader can afford to appoint war leaders who are to smart for his own good. They might, on their own or in concert with like-minded individuals, decide to make a run at the throne. Stalin purged his officer corps not because he was stupid and paranoid, but for prudential reasons. The penalty for being wrong is death.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2021-12-24 03:26||   2021-12-24 03:26|| Front Page Top

#2 Russia stands in the way of a global governance. Therefore they must be invaded and regime changed. If it kills millions in a nuclear war then so be it. We must have unite the planet under a single government so as to redistribute the wealth of countries like America over the whole world. There will be a global level of prosperity that a Pakistani manual laborer would consider acceptable.

You'll live in the pod, eat the bugs, own nothing and be happy. Or else.
Posted by Sheter the Lesser9291 2021-12-24 03:26||   2021-12-24 03:26|| Front Page Top

#3 ^ Well put. Managed so poorly. World controlled by one master; Ha, never happen. Power only corrupts absolutely. Look how a virus disrupted the world. Especially the industrialized world. They dream of a Sky net. AI and all will be well. Fools delusion.
Posted by Dale 2021-12-24 07:52||   2021-12-24 07:52|| Front Page Top

#4 REGNUM News Agency is a Russian nationwide online news service disseminating news from Russia and abroad from its own correspondents, affiliate agencies and partners. REGNUM covers events in all regions of Russia as well as neighboring countries in Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus. Wikipedia
Posted by Bertie Crains2651 2021-12-24 08:46||   2021-12-24 08:46|| Front Page Top

#5 an ideal mixture of foreign policy mistakes payoffs and defensive miscalculations
Posted by Skidmark 2021-12-24 14:33||   2021-12-24 14:33|| Front Page Top

#6 the United States and its allies also face a test that they could easily avoid

The perfect threshold for the Obama/Biden final fall.
Posted by Skidmark 2021-12-24 14:36||   2021-12-24 14:36|| Front Page Top

#7 #1 problem with Russia is the problem with all autocracies that aren't German - each and every military officer is a contender for supreme national power.

Huh? I get it... you mean, like that Russian military dictator, um what's his name... Oh wait: there never has been a Russian military dictator or junta. Not in 900 years. Not even in Nicholas II's time or any other Time of Troubles. Never.

This Russian's analysis isn't "nonsense." It's sensible. And what he says about Russian military reform is totally plausible. Russia's fighting on its home turf. The last twenty years have seen extensive military reform -- even as our own military leadership has become politicized, bureaucratic and hobbled by careerism.

Our Woke masters and the Russian leadership are moving in opposite directions: it's our own moronic rulers who are moving toward autocracy with the help of their completely political idiot generals and assorted brass.

Would that we could have some of this type of reform here -- emphasis on 'determined,' 'patriotic' and 'ruthlessly' focused on fighting and winning:

During this reform process, old generals who had resisted the change were expelled from the army. A new, determined fighting force was created, consisting of young single men with a deep sense of Russian patriotism and firmness. This policy has led to the creation of an operationally flexible grouping of smaller Russian combat formations, created for the ruthless use of the striking power of Russian rocket artillery, tactical ballistic missiles and loitering ammunition.

Posted by Merrick Ferret 2021-12-24 15:17||   2021-12-24 15:17|| Front Page Top

#8 the United States and its allies also face a test that they could easily avoid

... easily, if they had even half the wisdom and good sense of an Eisenhower. Or even Reagan, or Bush's father. We didn't go to war with Russia over the 1956 Hungarian invasion, or the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968, or the crackdown in Poland in 1981.

Back when our political leadership was intelligently focused on vital national interests, we carefully chose our battles. We understood that Russia has a legitimate sphere of national interest which deserves respect. GHW Bush himself saw that Ukraine lies in Russia's sphere of interest.

Our idiot political class has botched yet another foreign policy.

All they have to do to preserve our national interest is do what Ike did in 1956: nothing. Stay out.
Posted by Merrick Ferret 2021-12-24 15:27||   2021-12-24 15:27|| Front Page Top

#9 ^Stalin purged his officer corps not because he was stupid and paranoid, but for prudential reasons. The penalty for being wrong is death.


And also because the Red Army at the time was still filled with former Czarist officers who Trotsky had to hurriedly recruit in 1919 because nobody else knew how to do the job. Almost twenty years later a lot of these guys had reached the upper ranks - and, because Trotsky had recruited them in the first place, they were viewed as "Trotskyites." And you know the OTHER mid-century mustache man wasn't going to have that. Still, he didn't actually kill most of them (waste not, want not), and reinstated 30% or soonce the Germans invaded.
Posted by Secret Master 2021-12-24 19:19||   2021-12-24 19:19|| Front Page Top

08:52 Matt
08:38 Gleng Whaick2262
08:35 Gleng Whaick2262
08:35 Gleng Whaick2262
08:33 Gleng Whaick2262
08:32 Gleng Whaick2262
08:31 Gleng Whaick2262
08:28 Gleng Whaick2262
08:24 Matt
08:20 SteveS
07:43 Procopius2k
07:42 BrerRabbit
07:42 Procopius2k
07:39 Procopius2k
07:36 Procopius2k
07:35 Procopius2k
07:34 trailing wife
07:31 Procopius2k
07:30 NN2N1
07:22 NN2N1
07:18 trailing wife
07:14 Richard Aubrey
07:10 NN2N1
07:09 Besoeker









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com