Article

2022-10-26 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

American colonel called the detail that marks the defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[RIA Novosti] Washington's policy towards the Ukrainian conflict is becoming increasingly strange, according to The American Conservative , the words of former adviser to the Secretary of Defense Colonel Douglas McGregor.

...West Point, 4th Cavalry, author of Breaking the Phalanx and Transformation under Fire and endless essays and interviews. A great favourite of Russia Today, etc. because he’s been for Russian annexation of the Donbas since 2014.

An example, in his opinion, is the recent statement by the former CIA director and ex-commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan , David Petraeus, that Western countries led by the United States could intervene in the protracted conflict between Moscow and Kiev .

"It is important to remember that Ukraine is not Iraq , but the Russian army does not drive around in pickup trucks with machine guns," the colonel said.

In addition, McGregor believes, Petraeus's assumption confirms that the Ukrainian armed forces are in critical condition.

"Without foreign fighters and Polish soldiers fighting in Ukrainian uniforms, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not be able to withstand the winter offensives of the Russian army. The Russian sledgehammer that should fall on the Zelensky regime will crush everything that remains of the Ukrainian forces. And the only way to prolong the life of the Kyiv authorities is Washington's willingness to intervene directly in the conflict before it's too late," the colonel stressed.

At the same time, he added that the American authorities do not think about the costs and consequences that will follow the intervention of NATO countries in the confrontation.

"The intellectual and professional level of the senior military leadership of the United States is at a deplorably low level. They are ready to bow to any stupid idea. Questions about the number of manpower, logistics, ammunition, medical support and evacuation that will be needed if the alliance enters into conflict are pushed aside to the background," the publication notes.

According to McGregor, the only sure way for the Joe Biden administration in Ukraine is to mediate peace, not escalate the situation.

The United States authorities have repeatedly stressed that American military personnel will not take part in military operations on the territory of Ukraine. US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith also said that the alliance should not be directly involved in the conflict. At the same time, Petraeus suggested that a multinational contingent could be involved in Ukraine, but not as a NATO force, but under the leadership of Washington.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned of serious consequences if NATO troops clash with the Russian army. He stressed that such a development of events would lead to a global catastrophe, but expressed the hope that Western leaders were smart enough not to take such steps.

Russian army dealt a crushing blow to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kremennaya area

[RIA Novosti] The Russian army dealt a crushing blow to the Ukrainian units that broke through to Kremennaya, police colonel of the Luhansk People's Republic Vitaly Kiselyov said on Channel One.

According to him, the defense in the area of Kremennaya and Svatovo is "smartly coordinated", the Russian military is showing an example of heroism there.

"The Russian army dealt a crushing blow to the mercenary troops who were trying to enter our territories. <...> By radio interception, by the fact that prisoners were taken <...> it was revealed from which direction this large-scale breakthrough would come. And of course, our units were are already ready for this.<...> As a result, more than ten pieces of equipment were knocked out, the personnel were dispersed and destroyed," Kiselev said.

He added that, despite the losses incurred, the enemy will not abandon attempts to break through the defenses in this direction.

Earlier, RIA Novosti correspondents reported that the engineers of the Russian group of troops "Brave" are strengthening the Svatovo-Kremennaya defense line, installing tank barriers.

Posted by badanov 2022-10-26 00:00|| || Front Page|| [19 views ] Top

#1 Nice slimy little editorial spin there:

“because he’s been for Russian annexation of the Donbas since 2014.”

Bullshit. He favours what everyone agreed was the right approach: plebiscites. Whoever’s pulling this stunt, kindly stop inserting lies into the article.

Btw, Col. Douglas MacGregor is our most successful battlefield commander of the last half century. He’s courageously opposed the Pentagon’s stupidity and blunders, and has also spoken out repeatedly against our foreign policy blunders — including the many idiotic recent moves to rip up the Minsk Accords that foresaw plebiscites to determine the future of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Here are some YT video interviews with Col. Douglas MacGregor

Posted by Billy B 2022-10-26 09:28|| 2022-10-26 09:28|| Front Page Top

#2 #1 Nice slimy little editorial spin there

Tut tut. That’s Rantburg’s very own expert on Minsk, plebiscites, and cavalry maneuvers, “TW.”

Not the same as this TW, though:

TW Interviews Douglas Macgregor: Ukraine Will Lose

Posted by Palermo 2022-10-26 09:33|| 2022-10-26 09:33|| Front Page Top

#3 Agree with his analysis or not, no mystery as to why Doug never made general.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-10-26 09:39|| 2022-10-26 09:39|| Front Page Top

#4 no mystery as to why Doug never made general

Indeed. From Wiki:

Macgregor was "one of the Army's leading thinkers on innovation", according to journalist Thomas E. Ricks.[4] He "became prominent inside the Army" when he published Breaking the Phalanx, which argued for radical reforms.[4] Breaking the Phalanx was rare in that an active duty military author was challenging the status quo with detailed reform proposals for the reorganization of U.S. Army ground forces.[5]

The head of the Army, United States General Dennis Reimer, wanted to reform the Army and effectively endorsed Breaking the Phalanx and passed copies out to generals; however, reforming the U.S. Army according to the book met resistance from the Army's de facto "board of directors"—the other four-star Army generals—and Reimer did not press the issue.[6]

Breaking the Phalanx advocated that "the Army restructure itself into modularly organized, highly mobile, self-contained, combined arms teams that look extraordinarily like the Marine Corps' Air Ground Task Forces".[7] His article called "Thoughts on Force Design in an Era of Shrinking Defense Budgets" was published in The Dado Center Journal (the IDF's "Journal on Operational Art").

Many of Macgregor's colleagues thought his unconventional thinking may have harmed his chances for promotion.[2] While an Army NTC official called him "the best war fighter the Army has got," colleagues of Macgregor were concerned that "the Army is showing it prefers generals who are good at bureaucratic gamesmanship to ones who can think innovatively on the battlefield."[2]

Posted by Billy B 2022-10-26 09:48|| 2022-10-26 09:48|| Front Page Top

#5 "one of the Army's leading thinkers on innovation"

There is nothing large hierarchical bureaucracies love more than innovation.

Posted by SteveS 2022-10-26 09:53|| 2022-10-26 09:53|| Front Page Top

#6 the Army is showing it prefers generals who are good at bureaucratic gamesmanship to ones who can think innovatively on the battlefield

Truer words were never spoken

Franks, Petraeus, Milley-Vanilli…

Posted by Ebbeaque Omeque1028 2022-10-26 09:54|| 2022-10-26 09:54|| Front Page Top

#7 And the only way to prolong the life of the Kyiv authorities is Washington's willingness to ~~intervene directly in the conflict before it's too late~~ get America nuked," the colonel stressed.

Posted by Dron66046 2022-10-26 09:58|| 2022-10-26 09:58|| Front Page Top

#8 ^ LOL

Posted by Billy B 2022-10-26 10:01|| 2022-10-26 10:01|| Front Page Top

#9 Breaking the Phalanx advocated that "the Army restructure itself into modularly organized, highly mobile, self-contained, combined arms teams

That's what the Soviets did just prior to Afghanistan. And about half their forces are structured in this way.

Posted by badanov 2022-10-26 10:38|| 2022-10-26 10:38|| Front Page Top

#10 Nice slimy little editorial spin there:

“because he’s been for Russian annexation of the Donbas since 2014.”

Bullshit. He favours what everyone agreed was the right approach: plebiscites. Whoever’s pulling this stunt, kindly stop inserting lies into the article.

One side is for plebiscites, while the other isn't, because both sides know what the outcome will be. This war is about who gets to decide the fate of Donbass, NATO or Russia.

Posted by badanov 2022-10-26 10:58|| 2022-10-26 10:58|| Front Page Top

#11 Breaking the Phalanx advocated that "the Army restructure itself into modularly organized, highly mobile, self-contained, combined arms teams that look extraordinarily like the Marine Corps' Air Ground Task Forces"

I remember him. The Army still had officers that remembered the experiments with the "atomic armageddon" Pentomic Division and maybe wasn't as impressed. If the Army was planning on deploying Divisions as cohesive units the appeal of a total reorganization is ...lukewarm when the concept of "Task Force" units was already established.

Posted by magpie 2022-10-26 11:15|| 2022-10-26 11:15|| Front Page Top

#12 ^ Army units have been modular since Viet Nam with the army "brigading" its large maneuver unit components.

The round outs for the US 2nd Infantry Division in the early going in a Korean war could include one airborne brigade

Posted by badanov 2022-10-26 11:24|| 2022-10-26 11:24|| Front Page Top

#13 My deepest, darkest suspicion is that, in the minds of Biden and his globalist handlers, Donbas is merely one of the steps on the way to Moscow. Biden said it himself. His words, "For the love of God, this man (Putin) cannot remain in power."

Putin controls the biggest part of the Eurasian land mass and Biden wants it. If it wasn't so, he would seek negotiations and a peaceful resolution to prevent further bloodshed. It's telling that he doesn't. Nobody's arguing that Putin is a nice guy. All I'm saying is that Biden isn't either.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2022-10-26 13:23|| 2022-10-26 13:23|| Front Page Top

#14 If they really wanted to take over Russia, wouldn't it have been a good idea to maybe practice on something easier, like Mexico.

Hell, they haven't "taken over" anything since the end of WW II, except Grenada and Panama. Kinda. Sorta...

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-10-26 13:27|| 2022-10-26 13:27|| Front Page Top

#15 Biden is perfectly content with the way things are going in Mexico, right down to the cartels flooding our country with fentanyl. If he wasn't, he could stop it. But he doesn't stop it, does he?

NATO and the EU have expanded steadily eastward since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It doesn't look like they're ready to stop.

I understand if many of you are unwilling to believe that an American president would embrace such an aggressive and warlike policy. But remember when Obama was saying Qdaffi has to go and Assad has to go, as if American presidents have the right to go around the world telling people who can run their countries and who can't. Remember Bush saying Saddam has to go? Putin remembers. He remembers what they did to Yanukovych too. Democracy has nothing to do with it.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2022-10-26 13:43|| 2022-10-26 13:43|| Front Page Top

#16 Obama was told what to say, exactly like Biden. They don't sit around and 'game' international strategy, regime change, and power projection. Others do that for them, and you know all too well whom those others are.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-10-26 15:02|| 2022-10-26 15:02|| Front Page Top

#17 wouldn't it have been a good idea to maybe practice on something easier, like Mexico.

Remember when every leftist face man lost their shit when Trump even suggested El Chapo could be a bad man?

Or even Fast and Furious. Seem pretty comfortable in their relationship with Mexico's underground authorities.

Posted by swksvolFF 2022-10-26 15:47|| 2022-10-26 15:47|| Front Page Top

15:28 Abu Uluque
15:26 Abu Uluque
15:08 M. Murcek
15:06 Besoeker
14:59 ACA JOE
14:58 Grom the Reflective
14:55 swksvolFF
14:48 Besoeker
14:11 NoMoreBS
14:00 Procopius2k
13:58 Procopius2k
13:23 Crusader
13:19 Frank G
13:11 Frank G
13:11 SteveS
13:06 Skidmark
13:04 Rex Mundi
13:02 Skidmark
12:58 Rex Mundi
12:57 Rex Mundi
12:55 Rex Mundi
12:52 Skidmark
12:40 746
12:38 Grom the Reflective