[GatewayPundit] Elon Musk dropped another truth bomb on the state of American journalism earlier today on X.
On Tuesday Glenn Greenwald asked an important question to American journalists, "Who were the American journalists who conducted even minimally adversarial interviews with Zelensky?"
X owner Elon Musk later responded: "To be fair, it’s hard for them to talk while giving a blowjob at the same time."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Irina Alksnis
[RIA] In recent months, publications devoted to the difficult, critical, and in some cases even catastrophic situation in Kyiv have become commonplace in the Western media mainstream. However, even against such a “zrad” background, the article by military analyst and retired Australian Major General Mike Ryan in the latest Foreign Affairs looks remarkable and very unusual.
The fact is that he allowed himself to touch on a topic that, it seems, other Western experts simply do not risk touching. Most of them, speaking about the sad Ukrainian prospects, raise the problems that the country is dealing with - from rampant corruption to the exhaustion of mobilization resources. As for the Russian factor, it is mainly considered quite generally: “the aggressor turned out to be too large, powerful and rich a country whose capabilities were underestimated.”
For Ryan, the essence of the current processes is that Russia and its army are better adapting to what is happening, and at the strategic level. The article is called “Russia’s advantage in adaptation.” As a military analyst, he consistently examines the areas in which Moscow radically restructured its work and made breakthroughs during the Northern Military District, seizing the initiative even in those areas where Kiev initially had an advantage (the clearest example is UAVs).
Russia's centralized and systematic approach initially appeared to be a weakness, as many processes were slow to start and its military-state machine looked too clumsy, unable to effectively respond to new challenges. Here the author could not resist making a textbook comparison with a bear.
However, in the end, this turned out to be a strategic advantage for our country: this approach allows us not only to solve immediate problems on the battlefield, but also to generally rebuild the army and the military-industrial complex to the requirements and conditions of modern warfare, be it command and control of troops, the organization of offensive and defensive operations, mobilization of resources, increasing the survivability of personnel and equipment.
In such conditions, individual enemy successes are not able to reverse the general trend. And here Mike Ryan touched on another extremely unusual topic, which is a silent figure in Western analytics. True, he did not dare to say it directly.
The entire article is devoted to the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, and the West, in the author’s portrayal, is strongly in the background and plays a minor military role in what is happening. Such an approach, performed by an obviously intelligent and knowledgeable specialist in his field, looks, of course, frivolous - as if a small child playing hide-and-seek covers his face with his palms and is sure that he hid himself well.
For example, as one of Kiev’s military achievements, the author named the ability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to launch long-range strikes deep into Russian territory over the past two years. But this became possible solely due to the fact that the West provided Kyiv with the appropriate weapons, instructors and - not excluded - even crews.
Here, of course, one can assume that Ryan simply needed to give examples of at least some successes and achievements of Kyiv, and since it does not have any of its own, it is necessary to pass off Western assistance as such. But there is a suspicion that in fact the author was guided by more subtle and complex motives.
In addition to “making a diagnosis,” Mike Ryan in his article paid a lot of attention to “prescribing treatment.” The list of what Ukraine must do to reverse the processes fatal to itself is impressive, starting with the development of “its own strategic approach to learning and adaptation.” However, if you read it carefully, it becomes obvious that the author’s main advice is not directed to Kyiv, but much further to the west.
What is worth mentioning is that “the key lesson of the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive is that the combined arms doctrine that NATO trained Ukrainian troops is outdated.” But this is not just NATO material for training its proxies - the combined arms doctrine of the North Atlantic Alliance as such. And during the fighting in Ukraine, its inconsistency with current realities and modern war was proven.
Essentially, Ryan's article is an alarming alarm addressed to Washington, Brussels and other Western capitals: wake up! The Russians are successfully restructuring their army and military-industrial complex to the latest military trends, testing new solutions, algorithms and weapons in combat conditions, while NATO, led by the Americans, rests on the laurels of a rapidly aging system, simply wasting the Ukrainians and the contents of their own arsenals.
However, a military analyst cannot say this openly and directly, since this goes completely against the dominant and mandatory agenda in the West. As a result, he is forced to resort to Aesopian language and allusions. But the refusal of decision-makers on both sides of the Atlantic to see the real state of affairs practically guarantees that Ryan's allegorical alarmism will remain a voice crying in the wilderness.
Well, so much the better for us. And for the rest of the world.
That's what usually happens when you invade Russia* - they follow you home.
*To Russians, Ukraine is Russia** and Ukrainians are brothers - retarded & psychotically violent, but brothers.
**To them: UN, International Law, etc... is the same as gender fluidity. Mumbling from the Animal Farm.
#2
At this rate I will be dead before they get here, I'm 45
Posted by: Chris ||
02/08/2024 11:55 Comments ||
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#3
Like to see his portfolio of stcks also, I bet a few make weapons.
Posted by: Chris ||
02/08/2024 11:56 Comments ||
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#4
As for the Russian factor, it is mainly considered quite generally: “the aggressor turned out to be too large, powerful and rich a country whose capabilities were underestimated.”
Yes, it's clear now that Putin underestimated Biden and NATO. He wasn't ready for them but he's working hard to catch up.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/08/2024 12:20 Comments ||
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#5
Now, having read the conclusion, it seems Irina Alksnis has violated one of Napoleon's favorite maxims: Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/08/2024 12:30 Comments ||
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[Asia Times] Failed US policy to date based on gross exaggeration of American firepower and misguided wishful thinking Russia would eventually back down
The Biden administration wants the Ukraine war to continue at least until after US presidential elections in November but there is a lurking danger that won’t be possible, especially if Russia mounts a really big offensive. For that reason, there is a new emerging plan, one that is not in writing but seen in politics.
An example: When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to fire armed forces commander Valerii Zaluzhny, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who is directly responsible for US and NATO Ukraine policy, rushed to Kiev.
There are no photo ops with Nuland and Zelensky. She briefed the press standing outside in front of a hastily assembled table with some microphones on it.
Why did Nuland run to Kiev? Almost certainly the White House told her to get herself over there immediately in case things went south in Kiev. There was apparently real worry that Zaluzhny might turn the army around and use it to go after Zelensky.
US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland. Photo: Asia Times files
So far, Zaluzhny has not made a move. He still can, of course, so one supposes that Nuland was in Kiev to talk more to Zaluzhny than to Zelensky. There is no public record of any meeting but it would seem that her job was to calm Zaluzhny down and offer him incentives to behave.
Washington is saying nothing officially about the changing of the military guard in Kiev. The White House says it is an "internal Ukrainian" issue, not one Washington would have anything to say about.
Certainly, this is pure nonsense. Washington has been manipulating Ukraine’s internal politics since before 2014, and Nuland was the sparkplug to get what Washington wanted.
Nor was there any surprise about cashiering Zaluzhny. Someone has to take the blame for the failure of Kiev’s so-called counteroffensive and the waste of billions of dollars in US equipment and supplies.
It also isn’t a surprise that things are getting worse now, as Ukraine will soon face the loss of Avdiivka and the Russian army, newly refurbished, will push toward the Dnieper River, aiming at Kiev.
As has been noted now ad nauseum, Kiev’s manpower situation is dire and its lack of weapons means it is limited in what it can hope to do. But the real kicker is that Kiev’s mounting casualties, more than 1,000 per week, are hitting hard on the public perception that the war has gone wrong.
To pull men and women into the army Kiev resorts to rough, unpopular measures, including threats and intimidation. Going to the front untrained is seen more and more as a certain death sentence (which it is).
Zelensky won’t negotiate with Russia because Washington is opposed to any negotiation, seeing it as a potential defeat for NATO. The result would be unnerving NATO and truncating Washington’s leadership of the alliance.
Politically, Zelensky is more and more aligned with Kraken and other military formations who are extremely anti-Russian (and anti a lot of other things). The Russians regard them as fascists and Nazis.
But how can Kiev hold on if Russia actually mounts a major new military action in Ukraine?
An offensive is likely mostly because Putin needs one to cement his next term as president. Elections are scheduled for March 17, and Putin’s reelection is likely because he has suppressed any real opposition. But even so, Putin needs a boost from the Russian public and a celebratory election would count for a lot.
This puts Kiev in a terrible bind. Once there is a real Russian breakthrough across the current line of contact, sending Ukrainian forces reeling backward, it will be nearly impossible for the Zelensky government to survive in Kiev.
Under such circumstances, there are already indications of planning to move the Ukrainian government westward, probably to Lviv (Lvov), which is near the Polish border. The Poles are already saying they might use their nearby air defenses to protect Lviv.
Why would they say this? The reason is that they are preparing a plan to hold off the Russians by use of Polish Patriot and other air defenses, and even to send Polish brigades reinforced by other NATO assets. The British are already preparing public opinion and openly talking about sending their Special Forces to Ukraine’s rescue.
Anyone who looks at a map must realize that the only way NATO can "invade" or "support" a Zelensky government is if it is done close to the border with Poland.
That’s far enough away from Russian missiles that it will be difficult for Russia to deal with that area, unless of course there is either a de facto or de jure breakup of Ukraine in which the western part stays somewhat independent while the rest is subject to whatever arrangements the Russians decide to impose.
Nothing will happen if the Russians stay with the plodding, slow grind-up of Ukraine’s army. But, as noted above, the Ukraine war is reaching an inflection point for both military and political reasons.
Shifting the Ukraine government to Lviv and gaining support from Poland and the UK (no others are likely to contribute anything) would buy time for Biden, although the end result either will be a war in part of Europe (Poland, the Baltic states) or a stalemate that Russia and NATO accept.
Biden gets off the hook for the time being if this scenario plays out but even in the medium term it is a strategic disaster. Biden, of course, is mindful he does not need and cannot survive another Afghanistan-like disaster.
British enthusiasm for war owes to pressure from Washington. It is well to remember that the British military is an unholy, underfunded and undermanned mess. The British forces lack materials, lift and cover to do much of anything, and it is foolish to think the Russians won’t retaliate.
That leaves the impression that British enthusiasm for war is simply fake news, intended to scare the Russians somehow. Most of Washington’s Ukraine policy has been based on the exaggeration of the value of American weapons and coordination capabilities, and on wishful thinking that Russia would back out of the conflict.
Any look at Russian history, dating back to Napoleon, should have suggested that Russia wasn’t going to back down. Moreover, taking into account British bombast, one is reminded of the outcome of the charge of the Light Brigade. Will we see another Balaclava in Ukraine?
Nuland has created a disaster with the full backing of the Biden-Obama team. As, so far, there is no counterweight in the United States or among the NATO states, the disaster will roll on. Washington will continue to risk a war in Europe, even a nuclear war, to try and salvage the disaster of its own making.
Washington and Nuland are effectively trying to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Stephen Bryen served as staff director of the Near East Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as a deputy undersecretary of defense for policy. This article was first published on his Weapons and Strategy Substack and is republished with permission.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/08/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
Failed US policy to date based on gross exaggeration of American firepower and misguided wishful thinking Russia would eventually back down
...Without for an instant endorsing a single damned decision by this administration, it would not have been unreasonable for the strategists to believe that, given the scale of Russian losses, they would have long since declared victory and given up. I get that.
The problem here is that nobody reads their history. Josef Stalin - one of the hardest cases to ever rule anywhere, with literal megadeaths on his head - retreated into seclusion for about three days after the German invasion, then stood up and rallied the USSR, and they didn't stop for five years, until they stood on the rubble of Berlin.
That needed to be in the minds of everybody making decisions, but it wasn't even on the radar. The people in charge had no possible conception of a nation like the real Russia, and now we're dealing with it.
Yes, somebody might - might - eventually give Volodya the long polonium nap, but they will be every bit as stubborn on this subject as he was.
#5
#2 ^Have you considered the idea that Putin is front man for FSB junta, Mike?
Posted by Grom the Reflective 2024-02-08 06:47|| 2024-02-08 06:47|| Front Page || Comments Top
Grom,
I had figured he was leading it - had not considered a figurehead role.
#7
Have you considered the idea that Putin is front man for FSB junta, Mike?
That might work for Biden and the CIA but I get the impression that Putin is a whole other kettle of fish. We'll have to wait and see how much stuttering and stammering he does in his interview with Tucker. Of course, it would be tough to verify Putin's version of Corn Pop.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/08/2024 12:06 Comments ||
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#8
As much as I detest Russia's invasion, I've always figured that the US response is just a cover operation for the Big guy's 10%.
#9
"I remember him clearly. Quite nice,
And like me he had mind like device.
Why, while turning its screws
He imparted his views
Which I've ever since used." [eyes of ice]
2) The same poll shows that 72% of respondents supported the massacre of October 7. But somehow a new Palestinian state in Gaza would embrace coexisting with Israel?
3) The PA has an abysmal track record of corruption and was too weak to prevent a Hamas-led coup in Gaza, less than two years after Israel’s withdrawal. So why would the PA perform any better this next time?
6) There is no Arab or other power with the popularity, authority, and morality to educate for coexistence and to ensure that all reconstruction funds rebuild Gaza as Singapore instead of Somalia.
Yet the international community — including the U.S., EU, and U.N. — still clings to the delusional idea that if they just pressure Israel into accepting a future Palestinian state in Gaza, that the impoverished, overcrowded, and radicalized territory will suddenly flourish.
Posted by: Black Charlie McGurque1103 ||
02/08/2024 9:56 Comments ||
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#4
there can be no palestinian areas in israel. gaza and west-bank have to go. anyone with an eye and a map can see this. palestinians can stay as israeli 'belongers' if they renounce sharia law and have a job.
belongers is a nice bahamian word.
[IsraelTimes] US plans to use truce to advance postwar plans, officials say, indicating they won’t back subsequent resumption of fighting, even if it means allowing Hamas ...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... to remain in some form
As the Israel-Hamas war reaches its fourth month, the Biden administration is sticking firm to its stance opposing a permanent ceasefire in the Gazoo
Continued on Page 49
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
