Posted on 12/20/2022 1:59:12 AM PST by Cathi
Douglas Macgregor
Dec 20, 2022 12:03 AM
During a speech given on November 29, Polish Vice-Minister of National Defense (MON) Marcin Ociepa said: "The probability of a war in which we will be involved is very high. Too high for us to treat this scenario only hypothetically." The Polish MON is allegedly planning to call up 200,000 reservists in 2023 for a few weeks’ training, but observers in Warsaw suspect this action could easily lead to a national mobilization.
Meanwhile, inside the Biden administration, there is growing concern that the Ukrainian war effort will collapse under the weight of a Russian offensive. And as the ground in Southern Ukraine finally freezes, the administration’s fears are justified. In an interview published in the Economist, head of Ukraine’s armed forces General Valery Zaluzhny admitted that Russian mobilization and tactics are working. He even hinted that Ukrainian forces might be unable to withstand the coming Russian onslaught.
Yet, Zaluzhny rejected any notion of a negotiated settlement and instead pleaded for more equipment and support. He went on to insist that with 300 new tanks, 600 to 700 new infantry fighting vehicles, and 500 new Howitzers, he could still win the war with Russia. Truthfully, General Zaluzhny is not asking for assistance, he’s asking for a new army. Therein lies the greatest danger for Washington and its NATO allies.
When things go badly for Washington’s foreign policy, the true believers in the great cause always draw deeply from the well of ideological self-delusion to steel themselves for the final battle. Blinken, Klain, Austin, and the rest of the war party continue to pledge eternal support for Kiev regardless of the cost. Like the “best and the brightest” of the 1960s they are eager to sacrifice realism to wishful thinking, to wallow in the splash of publicity and self-promotion in one public visit to Ukraine after another.
This spectacle is frighteningly reminiscent of events more than 50 years ago, when Washington’s proxy war in Vietnam was failing. Doubters within the Johnson administration about the wisdom of intervening on the ground to rescue Saigon from certain destruction went into hiding. In 1963, Washington already had 16,000 military advisors in Vietnam. The idea that Washington was supporting a government in South Vietnam that might not win against North Vietnam was dismissed out of hand. Secretary of State Dean Rusk said, “We will not pull out until the war is won.”
By the spring of 1965, American military advisors were already dying. General Westmoreland, then commander of Military Assistance Command Vietnam, reported to LBJ: “It is increasingly apparent that the existing levels of United States aid cannot prevent the collapse of South Vietnam... North Vietnam is moving in for the kill... Acting on the request of the South Vietnamese government, the decision must be made to commit as soon as possible 125,000 United States troops to prevent the Communist takeover.”
The Biden administration’s unconditional support for the Zelensky regime in Kiev is reaching a strategic inflection point not unlike the one LBJ reached in 1965. Just as LBJ suddenly determined in 1964 that peace and security in Southeast Asia was a vital U.S. strategic interest, the Biden administration is making a similar argument now for Ukraine. Like South Vietnam in the 1960s, Ukraine is losing its war with Russia.
Ukraine’s hospitals and morgues are filled to capacity with wounded and dying Ukrainian soldiers. Washington’s proxy in Kiev has squandered its human capital and considerable Western aid in a series of self-defeating counter-offensives. Ukrainian soldiers manning the defensive lines facing Russian soldiers in Southern Ukraine are brave men, but they are not fools. The Spartans at Thermopylae were brave, and they still died.
The real danger now is that Biden will soon appear on television to repeat LBJ’s performance in 1965, substituting the word "Ukraine" for "South Vietnam":
Tonight, my fellow Americans I want to speak to you about freedom, democracy, and the struggle of the Ukrainian people for victory. No other question so preoccupies our people. No other dream so absorbs the millions who live in Ukraine and Eastern Europe… However, I am not talking about a NATO attack on Russia. Rather, I propose to send a U.S. led coalition of the willing, consisting of American, Polish, and Romanian armed forces into Ukraine, to establish the ground equivalent of a “no-fly zone.” The mission I propose is a peaceful one, to create a safe zone in the Western most portion of Ukraine for Ukrainian Forces and refugees struggling to survive Russia’s devastating attacks…
Disaster wrapped in rhetoric is not the way to save the people of Ukraine. The war in Ukraine is not a Call of Duty fantasy. It is an enlargement of the human tragedy that NATO’s eastward expansion created. The victims do not live in North America. They live in a region that most Americans can't find on a map. Washington urged the Ukrainians to fight. Now Washington must urge them to stop.
NATO’s governments are divided in their thinking about the war in Ukraine. Except for Poland and, possibly, Romania, none of NATO’s members are in a rush to mobilize their forces for a long, grueling war of attrition with Russia in Ukraine. No one in London, Paris, or, Berlin wants to run the risk of a nuclear war with Moscow. Americans do not support going to war with Russia, and those few who do are ideologues, shallow political opportunists, or greedy defense contractors.
When U.S. forces finally withdrew from Southeast Asia, Americans thought that Washington would exercise greater restraint, recognize the limits of American power, and pursue a less militant, and more realistic foreign policy. Americans were mistaken then, but Americans and Europeans know now that Washington’s refusal to acknowledge Russia’s legitimate security interests in Ukraine and negotiate an end to this war is the path to protracted conflict and more human suffering.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Douglas Macgregor Douglas Macgregor, Col. (ret.) is a senior fellow with The American Conservative, the former advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration, a decorated combat veteran, and the author of five books.
Muslim population in Russia is already at 14% with muslim families having large numbers of children.
Russia Will Be One-Third Muslim in 15 Years, Chief Mufti Predicts
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/03/05/russia-will-be-one-third-muslim-in-15-years-chief-mufti-predicts-a64706
It’s hard to tell who is the most truthful. I know our MSM has proven they can’t be trusted. Just look at how they smeared Trump for 6 years.
It seems hard to fake live videos of combat, if you go to Tribun Timur on YouTube you can see videos of live action taped from the Russian side. Our MSM is selective, they mostly only show Russian losses as they are waging a propaganda war just as I’m sure the Russians are as well. The truth is the war is punishing severe attrition on both sides.
Tribun Timur has been running probably 10 new videos a day for MONTHS, each one shows significant losses on Ukrainian forces. Even if the only fighting that occurred was the ones they video taped and showed it would still add up to a considerable loss. Yet one knows it’s just the tip of an iceberg.
I cry for the men of both sides but especially the civilians of Ukraine.
Here is a video from a few hours ago. In it Chechen ATMs destroy and hit Ukrainian M.B. Tanks. They will post another 6-10 today and most will be new , never seen before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z4JISfbpHU
100% true. More opportunity to grift for the Beltway sleaze of both parties.
Set aside the nuclear option which is a huge set aside, Russia has failed militarily on all front goals. They hold half the land they originally took, have lost tons of military equipment they can’t replace, 10s if not a hundred or more thousands of soldiers, ships they can’t replace and the cloak of invincibility of their military dashed. Their only “successes” come from launching terror attacks on civilians with their missile arsenal which are being depleted rapidly and largely being shot down and their minor successes in bakmud?sp with mercenaries. Ukraine a small nation with much smaller military finally equipped with a relatively small handful of western weapons and soviet era hand me downs has blunted and reversed much of russias early military advances. Though I can understand Kiev’s concerns about a new Russian major assault, the idea that they can be successful after taking a mulligan and with a much degraded military and better equipped Ukraine seems ludicrous. But then again hitler had his battle of the bulge and so might Putin.
Also the idea that Russia who has had their homeland mostly untouched would be a match for a war with NATO forces equally seems ridiculous. Though Russia still maintains a large air force they are unable to use them effectively except close to the front and with stand off weapons with their air fields and ammo dumps mostly secure, a fact that would immediately change. Their logistics and logistical infrastructure which is bad would immediately become non existent. There would be no safe spaces for their artillery, ammo, POL, and basic supplies.
Finally I will not argue the corruption and money laundering involved in this conflict but rather discussing the military aspects of this war.
My 2 cents
They telegraphed this when they lionized the stand-up comic who became incredibly wealthy over a few years of “governing” and pushed his staged productions out as “news from a hero”.
Peace is an absence of Russian war criminals within the territory of Ukraine
Your are correct. We must not forget Russia is the country that invented the Potemkin Village and Fake News. History shows us everything including “and” and “the” from the Kremlin is a lie.
Defeating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has certain economic benefits for the US economy and American jobs. That has actually been a sore spot in parts of Europe since the WEF/EU crowd want to continue partnering with Putin’s Russia and financing their whack job green energy policies with corrupting Russian energy. All while living comfortably under the US nuclear umbrella, of course. Putin won’t be bombing German women and children with ballistic missiles or setting up KGB inspired torture chambers in German villages thank you very much.
Kicking Russian corruption and influence out of Europe is both the morally correct and economically beneficial thing for the US to do. Or we could Make Russia Great Again. Decisions, decisions.
I think you overvalued your “ take”
As things stands Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea are key players. Stop the shipment of Iranian arms by any means necessary.
Good to see some mainstream conservative publications FINALLY getting of the Ukraine Koolaid and publishing some stuff that goes against the Neocons.
The correct comparison to Vietnam: France is hundreds of miles from Vietnam. France carved South Vietnam out of Vietnam. North Vietnam took it back. Russia is trying to carve Eastern Ukraine out of Ukraine. The question is whether Ukraine can take it back from an aggressor on the disputed territory’s border.
Hey Forward: it’s setback, not a set back, you freaking troll..
“It wouldn’t surprise me if Zelensky blocks an exodus from Kiev. He can use the civilians as human shields.”
Actually General Zaluzhny announced just that. They need to keep the freezing civilians in Kiev to “make it harder for Russia to capture”.
And I liked Zaluzhny as he seemed to be the one guy who wasn’t a clown in the Ukrainian government.
For those who view the "event" as "not my circus and not my clowns," the salvos being fired are most interesting, for so few seem actually to change any views. Why? Because this is political, and shows the divide on a supposedly conservative site. Hmm.
“Looking at this thread from a simple participation study perspective, one observes the two very active pro-Ukraine posters, the UMV Rev and Texas Speedy have so far been absent. Probably they are busy aggregating their “opera omnia” for the day.”
They’re absent because their shifts haven’t started. As to “aggregating their “opera omnia””m, that’s what the staff is for.
“Good to see some mainstream conservative publications FINALLY getting of the Ukraine Koolaid and publishing some stuff that goes against the Neocons.”
__________________________________
Yes, but don’t be too hopeful. The public is totally indoctrinated and frankly unwilling and incapable of facing the truth.
Tucker Carlson did a feature on the new information that the CIA was involved in JFK’s murder. The Twitter files have come out with shocking evidence of deliberate government and media misinformation/lying about everything.
Americans are duped and apparently quite happy to stay that way.
“i know this because, at this moment, and for the past two years, i have been actually living in Ukraine. in Lviv and have travelled all throughout the country in that time.
Considering the 11 YEAR GAP in your posting history here, that completely discredits any claim that you make.
But keep trying, not everyone checks.
Kicking Russian corruption and influence out of Europe is both the morally correct and economically beneficial thing for the US to do.
—
How about we start with cleaning our own house? The U.S. government is rife with corruption and influence.
“How about we start with cleaning our own house? “
How about we do both? Its not like we havent had the opportunity for many many years....And it wasnt Ukraine that prevented it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.