Our Friday News Analysis | In Search of a Nation's Soul (Part 30)

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Gravitas | The Fall of Bakhmut: Is This the End of the Road for Ukraine?
Is Ukraine Losing the War?

The Hague, 14 April 2023 | If you know of any story that is decisive, tell the world. We're still searching.

Ukraine’s bloody stand for Bakhmut

For ten months, Russian and Ukrainian forces have battled for Bakhmut, a 16-square-mile city that has been the site of some of the fiercest urban combat in Europe since World War II. Ukrainian forces are now defending a shrinking half-circle of ruins only about 20 blocks wide and continually pounded with artillery fire.

This week, a visit to the remaining battered zone of control and interviews with soldiers and commanders showed that Ukraine had lost ground inside the city. However, an access road remained passable, allowing resupply and evacuation of the wounded.

Pushed into this ever-smaller corner, the Ukrainian army is determined to hunker down and hold out, even as allies have quietly questioned the rationale for fighting block by block in a devastated city close to being encircled, according to recently leaked US intelligence documents.

Strategy: In Kyiv’s assessment, holding out in these grim conditions is a strategic imperative to bog down the Russian army. At the same time, Ukraine rearms and retrains its military for a coming counteroffensive.

Read more: ‘The Battle for Bakhmut,’ by Natasha Frost, New York Times, 13 April 2023.

What is the Side of the Story that is Not Yet Decisive? Edited by Abraham A. van Kempen, featuring: a breath of fresh air in journalism with three short news telecasts from New Delhi plus an eye-opener, Stephen Gardner interviewing US Colonel Douglas Macgregor.

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Ukraine War: Zelensky Embezzling Millions?

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Macron's China Blunder: European Union in Damage Control

TRADING WITH THE ENEMY

April 13, 2023
Source: SEYMOUR HERSH
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/trading-with-the-enemy?utm_source=substack&publication_id=1377040&post_id=114123549&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=false

By Seymour Hersh
Published April 12, 2023

Amid rampant corruption in Kyiv and US troops gathering at the Ukrainian border, does the Biden administration have an endgame to the conflict?

President Biden with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. / Official White House photo.

The Ukraine government, headed by Volodymyr Zelensky, has been using American taxpayers’ funds to pay dearly for the vitally needed diesel fuel keeping the Ukrainian army on the move in its war with Russia. It is unknown how much the Zelensky government pays per gallon for energy. Still, during the decades-long American war there, the Pentagon was spending as much as $400 per gallon to transport gasoline from a port in Pakistan, via truck or parachute, into Afghanistan.

It is also unknown that Zelensky has been buying the fuel from Russia, the country with which it and Washington are at war. The Ukrainian president and many in his entourage have been skimming untold millions from the American dollars earmarked for diesel fuel payments. One estimate by analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency put the embezzled funds at $400 million last year, at least. Another expert compared the level of corruption in Kyiv as approaching that of the Afghan war, “although there will be no professional audit reports emerging from Ukraine.”

“Zelensky’s been buying discount diesel from the Russians,” one knowledgeable American intelligence official told me. “And who’s paying for the gas and oil? We are. Putin and his oligarchs are making millions” on it.

Many government ministries in Kyiv have been literally “competing,” I was told, to set up front companies for export contracts for weapons and ammunition with private arms dealers worldwide, all of which provide kickbacks. Many companies are in Poland and Czechia, but others are thought to exist in the Persian Gulf and Israel. “I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are others in places like the Cayman Islands and Panama, and there are lots of Americans involved,” an American expert on international trade told me.

The corruption issue was directly raised with Zelensky in a meeting last January in Kyiv with CIA Director William Burns. I was told his message to the Ukrainian president by an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the meeting was from a 1950s mob movie. The senior generals and government officials in Kyiv were angry at what they saw as Zelensky’s greed, so Burns told the Ukrainian president because “he was taking a larger share of the skim money than that was going to the generals.”

Burns also presented Zelensky with a list of thirty-five generals and senior officials whose corruption was known to the CIA and others in the American government. Zelensky responded to the American pressure ten days later by publicly dismissing ten of the most ostentatious officials on the list and doing little else. “The ten he got rid of were brazenly bragging about the money they had—driving around Kyiv in their new Mercedes,” the intelligence official told me.

Zelensky’s half-hearted response and the White House’s lack of concern was seen, the intelligence official added, as another sign of a lack of leadership leading to a “total breakdown” of trust between the White House and some elements of the intelligence community. Another divisive issue, I have been repeatedly told in my recent reporting, is the strident ideology and lack of political skill shown by Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. The president and his two principal foreign policy advisers “live in different worlds” than the experienced diplomats and military and intelligence officers assigned to the White House. “They have no experience, judgment, and moral integrity. They just tell lies and make up stories. Diplomatic deniability is something else,” the intelligence official said. “That has to be done.”

A prominent retired American diplomat who strenuously opposes Biden’s foreign policy toward China and Russia depicted Blinken as little more than a “jumped-up congressional staffer” and Sullivan as “a political campaign manager.” Both suddenly find themselves front and center in high-powered diplomacy “with no empathy for the opposition. They’re decent pols,” he added, “but now we have the political and energy world all upside down. China and India are now selling refined gasoline to the Western world. It’s just business.”

The current crisis is not helped by the fact that Putin also is acting irrationally. The intelligence official told me that everything Putin has been “doing in Ukraine contradicts Russia’s long-term interests. Emotion has overcome rationality, and he’s doing nonproductive things. And so, will we sit down with Zelensky and Putin and work it out? Not a chance.”

“There is a total breakdown between the White House leadership and the intelligence community,” the intelligence official said. The rift dates back to the fall, when, as I reported in early February, Biden ordered the covert destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. “Destroying the Nord Stream pipelines was never discussed, or even known in advance, by the community,” the official told me. “And there is no strategy for ending the war. The US spent two years planning for the Normandy invasion in World War II. What are we going to do if China decides to invade Taiwan?” The official added that the National Intelligence Council has yet to order a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to defend Taiwan from China, which would provide national security and political guidance in case such happens. There is no reason yet, despite repeated American political provocation from both Democrats and Republicans, the official said, to suspect that China has any intention of invading Taiwan. It has lost billions building its wildly ambitious Belt and Road Initiative to link East Asia to Europe and invest, perhaps foolishly, in seaports worldwide. “The point is,” the official told me, “there is no working NIE process anymore.

“Burns is not the problem,” the official said. “The problem is that Biden and his principal lieutenants—Blinken and Sullivan and their court of worshippers—see those who criticize Zelensky as pro-Putin. ‘We are against evil. Ukraine will fight ’til the last military shell is gone, and still fight.’ And here’s Biden, who tells America we’ll fight as long as it takes.”

The official cited the little-known and rarely discussed deployment, authorized by Biden, of two brigades with thousands of America’s best army combat units to the region. A regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division has been intensively training and exercising from its base inside Poland within a few miles of the Ukrainian border. It was reinforced late last year by a brigade from the 101st Airborne Division deployed in Romania. The existing workforce of the two regiments, combining administrative and support units—with the trucks and drivers who haul the constant stream of arms and military equipment flowing by sea to keep the teams combat-ready—could total more than 20,000.

The intelligence officials told me that “there is no evidence that any senior official in the White House knows what’s going on in the 82nd and 101st. Are they there as part of a NATO exercise or to serve with NATO combat units if the West engages Russian units inside Ukraine? Are they there to train or to be a trigger? The rules of engagement say they can’t attack Russians unless our boys are getting attacked.”

“But the juniors are running the show here,” the official added. “There’s no NSC coordination, and the US army is preparing to go to war. There’s no idea whether the White House knows what’s going on. Has the president gone to the American people with an informative broadcast about what is going on? The only briefings the press and the public get today are from White House spokespeople.

“This is not just bad leadership. There is none. Zero.” The official added that a team of Ukrainian combat pilots is now getting trained here in America to fly US-built F-16 fighter jets, with the goal, if needed, of flying in combat against Russian troops and other targets inside Ukraine.” No decision about such deployment has been made.

The most explicit statements of American policy have come not from the White House but from the Pentagon. Army General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said of the war last March 15: “Russia remains isolated. Their military stocks are rapidly depleting. Their soldiers are demoralized, untrained, unmotivated conscripts and convicts, and their leadership is failing them. Having already failed its strategic objectives, Russia increasingly relies on other countries, such as Iran and North Korea. This relationship is built on the cruel bonds of repressing freedom, subverting liberty, and maintaining their tyranny. . . Ukraine remains strong. They are capable and trained. Ukrainian soldiers are . . . strong in their combat units. Their tanks, infantry fighting, and armored vehicles will only bolster the front line.”

There is evidence that Milley is as optimistic as he sounds. I was told that two months ago, the Joint Chiefs had ordered staff members—the military phrase is “tasked”—to draft an end-of-war treaty to present to the Russians after their defeat on the Ukraine battlefield.

If worse comes to worst for the understaffed and outgunned Ukraine army in the next few months, will the two American brigades join forces with NATO troops and face off with the Russian military inside Ukraine? Is this the plan, or hope, of the American president? Is this the fireside chat he wants to give? If Biden decides to share his thoughts with the American people, he might want to explain what two army brigades, fully staffed and supplied, are doing so close to the war zone.

Seymour M. Hersh

His journalism and publishing awards include a Pulitzer Prize, five George Polk Awards, two National Magazine Awards, and more than a dozen other prizes for investigative reporting. As a staff writer, Hersh won a National Magazine Award for Public Interest for his 2003 articles “Lunch with the Chairman,” “Selective Intelligence,” and “The Stovepipe.” In 2004, Hersh exposed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in a series of pieces in the magazine; in 2005, he again received a National Magazine Award for Public Interest, an Overseas Press Club Award, the National Press Foundation’s Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism Award, and his fifth George Polk Award, making him that award’s most honored laureate.

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Gravitas Plus: Europe Divided on Ukraine War

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Colonel Douglas Macgregor: Ukraine Is Being OBLITERATED

Colonel Douglas Macgregor sits with Stephen Gardner to update us on the Ukraine-Russia war. Colonel Douglas Macgregor shares thoughts on Scott Ritter's battle assessment, China, North Korea, Biden, the US dollar, and de-dollarization.

Timestamp

0:44 Has Bakhmut fallen?
2:50 Bakhmut is the keystone of this war
5:40 General Milley goofs and says Ukraine cannot win this war
8:20 DC will provoke China to engage in battle and rumors of war
12:20 The US could not bring the NAVY against the Chinese Navy because of new strike capabilities
15:30 China only has one goal in this war
16:40 Pentagon orders B52 and aircraft carrier toward North Korea
16:50 The Russians use North Korea to distract the US military
21:20 China is now searching boats
24:00 China could be shut down quickly, but they are infiltrating America through VISAS
28:00 Why Finland Joined NATO

1. At this point, we can confidently say Russia has taken Bakhmut, or at least enough to claim victory over the city. Do you think Zelenskyy will finally order his troops to fall back, or will they dig in and try to hold until the end?

2. General Milley said recently that he doesn’t believe Ukraine can beat Russia this year. He said he thinks they will, but based on their definition of winning, which is to kick Russian forces out of Ukraine, it’s an arduous task and not something that will happen in 2023. Do you think this is the general being honest, or is it a wordplay because now his comments don’t have to come true, and he can start dripping a Ukraine loss based on Zelensky's definition?

3. Finland has joined NATO, so we’ve officially broken another promise of not putting NATO on Russia’s border. Do you think Russia will make future moves on Finland, or is the real beef between Russia and Ukraine?

4. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he would fly to Finland later in April to coordinate military interaction and planning with our two countries.

5. The US Senate has finally voted to repeal the congressional war authorization for military use in Iraq. Why did this take 20 years? Why were so many Democrats and Republicans reluctant to end that tragic and wasteful war?

6. The Pentagon has ordered a B52 bomber and an aircraft carrier with fighter jets to head to the Korean Peninsula to show force against North Korea and Kim Jung Un. Is it wise to have the US military in the area as North Korea ramps up its threats against the US, South Korea, and even Japan, or is this just more poking the bear that could lead to escalation?

7. Recently, I had former CIA agent Ray McGovern on my show. He said he believes Putin and Russia likely got China’s permission or blessing to launch this attack on Ukraine. Now, China is coming in to clean it up after going too far so China can get back to building trade relations with Western Europe. What are your thoughts on this?

8. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy recently hosted Taiwan’s president here in the US. China vehemently condemned the meeting and warned of the consequence. Do you think China is gearing up for war with the US, as some top military personnel has suggested, or is it all bark and no bite, as it would cripple China’s economy and significantly alter global trade?

Check out Colonel Macgregor's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Margin-Victory... Subscribe and hit the bell to be notified of new videos: / @stephengardner1

Who is Stephen Gardner? Stephen Gardner is a best-selling financial author with eight books. He also does financial coaching to show clients how to build wealth and quickly eliminate debt using his FOCUS method. His most famous book is Taming Wall Street. The two strategies taught in Taming Wall Street did NOT lose money during the coronavirus market drop, The Great Recession, or the Great Depression. Get a FREE digital copy of Stephen Gardner's best-selling book Taming Wall Street: https://www.yourbridgeplan.com/work-w...

Read more: ‘Europe’s Dangerous Dependence on China,’ by Judy Dempsey, Carnegie Europe, 4 April 2023.

               “Von der Leyen’s attitude toward Russia’s attack on Ukraine is linked to her view of China. She gave her speech on March 30, 2023. It was about how the EU had to implement a coherent security, economic, and trade policy toward China. She said Europe had to recognize that the Chinese Communist Party’s clear goal was a “systemic change of the international order.” President Xi Jinping wanted to make “China less dependent on the world and the world more dependent on China.”

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Editor's Note |

The more firepower, the more bloodshed.

It is clear. Ukraine cannot defeat Russia.

The EU-US/NATO Alliance will not risk nuclear confrontation.

From the start, the clowns in Brussels and their stooges in Washington, DC,
knew that their electorates would NEVER tolerate
nuclear craters in their backyards.

Expect the leadership of the EU-US/NATO Alliance
to face their people with tails in between their legs
before dropping Zelensky as a hot potato.

The war is over. It’s time to stop exploiting the Ukrainian people to serve the EU-US/NATO Alliance as cannon fodder and human shields.

President Fyodor Zelensky faces the same fate as Mussolini.

The people of Ukraine want a regime change.

_______________________

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The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of the Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague.