Europe at War

[Todd]

Malicious nonsense. It isn't at all "pro-war", it's anti-surrender.

The pro-war propaganda is working. 

[Todd]

From Newsweek: U.S. Colonel Training Zelensky Forces Accuses Soldiers of War 'Atrocities'

The group the colonel commands is called The Mozart Group.  You can't make this stuff up.  Now it's Mozart v Wagner.  Since it's Newsweek, the report can probably be dismissed outright.  Of course, the United States State Department issued a report highlighting one or two areas of concern way back in 2021. 

UKRAINE 2021 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

Who can lead Ukraine forward and work out these problems?  Surely it is Time's Puppet of the Year.  I mean, sure, he's one corrupt cookie, but he's all light and goodness and above board now.  I'm surprised he hasn't called for an audit of financial and weapons support received during this proxy war.  He will, no doubt.  Until then, a refresher on what he used to be like from the Graun:

Revealed: 'anti-oligarch' Ukrainian president's offshore connections

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has railed against politicians hiding wealth offshore but failed to disclose links to BVI firm

[drogulus]

     I don't think filming Russian prisoners of war would count as an atrocity, though it's a violation of something.

     The production company that made the Zelensky comedy series is very offshore for tax reasons. He "divested" just before the election. Zowie! That's almost the US level of corruption.

     I note that MMT saint Warren Mosler ran his hedge fund from the US Virgin Islands where he's a legal resident for corruption purposes. Do you need any more proof we should go back to the gold standard?

[drogulus]

     I just saw a pic of a Tesla in Kyiv with a generator attached to its back. Now that is corruption!

   

     Belarus claims a Uke missile landed on its territory. That may be true, since Russia fires missiles from Belarus and the Ukes would use SAMs to intercept them. The missile in question is the S-300.

     The Ukes would consider it crazy to use very effective SAMs against a ground target. The Russians are are crazy desperate and have done exactly that.


     

[71 dB]

No, they're cynical grifters of just the same ilk as the disgraced former president. Carlson does it for the ratings, and Fox understands perfectly well what his carney show adds to the bottom line.

People like Tucker Carlson believe in nothing except for self-enrichment. They don't care if other people die because of their lies (e.g. anti-vaxx/mask propaganda). They don't care about the future of the country or the World as long as they are doing fine. They would praise Venezuela if it showed positively on their bank accounts. These are highly contemptible people.

[LKB]

People like Tucker Carlson believe in nothing except for self-enrichment. They don't care if other people die because of their lies (e.g. anti-vaxx/mask propaganda). They don't care about the future of the country or the World as long as they are doing fine. They would praise Venezuela if it showed positively on their bank accounts. These are highly contemptible people.

+1

It would be tremendously satisfying to see Dominion triumph in court, with heavy penalties assessed against Murdoch & company.

[Karl Henning]

People like Tucker Carlson believe in nothing except for self-enrichment. They don't care if other people die because of their lies (e.g. anti-vaxx/mask propaganda). They don't care about the future of the country or the World as long as they are doing fine. They would praise Venezuela if it showed positively on their bank accounts. These are highly contemptible people.

Yes.
Separately:

Inside the Ukrainian counteroffensive that shocked Putin and reshaped the war

[Todd]

They would praise Venezuela if it showed positively on their bank accounts.

That would be in line with US policy: Biden administration opens the door for Chevron to resume oil pumping in Venezuela after lobbying push against sanctions

Yet another side effect of the war in Ukraine.

[amw]

As opposed to Putin, Kiril and the Russian army, whose actions are full of Christian love, compassion and non-violence.

I have to say it's kind of hilarious to see this new propaganda attempt when the Russian military spent several months (from June to September of this year) occupying a famous monastery that's part of the Moscow Patriarchate and not only repeatedly killing monks and civilians sheltering there, but also (allegedly) turning it into a detention site for political prisoners.

Obviously such things happen in war and etc, but the whole push to pretend Russia has some unique and deep-seated respect for Orthodox Christianity feels particularly bizarre—a lie that's so easy to disprove that its very circulation feels like an expression of spite and contempt.

[Todd]

The seeds have been sown to end the war in Ukraine

Negotiations in the air?  Maybe, maybe.  It will be interesting to observe written and verbal statements by people who currently advocate militarism and war when negotiations become the focus.  And it is when, not if. 

[amw]

I think it's fairly easy for both sides to make noises about negotiating during a time when weather conditions had anyway pushed the fighting to a low ebb (Russians & Ukrainians are of course used to fighting in the winter, but paradoxically this winter is shaping up to not be cold enough: cycles of periodic snowfalls and freezes followed by days of above-freezing temperatures, thawing out the ground and turning it back into mud). The real question is whether they'll still be willing to negotiate in the spring. Increases in the US military budget and advance promises of tens of billions of dollars more of military aid suggest that the US government, at least, is not particularly keen to encourage this and wants the war to continue indefinitely.

(A recent article claimed that Russia has likewise put in orders for something like three million artillery shells—from domestic arms manufacturers owned in part or whole by Putin allies, of course—for next year.)

[Madiel]

I'm guessing that winter doesn't have much effect on missiles and drones, which are certainly appearing in the headlines regularly.

[Scion7]

Increases in the US military budget and advance promises of tens of billions of dollars more of military aid suggest that the US government, at least, is not particularly keen to encourage this and wants the war to continue indefinitely.

Nothing personal, but that's just absolute rubbish.  Helping them to defend themselves is not desiring the war to continue!!!  To stop this, all Putin needs to do is ... STOP.  His gov't is the aggressor, not Ukraine (or their supporters.)

[Todd]

Increases in the US military budget and advance promises of tens of billions of dollars more of military aid suggest that the US government, at least, is not particularly keen to encourage this and wants the war to continue indefinitely.

No, no, not Uncle Sam.  The USA is taking every possible step to ensure a quick end to hostilities and is doing its utmost to preserve not just Ukraine, but democracy itself.

[Madiel]

No, no, not Uncle Sam.  The USA is taking every possible step to ensure a quick end to hostilities and is doing its utmost to preserve not just Ukraine, but democracy itself.

You genuinely show no sign of understanding how to preserve Ukraine. You keep advocating its annexation. Oh sure, you support its NEGOTIATED annexation...

Frankly I don't think you get that preserving lives and preserving Ukraine are different goals. Or that to the extent they might not be compatible goals, it's the fault of Russia.

[amw]

I'm guessing that winter doesn't have much effect on missiles and drones, which are certainly appearing in the headlines regularly.

True, but isolated missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure serve little military purpose and are only a means to terrorize the civilian population by disrupting electricity and essential services. Russia has yet to launch a sustained aerial bombing campaign à la Iraq (and probably will not do so).

Helping them to defend themselves is not desiring the
war to continue!!!

The thing about US military aid is that it is not actually helping Ukrainians defend themselves—the opposite, in some cases.

Until 2022, the vast majority of Ukrainian military equipment was either inherited from the USSR, or domestically produced by Ukrainian military industry to be compatible with Soviet ammunition and technological standards. So for example Ukraine produced 152mm shells (instead of the 155mm NATO standard) and its own modified versions of Soviet multiple rocket launchers (instead of the NATO HIMARS) etc. It had certainly begun adding small amounts of NATO-standard equipment and training specialised units to use it, but the bulk of the military was not trained to do this.

Some NATO countries have, since the start of this phase of the war, supplied Ukraine with their own Soviet-era or modernised equipment (T-72s, Grads, MiG fighter jets etc)—Poland, Czechia, Romania etc. This can be justifiably seen as helping Ukraine defend itself.

The USA on the other hand has exclusively (as far as I know) supplied Ukraine with American-made military equipment. Often quite modern, expensive equipment that requires units to be pulled off the frontline for several weeks to learn how to use it. As the supply of NATO-standard equipment significantly outpaces that of Soviet-standard equipment, however, Ukrainian military units become increasingly dependent on the troops being trained by American, British & French military advisors—about 10,000 every three months, apparently—and on deliveries of more artillery shells, missiles, etc. Lack of familiarity with the new equipment also means much of it is breaking down or not being serviced adequately, and is thus perceived as inferior.

It's notable that US officials have also publicly claimed to be restraining Ukraine from directly attacking Russian territory in various ways, and are refusing to supply Ukraine with some of the weapons it's been requesting.

Essentially, American military aid is mostly about providing a direct handout to American weapons manufacturers, secondarily about preserving the global status quo and avoiding upsetting things too much by e.g. actually inciting a US-Russian war or allowing the Ukrainian government to collapse, tertiarily about showing off American weapons in real live-fire conditions to ensure future profits from other customers. Additional possible benefit of creating a long-term client state/captive market entirely financially & militarily dependent on the USA. Defending Ukraine seems to come in around fifth place.

[Florestan]

US officials have also publicly claimed to be restraining Ukraine from directly attacking Russian territory

A very rational and reasonable restraint, actually.

[Que]

Essentially, American military aid is mostly about providing a direct handout to American weapons manufacturers, secondarily about preserving the global status quo and avoiding upsetting things too much by e.g. actually inciting a US-Russian war or allowing the Ukrainian government to collapse, tertiarily about showing off American weapons in real live-fire conditions to ensure future profits from other customers. Additional possible benefit of creating a long-term client state/captive market entirely financially & militarily dependent on the USA. Defending Ukraine seems to come in around fifth place.

I think we have to be realistic here...
We can't expect defending Ukraine for the US to be a goal in itself. The main purpose is maintaining stability and security in Europe, and yes, maintaining the global status quo without triggering a full scale and direct armed conflict between NATO and Russia. The US is protecting its economic and geopolitical interests here. There is nothing altruistic about it. But there is nothing wrong with aligned interests - that is what alliances are about. And US and European interests have been aligned since the 1st World War.

Any war is good for the weapons industry, both in the US and Europe. The claim that war is instigated or perpetuated in the interest of the weapons industry, is a classic argument. Evidently financing weapons for Ukraine creates an economic return for the Western weapons industry. Indeed, by invading Ukraine Putin has personally boosted national defence budgets throughout Europe and the western weapons industry for decades to come. Regardless of the military aid to Ukraine. I don't even rule out that current events will finally lead to a European common defense structure  ("army"). We desperately need it...

The restraint in delivering "new/foreign" weapons to the Ukrainians is IMO sufficient indication that the interests of the weapons industry was not a primary concern. If we as Europeans are concerned about a growing US influence in this respect, we should step up. For instance by delevering the European Leopard tanks that Ukraine so desperately wants. And pressure the Swiss to let go of their "neutrality" restrictions on delivering Swiss manufactured weapons systems and ammunition to Ukraine.

[milk]

He did?  Good for him. 

I was joking. I've no idea.

[milk]

From Newsweek: U.S. Colonel Training Zelensky Forces Accuses Soldiers of War 'Atrocities'

The group the colonel commands is called The Mozart Group.  You can't make this stuff up.  Now it's Mozart v Wagner.  Since it's Newsweek, the report can probably be dismissed outright.  Of course, the United States State Department issued a report highlighting one or two areas of concern way back in 2021. 

UKRAINE 2021 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

Who can lead Ukraine forward and work out these problems?  Surely it is Time's Puppet of the Year.  I mean, sure, he's one corrupt cookie, but he's all light and goodness and above board now.  I'm surprised he hasn't called for an audit of financial and weapons support received during this proxy war.  He will, no doubt.  Until then, a refresher on what he used to be like from the Graun:

Revealed: 'anti-oligarch' Ukrainian president's offshore connections

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has railed against politicians hiding wealth offshore but failed to disclose links to BVI firm

The Pandora papers go in all directions. If I remember correctly, they're a totally nonpartisan source of mud on world leaders. It's interesting what gets covered and what doesn't.