Until very recently Ukraine, supported by NATO, which included the US under Biden, told everybody who cared to ask why they wouldn’t talk to the Russians about a cease fire, that a cease fire would only benefit Russia. It would provide Russia with breathing space needed to rearm and regroup. Therefore Ukraine needed to keep pressuring Russia until they came begging. On this blog I’ve asked what they were smoking, or words to that effect, because Ukraine was losing badly.
Now understand that NATO wasn’t really interested in allowing Ukraine to win this war on the battlefield. In fact, I insist that NATO expected the Russians to take Kiev in a matter of days, and declare victory, while NATO-countries would kill the Russian economy with sanctions, even as Ukrainian ‘Stay Behind Forces’ would make life miserable for the occupier. The ‘Afghanistan-scenario’ from the days when the US set up and maintained Al Qaeda to wear the Soviets down. But this time accompanied by crippling sanctions, and stealing Russia’s money parked in the West, which was there to facilitate trade. If you let that sink in for a minute, you will realize that a ‘Position of Strength’ doesn’t necessarily equal defeating Russia’s army on any battlefield. I maintained that the Russians merely wanted to pressure Zelensky into returning to ‘Minsk’, which explains why they never took Kiev. And retreated the moment the ‘Istanbul Agreement’ looked like it would mark a return to the ‘Minsk’-format, as a gesture of good will.
Moreover, I’ve consistently maintained that their ‘Plan B’ was a war of attrition, already anticipating on the need to defeat NATO, in that particular sense. Exhausting NATO, which was not ready to fight a prolonged war where they would run out of weapons and ammo soon enough. You must remember those commentators on the side of the West claiming the opposite would be true, since Russia was already stripping washing-machines to find the chips they needed for their missiles. I was seeing something completely different. Or rather, I read and saw reports from knowledgeable commentators with impeccable sources which convinced me that the Russians had ‘Come Prepared’, as I wrote back then. And sure enough, NATO couldn’t keep up with demand, contributing to Ukraine losing the military confrontation, and standing with its back against the wall today. Yet Zelensky and Europe insisted that Ukraine’s ‘Position of Strength’ was just around the corner.
It is my understanding that the ‘Kursk’-operation was about capturing the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, together with a large chunk of Russia, for use as a bargaining chip by the time the Russians were left with no other choice but to settle on Ukraine’s terms, even though Russia had the upper hand on the battlefield, but simply couldn’t prolong the war any longer because its economy was imploding. Again, compare to the situation in Afghanistan. The ‘Position of Strength’ NATO was planning with was not of a military nature. Same as for the US in Vietnam, or more recently in Afghanistan again, the economy may not be strong enough to support the continued effort, if the war itself is not existential. Thus, a focus on who is winning militarily won’t necessarily predict the outcome. As long as Zelensky would simply cling on to power in his own country, slowing Russian advance, there simply *had* to be a moment where the Russians, with an economy the size of that of Italy, according to the ‘Boy Wonders’ in the West, would implode.
Not only did that expected outcome never came to pass, but the Russian economy is actually growing at four percent. And we’re talking *real* growth. Things of value to consumers are actually produced in Russia itself. And in part thanks to very handsome paychecks for the all-volunteer soldiers, consumption and private investment is supplementing the vast investment by the government in both weapons, and technology they need to develop to replace stuff they used to buy from other countries. They recently produced a state of the art lithographer to produce their own high-end computer chips. Chinese cars are now replacing European brands, and they are Russian made, in plants vacated by European car manufacturers which used to be active in Russia, but had to withdraw under orders from the ‘Higher-Ups’ in ‘Brussels’. Which left a hole in the turnover of these companies, and now these car manufacturers are turning to producing weapons to fill the void, after they’ve learned how.
So, not the Russian economy was going down the toilet, but the European economy, which was sailing into bad weather even before they got their desired war with Russia on Ukrainian soil, because of past de-industrialization policies. Both to boost the profits of the companies and stock holders by exporting the industry to countries with lower wages, and better perks, and to save the Climate. If you can’t be Strong on the battlefield, and you fail in your efforts to damage the economy of your adversary, you are left with one area where you can be Stronger than Russia. And that is pushing Narratives which suggest that you are winning, while you are not. And that is what we are witnessing. But this can only be done if Russia is *not* interested in taking all of Ukraine, and won’t pose a threat to Europe. All of a sudden ‘winning’ is redefined as ‘not being wiped off the face of the map’, which was never what Russia was after to begin with.
All of a sudden Russia is being *blamed* for not agreeing to a cease fire, which they were supposed to long for. Well, in reality they *did* agree to partial cease fires, but Ukraine broke those already on numerous occasions. Why? Because now they want to stop the bleeding with a general, and unconditional cease fire. Which is evidently not unconditional, since Ukraine and Europe demand that Russia cannot negotiate conditions, like lifting all sanctions, and return them the money stolen from them, or repair NorthStream, since all of that is part of the war itself. Both Ukraine and Europe are desperate to make Trump change his mind on looking for a peaceful settlement, and their story is that you cannot trust the Russians, because they go on with the war as if nothing happened, killing scores of civilians to boot. This is ‘spinning’ the Narrative at best, and creating False Flags most likely, martyring their own people, like in Sumy.
What happened in Sumy? The Governor organized an event in honor of a military brigade right in the center of the town, already in the crosshairs of the Russians, after they drove Ukraine out of Kursk, not stopping at the border. That particular brigade had been active in Kursk, and the Russians already claimed, at a recent UNSC meeting, that Ukrainian military had committed war crimes while in Kursk. Someone leaked the news that this brigade would be meeting on Palm Sunday, when plenty of people are out and about, and the Russians hit the place with a missile. Both a very angry mayor and a Ukrainian MP exposed the real story, blaming the Governor for exposing the civilian population to a Russian missile attack, effectively using these civilians as a human shield. According to the mayor the military escaped, but over thirty civilians, including children, perished. Now, was this leak accidental, or deliberate to create an event which would influence Trump? It wouldn’t be a first, since Trump was faced with a false claim about a poison gas attack in Syria during his first term, which made him decide to launch an attack on Syrian positions using cruise missiles. There the event was entirely staged by the notorious ‘White Helmets’, working fist in glove with the British MI-6. It is my guess that Tulsi Gabbard will try to protect him from making that kind of mistake again, and no doubt she picked up the real story. And yes, it may still have been a terrible misunderstanding, and the leak may have been unintentional. But this is a High Stakes Game, ladies and gentlemen! Hold your bets!