Almost from the very beginning, Ukraine and NATO were focussed almost exclusively on Crimea and the Black Sea fleet. Today they managed to hit a large fuel depot in Sevastopol serving the Russian Navy. Images of the fire were shared on the internet by the Russians themselves. It followed on the heels of the news yesterday, about a large Russian missile barrage hitting targets all over the place in Ukraine, destroying a wide variety of unspecified targets. Although one target destroyed was reportedly a command center for the Kherson region. One missile, on its way to a military target in the West of Ukraine was intercepted by Ukrainian forces, which reportedly resulted in the destruction of an apartment building in Uman as collateral damage, killing civilians. Apparently to ‘get even’, Ukraine hit the center of Donetsk with a barrage of projectiles aimed at civilian targets, or just not aimed at anything at all, hitting a mini-bus, killing nine more civilians, including a child.
To understand military ‘logic’ is not always easy, and less so if you are unaware of the ultimate goal of the warring parties. It doesn’t take much to understand the ‘logic’ behind ‘Bakhmut’, if you accept that the Russians need to destroy that fortification, and others like it along the ‘Zelensky line’, to stop the shelling of civilian areas in the Donetsk region, which has been ongoing for eight years straight since the DPR and LPR won decisively in 2015, following Nuland’s power grab in the country. They also need these strategic positions before taking the rest of the Donbas, and be safe as they redeploy towards Odessa, if you accept my look on what might be in store. Furthermore, going slow may seem like it is forced upon them by formidable Ukrainian forces, but I understand it as a choice to ‘grind’ as many Ukrainian forces and equipment, sent in their direction to stop them, while limiting casualties on their own side. The ‘War of Attrition’ concept.
Within NATO there has been criticism on the Ukrainian decision to defend Bakhmut ‘at all cost’, but Zelesky and his generals threw everything they had at it, so as to prevent the fall of the city, which is now almost a done deal, according to everyone. Now allow me to explain why NATO didn’t give a rat’s ass about Bakhmut, or Ukraine and the Ukrainian people for that matter. Everything points towards a NATO strategy, from the very beginning, right after the loss of face in 2014/2015, to prep Ukraine for a ‘Proxy War’. This provoked military clash was envisioned as serving Russia with yet another ‘Afghanistan-style’ defeat, which caused the Soviet empire to collapse back in the eighties of the last century. With Russia assuming control over all of Ukraine, this would allow NATO to ‘bleed Russia white’ with Al Qaeda style terror attacks and ‘sanctions from Hell’. But they never told the Ukrainians about it, out of fear they would refuse. That would not have mattered if the Russians would have taken the bait, and conquered all of Ukraine, but they didn’t. Moreover, the ‘sanctions from Hell’ backfired spectacularly, and all of a sudden NATO is stuck in the mud.
There is no chance in Hell that NATO will be able to win a ‘War of Attrition’, since the alliance is no longer equipped for such a conflict, and does not have the industrial capacity, or even ‘know how’ among a skilled population to mass produce the weapons and ammo needed for such a conflict. And no country in the ‘Global South’ is going to help them out. So, while Ukraine is dreaming of regaining lost territory, supported by the largest, indispensable military alliance, specialized in ‘Special Military Operations’ and ‘Proxy Wars’ in the ‘Global South’, NATO is vehemently trying to restart it’s original plan, for which they need Russia to take all, or most of Ukraine, and be ‘spread thin’, while random terror attacks with no true military value, but great propaganda, are only meant to drive up the cost for Russia, and harm their resolve. Wasting drones on attacking Sevastopol at this stage of the war doesn’t serve any purpose, as far as I can see. Annihilating a command post does.
It is my understanding, solely from looking at developments we can all see with the naked eye, that the Ukrainians are beginning to understand that NATO never had any interest in the country, save for a few ill informed Western leaders unable to understand the ‘Bigger Picture’ they were serving by dutifully barking at Russia, as they were told to. With more than a few hateful people among them who didn’t need any encouragement. And though the Ukrainian leadership understood that they were part of a bigger plan to destroy Russia, they never figured that they themselves, and their country, were regarded as ‘lose change’, where they thought of themselves as true and loyal friends and soldiers. Not as cannon fodder in a geostrategic ‘Game of Thrones’. Why they thought that a thoroughly corrupt country, led by an artist, some ‘price fighters’ and soccer hooligans with suspect tattoo’s and patches, were ‘Part of the Club’, is beyond me. I’m always reminded of George Carlin, talking about the ‘Big Club’ controlling the United States, ‘And you and I ain’t in it!’ Or did they think they could fool the ‘Big Club’ and use them for their own purposes? That’s not very likely, is it?
In other words, Zelensky and his team miscalculated. They thought that NATO wanted them to be victorious, but NATO doesn’t care. Win of lose, either way NATO is happy, as long as Russia, and China, suffer. I suppose that Zelensky, not ‘entirely’ honest about his own agenda in the run up to the elections which gave him a landslide victory over the boss of this chocolate empire, who filled his bank accounts abroad, and served Joe Biden and his son well during his stint, actually thought he could see ‘eye to eye’ with the ‘Leader of the Free World’. Trump basically ignored him, but Biden hauled him on the podium next to him, and praised him as a true ‘democrat’, like Biden himself is a true ‘democrat’ in the modern sense of the word. Zelensky probably thought that now he could call the shots as the elected official, with the unwavering support of the American president. I have no doubt that Biden does give him his unwavering support, but he is not in charge in the USA. Or so it seems to me. He’s still part of the ‘Big Club’ alright, as a barely breathing relic, with his garage and odd rooms stuffed with boxes full of documents he didn’t even remember he took with him from the ‘Whitehouse’ when he was still Obama’s side kick, probably for his future ‘library’, since every American president has a ‘library’ to remind the people he existed. Biden can be seen with notes which spell out the answers to prepared questions from bought-and-paid-for ‘reporters’ at every ‘press briefing’, while he can’t remember in which country he was previously, on official duty, where he shoved the prime minister of his staunchest ally aside to greed the guard in theatrical fashion. While in Korea, he embarrassed the head of state of that country by challenging him to sing an American song, as if he was some sort of Psy-Gangnam-style Tik-Tok artist. Asians are a bit touchy on being embarrassed in public, but who cares?
Those driving all these events we’re witnessing from behind the scenes will cheer Zelensky, just as they cheer Biden, and ignore them both. They are setting the stage for a nuclear showdown as we speak, because they are in a hurry. This Ukraine-thing is a basket case, a write-off, and Russia is not only growing stronger militarily with every passing day, but economically as well, with an expected growth of two percent, stymied only by labor shortages. Moreover, there is a fair chance that upcoming elections on the island of Taiwan will kill their feeble excuse to claim they are serving the people stuck on that leased American ‘aircraft carrier’ off the coast of continental China, since the KMT is widely expected to win, and they reject war. Scott Ritter wrote an article to warn the American public against the ‘Ukraine Victory Resolution’ act, now being considered, since it has nothing whatsoever to do with victory for Ukraine, but with inserting a legal obligation to commit the US to war with Russia on Ukrainian soil. Isn’t it about time that we told these people to beat it, and leave us alone? I’m not a violent person, and I prefer the ‘Tucker Carlson’-approach. Which is why I speak my mind on these pages. But by now, may I draw your attention to a slightly premature suggestion, that people like me, shot at for being ‘Russian Trolls’, are probably the only true friends Ukraine ever had? Because a real friend may be severe, but caring, and uninterested in the outcome.