So, yes, I'm back from touring a part of Europe which I only visited once, over forty years ago. The independent island of Ireland, with part of it still occupied by the British, who are nevertheless getting ready to 'free' Taiwan, on the other side of the globe, and who insist that the people in the East of Ukraine should not have a say in who will rule their world, after the successful coup of 2014.
A lot of Ukrainians ended up in Ireland, by the looks of it. Seventy five thousand on a population of five million, if we exclude British ruled 'Northern Ireland'. I met quite a few, or so it seemed, working in hotels I was staying in, and sight-seeing like I was, all very friendly people, relieved to have had a chance to escape from the 'land-with-no-future', now actively being used as a training site for NATO. One hotel ceased being a hotel, since it had been transformed into a 'refugee-centre'. Seventy five thousand is nowhere near the three-and-a-half million who are sheltering in Russia, even from before the war, to escape being pulverised by 'Himars' and similar systems we provided, but it is a respectable number.
Meanwhile, Bakhmut fell, and 'Washington' and NATO are pushing for the 'Spring Offensive', with Victoria Nuland claiming that NATO has been involved in planning it for many months now, and from the sidelines she demanded that Zelensky and his staff get going. Some Ukrainians claim they've already launched their 'Offensive', others insist that they are waiting for weapons and ammunition, since they are short of everything, while Russian missiles and drones, which were supposed to be exhausted a year ago, are pummeling the stockpiles and strategic nodes. Estimates of thirty thousand combat troops, trained in European NATO countries to 'Kill Russians', are generally considered an inadequate force to confront the Russian military, which now outnumber them. So, what is the plan Victoria Nuland has put on the table? What brilliant strategy did she come up with this time, after all the previous failures?
The Pentagon was unhappy with an attack by the amateurish Ukrainian military on Russia itself, which was repelled, with several 'Humvees' and other NATO-delivered stuff captured or destroyed. But the situation is such, that one NATO-country may actually give a 'Thumbs Up', while the other is hitting the brakes. And I'm not sure that what the Pentagon says is even considered by the likes of Victoria Nuland and her neocon shills. We cannot be sure who is in control at NATO, which is hosting a 'Kill List' and rather unsavoury websites on its servers since before the 2014 coup.
Lies and deceptions are still dominating the Western 'news', and several commentators in the 'alternative sector' present their own assumptions as hard facts, so where we are, and where we are going, is as hard to predict as it was before I left you. According to 'War-Lover' Lindsey Graham, all the money spent on this proxy war with Russia was the best money the US ever spent. I'm not sure how someone from his state of South Carolina, with about as many people as the country of Ireland, around fifteen percent of them living in poverty, still higher than Ireland, which was devastated by the banking crisis of 2008, feels about that, but I wouldn't blame them if they feel strongly that certain domestic needs are neglected. But obviously Graham doesn't need to worry about being visited by Boris Johnson to chastise him over not doing 'enough' to keep the fire which destroys Ukraine burning. He flew to Kiev three times this year, on behalf of the people of South Carolina.
The slow-burning fuse of passing one 'red line' after the other is now working on providing F-16's somewhere in the future, way too late to be of use in any 'Spring Offensive', and according to most commentators no 'Game Changer' anyway. But what would be a 'Game Changer', apart from open, massive and direct NATO involvement? By the looks of it, the US is no longer interested in Ukraine winning anything, as long as they keep the Russians busy. Medvedev saying the hostilities could drag on for many years, suggests that Russia is set to stick to the 'Meatgrinder-strategy' which worked so well for them in Bakhmut. But I wouldn't count on it. According to Douglas Macgregor, the Russians will have to go on the offensive themselves at some point, to destroy the remaining combat troops. Moreover, as I've said from before February 2021, I think they will eventually want to leave Ukraine 'Landlocked', if 'Kiev' doesn't come around and talk, securing a 'landbridge' all the way to Southern Europe.
The failed attack, using seaborne drones to attack a Russian navy vessel inspecting the 'Turkstream' pipeline, renders this even more likely. With Erdogan reelected, and the Americans building yet another base in the illegally occupied part of Syria, while they seem to be set on destabilising Myanmar from Thailand, after their proxies won the elections, and with the US sending troops to Peru to assist the regime they installed in that country against popular revolt, and NATO troops being deployed in Kosovo, unrest in Moldova, and the US meddling in internal affairs in Georgia, things can become 'interesting' in other areas of the world just as easily. NATO needs a 'Spring Offensive' much more than Ukraine, even if you assume Ukraine would stand a fighting chance to gain territory, beyond the 'crumple zone' prepared by the Russians as part of their defence.
In THIS clip Biden seemed to be well aware of the risk of 'walking' into World War Three, but that appears to be 'yesterday's news', like all the sincerity Western politicians displayed in the past, it is all 'One Big F.cking Lie', from well before the 2014 coup. A 'Mackinder Game', 'World Dominance for Dummies', but only from our Western perspective. It is 'Class A Stupidity' on steroids. Let's hope we survive, and that Turkey, China or the Ukrainian diaspora can talk some sense into Zelensky and his team. Forget about the US, or NATO, they are on another planet, in another galaxy.