Western media have finally change course. They are now admitting that the much promoted Ukrainian counter-offensive has failed. In fact, the acknowledge that it never had a chance to win in the first place.
The Hill, the Washington Post and CNN now agree that the Ukrainian army will never achieve its aims.
western MSM has a rare encounter with reality!
That makes it difficult for the Biden administration to get Congress approval for $24 billion in additional 'aid' to Ukraine. It does not make sense to pay for a cause that is evidently lost.
b seems overly hopeful regarding the rationality of US congress, but i think hes right- why would we throw more money at them, US politicians have made it clear they do not support bringing Ukraine into NATO if they do not win this conflict. of course, US politicians are prone to lying and misleading
Nothing has come from the 'peace conference' which Saudi Arabia arranged on Ukraine's behalf
lol. lmao even. props to big dog MBS for trying
Despite the onslaught of bad news the Ukrainian army is still trying to take Russian positions in the south and east of Ukraine. But it simply does not have enough in men and material to break through the lines.
Even if they would manage to get a local breakthrough there are not enough reserves to push for the necessary follow up. Just one of the NATO trained brigades has still been held back. All others have been mauled in their various deployment zones.
nothing has changed it seems
In the northeast around Kupyansk the Russians have started their own offensive which has the Ukrainians on the run. Ukraine has ordered the evacuation of the area
But Kupyansk is a Russian city and people refuse to leave.
show this to the libs claiming Russians are committing genocide in the regions they capture. curious that these civilians are content with Russian occupation when you believe what western media claims
The Russian campaign is slowly speeding up. As the Ukrainian Strana.news reports (machine translation):
Also in Ukraine, it is recorded that from Kupyansk to Bakhmut, Russia has increased the number of attacks.
"Over the past month, the total number of attacks in the Kupyansk, Limansky and Bakhmut directions has grown significantly. In July, during the week there were 6-6.5 thousand attacks, during the last week-9 thousand attacks, " - said the representative of the National Guard Ruslan Muzychuk.
According to him, the Russian Federation does not experience "shell hunger".
Aviation is also actively used, and over the past few weeks, more than 50 air attacks have been taking place every day, and sometimes more than 80.
That is bad news for the Ukrainian side which lacks the reserves to counter the Russian onslaught. There are also less weapons coming in from the West. F-16 fighter jets will be delayed for another nine months due to training issues. Tanks and other material are in short supply.
these supply issues sure bode well for the west’s performance in WW3
Strana also report of an interview with a knowledgeable Ukrainian soldier (machine translation):
Continuing the topic of the situation at the front, an interesting interview was given by a Ukrainian sniper fighting near Bakhmut with the call sign "Grandfather". On the air of political scientist Yuri Romanenko, he was introduced as Konstantin Proshinsky (this is a pseudonym).
The fighter spoke in detail about his vision of the situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russian army.
Mobilization. In his opinion, it is conducted incorrectly. Recruits are sent to the front who have never been trained, and they are often over 50 years old and with a whole bunch of diseases.
No rotation. The soldier says that "the same brigades" are fighting at the front, and people are not taken out of the front line for six months or more. Whereas by Western standards, they can be kept in a war zone for no more than three months.
Behavior of mid-and high-level commanders. According to Proshinsky, many of them are trying to arrange a "mini-Stalingrad" on the positions, forcing them to go into frontal assaults on well-fortified Russian positions.
The Russian Army began to fight better.
Proshinsky believes that Russia has not yet used much of what it has against Ukraine.
The soldier thinks that the Russians will not move from their positions and that a stalemate peace like in Korea would be the end result.
UAF in real dire times— recruiting the elderly, poor logistics, engaging the enemy at inopportune times, and Russia has yet to waver
I believe that to be wrong. Russia's aim is to liberate at least the four regions that it has claimed for itself. For political reasons it can not stop before that is done.
Should the Ukraine continue to fight after that, Russia is likely to set new aims and take more land.
more editorializing, but it doesnt seem unreasonable. i thought Russia would stick to its original goal of Donetsk and Luhansk, but if Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are receptive to Russian governance, it would be foolish for Russia to give them up
I think that some very pro-Ukraine voices (especially in the media and Dem establishment) are angry that this counteroffensive is not going well... but they aren't willing to admit that NATO forced Ukraine into it, so they have to just bemoan how bad it is going. Ukraine made a deal with Russia very early into the war, but as soon as NATO found out about it, Boris Johnson arrived in Ukraine for a completely unscheduled visit and told Ukrainian officials that we will fuck them up (their positions in the government and their future employment prospects) if they don't cancel the deal. The same with this counteroffensive, we told them to do it.
i believe they are signaling a coming change in support. either they withdraw support, or NATO troops are deployed. the latter could mean ww3, which is probably inevitable, but it seems way too soon.
also, it could very well be a million lives lost
edit: it could also just be manufactured consent for more “aid”
NATO ain't going to do shit until it's a country that's a member state or one they actually give a shit about. Western Gov is just telling our news media to chill the support because they can't sustain and it's a lost cause unless the want to kick off WW3 over a place that most people can't identify on a map.
It's frankly terrifying how many western libs are beating the drum for WW3. They want so badly for the rest of the world to be their slaves that they would rather see themselves, their families, and everything they love incinerated in nuclear hellfire than give it up.
Most of the libs I know who talk like this are 110% certain that Russia's and China's nukes don't work, and/or that the US government absolutely has a fool-proof way of shooting down ICBM's.
I privately think NATO would collapse if someone tried to invoke Article 5, especially if the opponent was someone reasonably serious like Turkey or Russia.
Like I don't know, but I think trying to get Burgerlanders and Brits and Germans all on board with getting mulched because Finland, population 5 million, had it's precious territory integrity violated, would be a hard sell. The potential for unrest and uprisings in an already hungry and restive population in two of the major NATO militaries would be a huge issue.
people talk a lot about Article 5 but it doesn't actually compel member states to do anything
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
I can't see NATO trying to deploy. They're already stressed just trying to keep the Ukrainian Army supplied, the US that would have to send most of the troops is in chaos and morale is terrible here. The outrcry against it would be incredible, especially less than 3 years after the largest domestic uprising in US history. And it would have a strong effect on the US's ability to try to provoke war in China.
well the alternative is allowing Russia this major win, ceding significant hegemonic power. i get they’re saving up for a total confrontation with China, but i dont think the ruling class expected Ukraine to lose. even if the realists were at the helm, Russia seems ardently anti-Atlanticist and China has been a great trade and diplomacy partner for them, so they are unlikely to ever be persuaded into the all-capitalist alliance these realists are dreaming of. NATO has to deploy eventually, i agree that they didnt want it to be over Ukraine, but animals act unpredictably when backed in a corner. the supply issue point is true, but amerika seems to be turning the EU into its neocolonies and could very well use them as a half-billion-person factory; artillery shells were typically imported from Russia and China, so amerika is now scrambling for alternatives