CBSNews: 101st Airborne Prepared To Enter Ukraine

I saw this story early this morning, but was holding back on it. On the one hand I’m not making it up. On the other hand the whole concept strikes me as far fetched. Please note that “they’re fully prepared to cross over into Ukrainian territory” (from Romania, where they currently are) are words spoken by the reporter, not by the guy he interviews in the video portion (who seems extraordinarily inarticulate, perhaps for a reason). Nevertheless, this belligerency seems terribly ill-advised:

Michael Tracey @mtracey

CBS gets an exclusive sneak peak: "The US Army's 101st Airborne is practicing for war with Russia just miles from Ukraine's border" "It's not just about defending NATO territory," correspondent @charliecbs reports. "They're fully prepared to cross over into Ukrainian territory"

You can read the full article here:

The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne is practicing for war with Russia just miles from Ukraine's border

The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division has been deployed to Europe for the first time in almost 80 years amid soaring tension between Russia and the American-led NATO military alliance. The light infantry unit, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," is trained to deploy on any battlefield in the world within hours, ready to fight.

CBS News joined the division's Deputy Commander, Brigadier General John Lubas, and Colonel Edwin Matthaidess, Commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, on a Black Hawk helicopter for the hour-long ride to the very edge of NATO territory — only around three miles from Romania's border with Ukraine.

It’s not clear to me what an outfit like the 101st—light infantry—could do once it crossed the border. It’s my understanding that they would be poorly equipped to face off against the regular RF army, although they would probably take pre-positioned “stuff” with them. The US, much less any NATO allies, are not in a position to drive hundreds of miles to make a difference, and the same probably goes for air resources.

"We're ready to defend every inch of NATO soil," Lubas told CBS News. "We bring a unique capability, from our air assault capability… We're a light infantry force, but again, we bring that mobility with us, for our aircraft and air assaults."

…

The "Screaming Eagles" commanders told CBS News repeatedly that they are always "ready to fight tonight," and while they're there to defend NATO territory, if the fighting escalates or there's any attack on NATO, they're fully prepared to cross the border into Ukraine.

Note: Ukraine soil isn’t NATO soil. Being prepared to “cross the border into Ukraine” only leads to the next question: Oh, sh*t! What do we do now?

Still, improbable as it all seems, Michael Tracy points out some very disturbing talk going on back in DC:

A handful of House members sent a polite letter to Biden in February stating that if he deployed "US military personnel in areas of imminent or active hostilities," Congressional authorization must be sought. Despite eight months of active hostilities, Congress has done nothing.

Paul Gosar @DrPaulGosar

Acts of war have to be approved by Congress. This is literally on the border of such action. Be prepared for our troops to get caught in some crossfire. Then the warmongers will use that as justification to make a full on entry. Our Afghanistan peace dividend lasted a month.

Michael Tracey @mtracey

CBS gets an exclusive sneak peak: "The US Army's 101st Airborne is practicing for war with Russia just miles from Ukraine's border" "It's not just about defending NATO territory," correspondent @charliecbs reports. "They're fully prepared to cross over into Ukrainian territory" https://t.co/XE2OfHZV4o

The total dereliction of Congress here is maybe without precedent in history. They've abandoned even the pretense of doing any oversight of this massively high-stakes US military intervention. And no, the same dozen GOP Reps. tweeting indignantly every now and then doesn't count. 

Further:

In new interview published today, David Petraeus -- de facto spokesman for the Biden Administration -- floats the idea that a "multinational force" led by the US will intervene in Ukraine.

Petraeus is floating a scenario where presumably the US would bypass Germany/France and organize some sort of "multinational force" -- likely including UK, Poland, Romania, Baltics, etc. -- without activating the full NATO command structure. 2011 Libyan war was organized this way. 

If you're still somehow denying that Petraeus is a public surrogate for the Biden Administration, you're clueless. He's constantly appearing in the media to give direct operational accounts of current Biden Administration policy; talking points coordinated

Michael Tracey @mtracey

David Petraeus, de facto US government spokesman, describes the "enormous amount of coordination" the US is undertaking "behind the scenes" in Ukraine, which "has maybe not been fully visible" to the public -- including "some of our closest allies [UK] with boots on the ground"

• • •

Well, not to be alarmist, but …

Max Abrahms @MaxAbrahms

David Petraeus seems to be saying that if Russia uses a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine or engages in more civilian victimization there that perhaps America should fight Russia directly.

Talk like that has led some to suggest that, since nothing the collective West has tried—pipeline sabotage, targeting help, massive weapons shipments, Ukrainian “offensives” leading to disastrous losses—the next logical step would be a false flag operation to justify direct involvement. As in boots on the ground. Think in terms of a “tactical” nuke explosion to be blamed on the Russians:

Ghost @mdfzeh

I do realize this is pretty deep into the conspiracy realm, but I will post for receipts sake. Against the backdrop of US & NATO funneling more personnel towards Ukraines borders, it wasn't until today when I saw Traceys tweet that things started to click and I got worried.

It all seems very wild, but I thought I’d just put this out there.