"Russian Human Wave Tactics"--Will That Be The CYA Narrative?
I’m listening to Crypto Rich today, with Tom Luongo and Alex Mercouris. Mercouris started it out recounting how the uniformed military in multiple countries—especially Germany, but also the US and, remarkably, even the Polish military—are all saying: This Ukraine adventure is CRAZY. We need a negotiated end, an exit strategy. Rich added that his military sources were telling him the Germans were saying this back in March. And it’s true. There’s no way logistically to get NATO truly involved, and it’s a military disaster waiting to happen. And, of course, there’s this:
And this, too:
Meanwhile, the politicians keep gaslighting the public about Ukraine “winning”, despite the US, basically, ordering Ukraine to withdraw from Bakhmut after suffering catastrophic losses:
This is the advice which social media say the U.S. Government is today giving to the Zelensky regime in Kiev. It follows by a day or two the public release by German intelligence operatives of their own assessment of the latest course of the war, saying that the stubborn resistance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to advancing Russian ground units in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) just as the defense of Soledar (lost to the Russians a week ago) was a death trap set by the Russians for the Ukrainians. As the US overlords understand today, continued losses of Ukrainian forces in these hopeless PR stunts are compromising any chances of their making a spring counteroffensive when the advanced military gear now being shipped to them arrives and is put into the field.
What conclusion can we reach from “withdraw from Artyomovsk”? Very simply that the notion of 1:1 death and injured rates that the Anglosaxon news disseminators have been shouting for weeks to slant the news towards some “stalemate” between the opposing sides is pure nonsense. It would be safer to follow the figures put out by the Russian military, which indicate a 10:1 imbalance in casualties on the Ukrainian side.
Not only is the Bakhmut front in crisis for Ukraine/NATO, but Russia appears to be opening the new Zaporozhya front in the south. Ukraine is attempting to rush reserves to Zaporozhya, but my bet is that those reserves will be rushing into exposed positions and will be decimated—it’s also my bet that that’s part of the Russian plan. But here’s the type of nonsense that’s being put out—watch these videos and ask yourself whether these look like “human wave” attacks:
Larry Johnson hits on all this today, too:
WHY ARE WESTERN ESTABLISHMENT AND PUNDITS LOSING THEIR MINDS OVER UKRAINE?
After trashing Ken Rogoff’s views on the the Russian economy’s supposedly tiny size …
Next up, Charles Lipson, who is “Peter B. Ritzma professor of political science emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he founded the Program on International Politics, Economics and Security, and a Spectator contributing writer.” Pretty impressive. Just more prima facie evidence supporting Andrei Martyanov’s scathing denunciation of “political science” as a fraudulent academic field. Lipson just wrote the following:
What’s happening on the battlefield itself? The fight has slowed over the past two months because of early winter weather. Now, as the ground freezes solid, Ukraine’s tanks and artillery are beginning to move again. The soft ground didn’t affect Russia, which relies on human-wave attacks by expendable soldiers and air attacks by Iranian-made drones. What has slowed them is the dwindling supply of precision weapons and conscripts. Putin can’t do much about the weapons, but he can do something about the manpower. He has secretly begun another round of mobilization, despite the political dangers. It’s one thing for him to round up men from outlying areas. It’s quite another to drag them off the streets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the political heart of the country. Putin would only do that if he thinks losing the war would be even more dangerous. That is exactly the prospect he is facing if Ukraine continues its gains this spring and summer, and especially if it threatens to retake Crimea.
Right now, Russia is continuing its unsuccessful — and extremely costly — effort to take the cities of Bakhmut and nearby Soledar, as part of their failing attempt to consolidate control of the Donbas. Meanwhile, Ukraine is slowly advancing on two cities further north: Kreminna and Svatove. Those cities and the highway connecting them represent the next steps eastward after Ukraine’s capture of Lyman in October.
Ignore the fact the Russia has stepped up its missile strikes on key infrastructure during the past two months. If Ukraine’s tanks are moving and the Russians are losing, according to Lipson, then why does Ukraine desperately need hundreds of tanks from the West? If Ukraine is winning and Russia is being defeated on the battlefield, why is the West not preparing its victory party? Cobbling together a failed NATO summit in Ramstein this past week is not a sign that the West is confident of Ukraine’s military prospects.
Virtually every word of what Lipson says is demonstrably false. This is simply propaganda, and is inexcusable. And not worth refuting in detail. The debacle in Ramstein and the growing panic in the actual uniformed military throughout the West tell the whole story, as Johnson says.
So what’s the point of the absurd “Russian human wave tactics” talking point? What we may be seeing is a trial balloon for an excuse for the coming NATO defeat. The “human wave” claim addresses a number issues simultaneously.
The false claim that Russia is using “human wave” tactics to overwhelm Ukrainian fortifications—backed up with superior NATO weaponry—paints the Russians as acting unfairly against heroic Nazis, and absolves the West of leading down the garden path to destruction. Not our fault! We supplied Ukraine with Western wonder weapons, you did your part—it’s nobody’s fault!
Behind that, of course, is also the stereotype of Russians as an Asiatic horde that places no value on human life. Never mind the hypocrisy in that. That stereotype is exactly the stereotype that the West has deployed against Russia for centuries. It still plays with Western publics.
I’m going to keep this a bit short by putting in a plug for the two part Crypto Rich segment with Luongo and Mercouris. Do you have two hours to spare? Well, here’s a hint or two:
Segment one deals heavily with Ukraine and what we can know about what happened at Ramstein. It then segues into the Davos debacle. You’ll want to at least listen to the first part, about Ukraine. Luongo and Mercouris, after detailing the growing panic and desperation for a negotiated exit on the part of the professional military, do agree that “we’re not out of the woods yet,” because those at the top of government are insanely committed to WW3:
Part two, by contrast, begins with the hit on Zhou. You’ll be interested in Luongo’s opening presentation. He’s saying a lot of the same things I’ve been saying, including that the fear of WW3 is part of the drive to take Zhou—and his regime—out. Luongo’s bottom line is that “our plutocrats”—meaning the NY Guys—see how crazy the ideologues driving all this are. They want Zhou gone. Luongo’s basic presentation is done in less than 10 minutes:
UKRAINE, EU, USA, UK - FAILING AND FALLING. WITH ALEXANDER MERCOURIS & TOM LUONGO - PART 2 OF 2
Interesting point you made about the "Asiatic Horde" stereotype. A colleague of mine was born in Russia. Grew about a couple hundred miles north of Moscow and spent the first 16 years of his life there. Great guy and I have learned a lot from him about Russian culture, etc. Told me his cousin got called up in the recent mobilization and he thinks he may be in Belarus. Anyway, back to the Asiatic Horde point. He did tell me that Russians view suffering very differently . Service in the military is a given for Russian men and in his words, "they don't run around thanking everyone for their service." He grew up in an area where people still eat with wooden utensils and bowls. Life is harder and that translates into a general toughness of their people that we haven't seen in this country since the WWII generation. My friend also told me months ago that Russia would win by grinding the Ukies down. "Artillery is still The God of War in Russia" and they're proving it once again.
As an aside, my friend served his new country as a Marine sniper in Iraq. His father was North Korean (he thinks) and his mother was an engineer who was moved to Siberia just prior to the USSR dissolving. They immigrated to Alaska across the Bering Straight. He's 6'2 and has Asian features. Speaks a Russian accented English. Lots more to his story. He's seen a lot an is an excellent resource for me.
Ok, everybody wants Joe gone, but how are they going to pull it off with Kamala in the default position? Been nice if they had thought about this before putting an incompetent clown in office, but I digress. They can’t just put up a “Vacancy” sign on the Oval Office, they have to have a plan, right? These folks have elevated poor planning and incompetence to an art form.
I just don’t see how this plays out and not destroy the country in the process.