Ukraine At The End Of The Rope
Don’t take my word for it. That’s what WH Spokes for NatSec said the other day:
“You don’t want to be trying to bake in long term support when you’re at the end of the rope.”
That’s an assessment that’s strikingly similar in tone, if not in simile/metaphor, to the Polish comparison of Ukraine to a drowning man who could drag down anyone who tries to save him. If one thing is clear at this moment it’s that “We stand with Israel” has trumped “Slava Ukraini.” Oh, sure, Zhou’s keepers are talking of putting together a package deal of bucks for Ukraine with bucks for Taiwan and Israel. That looks pretty flimsy:
That sounds like the gameplan for stripping out bucks for Ukraine and giving it all to Israel. In America, that’s the perfect cover for selling out Ukraine. Not that I feel much sympathy for Ukraine—they have no excuse for not knowing better.
Another bad sign is that Steve Scalise is said to lack the support to become Speaker. For my part I agree with MTG that Scalise should be focused on his cancer. On the other hand, Scalise is a known war monger. If he somehow manages to turn this around, he’ll have to do a deal with members who are unsympathetic to sending more bucks to Ukraine. That number is likely to grow as time passes—as it will—and the Speakership election drags on—as it may. More and more members will see the way to satisfy their constitutuents by selling Ukraine out under cover of standing with Israel. Splitting the difference—shutting down war in Ukraine while sending more gift packages to the MIC by supporting war, or something like it, in the Middle East.
The whole moral issue of the Neocons talking gullible Ukro-Nazis into destroying their own country with promises of Slava Ukraini, well, they’ll only be talking about that in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, continuing with Kirby’s rope metaphor, it’s becoming more clear by the day that Russia is tightening the noose on Ukraine. In particular, Russia appears to be closing encirclements on two significant concentrations of Ukrainian forces, one in the Kupyansk area near Kharkov and the other in Avdeyevka near Donetsk City.
In the Avdeyevka area the Russians have full fire control over the only road into the city.
In Avdiivka Russian soldiers managed to fully occupy the most important stronghold (the so-called "terrikon") on the dominant height. Its liberation will make it possible to control the approaches to the northern outskirts of Avdiivka.
Simplicius links to a lucid account of the importance of this battle—read him for futher details:
When you think about it, this is real progress. It only took a few days to force a debunking:
Israel's gov is now admitting the "beheadings" canard is unsubstantiated, but only after it was widely disseminated & used to distract from the killing of 1350 Gazans (inc. 270 kids) Every "journalist" who repeated this canard will go down in history for enabling mass atrocities
This will be Covid:
Zerohedge re the Speakership:
Scalise, 58, is a longtime member of House leadership favored by centrists and neocons. He needs at least 217 lawmakers to support his candidacy. ...
The big money donors and lobbyists want Steve Scalise as Speaker.
The voters want Jim Jordan as Speaker.
So naturally, the Republican Congress goes behind closed doors on a secret ballot and screws their voters over again, AS USUAL.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) October 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1712560544971198862
This thread contains photos of the effect of white phosphorous:
Eva Karene Bartlett @EvaKBartlett
My cover photo I took in January 2009 in Gaza, when Israel rained White Phosphorous down onto innocent, trapped, Palestinian civilians with no where to flee to.
This is what you "I stand with Israel" people really stand with.
3:07 PM · Oct 12, 2023
·