Shades Of Gray Not Required
By Mitch Berg
Joe Doakes from Como park emails:
There is a massive effort by the Lesko Brandon administration to paint the situation in Ukraine as black-and-white, endlessly trumpeted in the mainstream media and vigorously enforced by suppressing opposing viewpoints on social media (while selectively suspending their own rules against ‘violence’ to promote ‘Kill Putin’ posts). There’s never a measured analysis, a weighing of costs versus benefits, an explanation of Why and How which rational minds could use to decide Why Not and How Not.
I reminds me of the massive effort by the Democrats to paint the Afghan retreat as black-and-white; the vaccine situation as black-and-white; the Covid virus as black-and-white; St. George of Fentanyl as black-and-white (okay, that one actually was black-and-white, but not in the way I mean). Every Democrat disaster is a morality play with Democrats as Good and everyone else as Evil and no middle ground for compromise.
But real life is rarely black-and-white. Eventually, the truth leaks out. There is significant evidence Covid was simply a bad flu made deadly not but nature, but by the political response. There is significant evidence the election was not fortified against being stolen, it was stolen and the evidence fortified against being found. There is significant evidence the vaccine is not without risk, Ukraine is not without fault, the Afghan bug-out was not without consequence. Eventually, people figure out they’ve been lied to, by politicians of course (which we expect) but also by media talking heads (which we expect on THOSE channels but not on ours) and even by our own doctors (which we did not expect at all).
So why do they do it?
Do they seriously think we’re going to believe the price of gas is due to Putin’s acts in February, when the price of gas has been going up for months?
Do they seriously think we’re going to believe more dollars chasing fewer goods hasn’t caused inflation, when we’ve been seeing grocery prices rise all year?
Do they seriously think we’re going to believe de-funding the police had nothing to do with rampaging carjackers and record-breaking shootings?
How stupid do they think we are?
Joe Doakes
As I’ve been maintaining for years: it’s not how stupid they think we are, it’s how stupid they are counting on us being.
March 20th, 2022 at 7:20 pm
Given what happened in Ukraine, why does anyone still pretend that the Russians are any sort of military power? They’ve lost five generals and counting and still haven’t captured anything strategic. They’re hopeless — without nukes, the world would have crushed them already and reminded them that they are basically a cold Nigeria.
March 20th, 2022 at 8:45 pm
I can’t remember where I read it, but I think Russia is using their militia to invade, not regular army or Special Forces. If true, it would be like the US sending the National Guard to invade, while leaving all of our regular army and Marines in Germany and Navy Seals and Green Berets at their bases in the US.
If Russia invaded using a third-string team, to keep the main Army in reserve in case of a NATO attack, then they’re making pretty good progress. They already control the coast. They control the border provinces. They’ve mostly encircled the big cities. They blew up the Western training camp where the US was trying to sneak in arms and mercenaries. If it comes to a siege, third-stringers will do just fine.
Bluster did not prevent The Invasion, sanctions are not ending it, and the American public has no stomach for escalating to World War III. Particularly not after Lesko Brandon green-lighted The Invasion and admitted sanctions were not intended to work. Puts me in mind of the old Laurel and Hardy movies: Well, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.
March 21st, 2022 at 6:52 am
It must be disorientating for Putin to witness all these people rallying so naturally for their country and Zelensky, without any propaganda or coercion. Unfazed by his third rate military. He won’t be able to understand it at all. It’s probably contributing to his being so hopelessly stuck.
March 21st, 2022 at 10:09 am
Joe, the sources I’m seeing indicate about 75% of the actual infantry and such in Russia’s army is in Ukraine, so I’m skeptical about this being the third string. Remember that about 60% to 2/3 of modern armies are in support roles, and quite frankly, those guys aren’t exactly distinguishing themselves, either.
My take is that even with dominance in the air and overwhelming dominance with artillery and armor, the Russians are bogging down, losing a fairly significant chunk of their tanks and such in the process. That’s not going to play well as developing nations say “huh, should I choose the T-72 or something else?”. Totally idiotic move by Putin, no matter who’s manning those tanks and guns.
Putin also is reputedly sending the corps of cadets from his military academy in the same way that Von Moltke sent the German equivalent of ROTC against the Black Watch in WW1. Suffice it to say that they did not fare well, and the destruction of the future officer corps of Germany by the “Ladies from Hell” also played a key role in the ascension of an Austrian corporal to the Chancellorship a bit later; they were the ones that would have most effectively called BS on Schicklgruber.
We need to pray that the Russian army finds itself in a “Samsonov”/Tannenberg situation for the sake of not only Ukraine, but also for the sake of Russia.
Putin delenda est
March 21st, 2022 at 10:40 am
I don’t think there is a country in the world that suffered a greater loss of life in the 20th century relative to its population. First came Stalin and the deliberate starvation of millions of farmers who resisted collectivization. Then came the Nazis and their scorched earth policies. Then came Stalin again and took revenge on anybody he suspected to have said so much as a German word. yes, the Ukraine had collaborators and Nazi sympathizers, but a lot of that sympathy came from their initial hope that the Germans would liberate them from the hated Stalin. They quickly realized that the Nazis were even worse. 1.5 million +/- Ukrainian Jews died in the Holocaust. Millions more died in an utterly brutal war between Stalin and Hitler. There isn’t a single Ukrainian family who did not lose members to the events between 1930 and 1953, when Stalin died. That collective memory is what welds this nation together as they face yet another atrocity perpetuated from the outside.
I think Putin massively miscalculated here and short of using WMDs, he will sue for peace as his own force can barely advance as it runs out of equipment, food, fuel and morale.