The leaked intel might be helpful to Russia were this not to be misdirection: and the possibility is rather real, Pepe Escobar writes.
The script reads like a spoof straight out of legendary Mad magazine 1960’s cartoon “Spy vs. Spy”: Secret Pentagon Files Fall in the Hands of Malign Russia. Well, really in the hands of millions accessing Twitter and Telegram.
So here, at face value, we have a significant leakage essentially detailing Pentagon preparing for the next stage of the NATO vs. Russia proxy war in Ukraine: the interminably debated Spring “counter-offensive” that might, or may not, begin in mid-April, in addition to war plans shown FVEY– the Five Eyes.
The leaked intel might– and the operative word is “may”– be beneficial to Russia were this not to be misdirection: and the possibility is rather real.
The inestimable Ray McGovern, who knows one or two features of the CIA, kept in mind whether the Pentagon is “falsifying kill-ratio to gild Easter lilies in Kyiv? Current leakage of an apparently main NATO document shows 71,500 Ukrainians KIA and just 16,000 to 17,500 Russians, a far cry from earlier Pentagon ‘price quotes’. All sounds so Vietnam-déjà vu!”
So this might be Vietnam all over once again– never depend on the Pentagon learning from their errors– however might be something way more disconcerting, according to a leading Beltway intel source, retired: “Our interpretation of this breach is that intel sources in the United States have actually released crucial intel information in order to avoid a nuclear war with Russia.”
As it stands, the only certainty is that the spin war has actually gone crazy. So the leaker may have been a– disgruntled– U.S. insider. No, wait: the entire thing might be phony, as the Pentagon insists. In spin speak, that would be an effort to “spread false information that might damage the U.S.”.
Fine-tuned or not, the “secret” Pentagon relative war dead ratio between Russians and Ukrainians still does not make good sense. The numbers appear to show Bakhmut/Artemovsk casualties, where Russian casualty ratios were highest. Yet reputable on the ground Russian military correspondents ensure the ratio is actually 10 to 1, with the Russians using the snail technique combined with a formidable artillery mincing maker.
“Stupefying” incompetence
The sound conclusion out of the– genuine or fake– Pentagon leaks is that the U.S. is in a state of war versus Russia. Which is serious enough.
Washington has been feeding info non-stop on command posts, ammo depots and crucial nodes in the Russian military lines. It’s such real-time intel that has enabled Kiev to target Russian forces, kill senior generalsand force ammo depots to be moved further from the Russian front lines.
Anything Pentagon/NATO stenographers say about Kiev playing the proverbial “definitive role” in planning and performing these strikes is a lie. The U.S. exercizes total, absolute control of the Ukraine war on a main command basis. Consisting of from that “secret” underground bunker near Lviv which recently received a business card from Mr. Khinzal and has actually gone to meet its maker– along with over 200 NATO high-level operatives.
Fake or not phony, we likewise have verification that the Pentagon has direct access to communications of the Russian Ministry of Defense. And that the Americans listen to everybody and his neighbor: the sweaty Tee shirts star in Kiev, all the Five Eyes allies, and the Mossad.
As for the notion that Kiev has actually altered its counter-offensive “military strategies” since of the Pentagon leaks, everybody should do not hesitate to control the pitch of their roaring laughter.
The Russian non-response action to all this hoopla might be viewed as a classic of misdirection. Responding to the U.S. de facto engaged in an undeclared war versus Russia, much hotter than Hybrid, President Putin said that Russia has an interest in “serene coexistence with the U.S. and developing a balance of interests” given their status as the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.
Well, nobody can perhaps picture Stalin saying that Russia had an interest in serene coexistence with Nazi Germany in July, 1941 as the Wehrmacht was hurrying towards Moscow, Leningrad and the Caucusus oil.
From the viewpoint of valuable military information, the essential Andrei Martyanov summed it all up: these “documents” consist of none, apart from confirming that the Pentagon is absolutely clueless on the SMO: why is it taking place, what is the modus operandi and what it plans to achieve.
Kremlin representative Dmitri Peskov did cut to the chase: “We do not have the smallest doubt about direct or indirect participation of the U.S. and NATO (…) it can not affect the last outcome of the special operation.”
As Martyanov stresses, Russia maneuvers an exceptionally sophisticated ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) complex, consisting of human intel on the ground, electronic warfare and satellite constellations: “In regards to war associates and combat stats– I wouldn’t touch anything originating from Pentagon with a long stick.”
There are indeed numerous severe issues with the Pentagon “supersecret” intel. It exudes the impression it was redacted based on open data, and not actual intel. And all that packaged by some quite substandard work.
For example, the persistence to “re-equip” Ukrainian air defense with rockets is not supported by information on where such rockets will be coming from. The name of the NASAMS– the middle variety, ground based air defense system co-developed by Raytheon– is misspelled.
In main NATO files, weapons from the USSR and from Russia are indicated in NATO codification. There is no style uniformity: it’s a messy mix of main code classifications and transliterations from Russian into English.
So not surprising that the impression is strengthened that the U.S. Army Command in Europe (EUCOM) got their “intel” from open sources, and is absolutely unaware on how many weapons, how much equipment and how many individuals the Ukrainians really have.
And that explains what’s going on in Artemovsk– with the Russians taking all the time in the world to adjust their strategic defense, and after the orderly desert of Kherson, entice the Ukrainians into a non-stop slaughterhouse. Martyanov certifies U.S./ NATO incompetence to see it coming as “stupefying.”
A do-or-die war to manage Eurasia
When once again: the most essential repercussion of the Pentagon leaks is to establish that the U.S., de facto and de jure, is at war versus Russia– whatever may be the spin by that Norwegian piece of dead wood in Brussels. Russia will establish a war criminal offenses tribunal for Ukraine, so earlier rather than later on, chosen collective West luminaries better take haven in their New Zealand bunkers.
It’s also important to always remember Ukraine is a simple pawn in their game for not losing world power, versus China, Russia and potentially Germany.
The initial psycho Straussian neocon goal was to cut off Germany from Russia using “Liver Sausage” Chancellor Scholz, who was briefed beforehand on the horror attack on the Nord Streams.
Scholz was also associated with the CIA misdirection rip-off, carrying the blame for the fear attack on some unknown Ukrainian “dissident” and a bumbling yacht– as remarkably covered by Seymour Hersh.
The next step is to cut off Ukraine from Russia– “reconquering” Crimea, the focus of the current P.R. blitzkrieg, and Donbass, therefore stemming a cataclysmic psychological upheaval in Russia causing a Putin routine change.
Then the Straussians would lastly command Russia’s massive natural deposits– and obstruct them from China by land and by sea through the U.S. Fleet.
That’s not exactly creative– but Straussian neocons do revel in their own intellectually shallow pond. Cue to that unbearable idiot Admiral John Kirby stating there can be no settlements with Russia till they leave Ukraine, abandoning Donbass and Crimea.
So the (program) war in Ukraine must go on, to the last Ukrainian, or all these elaborate plans will irretrievably bite the dust. This is a do-or-die war versus Russia-China for the control of Eurasia. Will that suggest more Pentagon leaks? Bring them on.