Friday, May 6, 2022

At War with Russia

Speaking of what happens when the adults are in charge, the following story, from the New York Times, can be interpreted in two ways. Either the Biden administration wants to provoke an armed conflict with Russia or its foreign policy is being conducted by incompetent buffoons. 

Take your choice.


The story tells us that the United States has been actively involved with the Ukrainian military. In so doing, we have been killing Russian soldiers. And we are bragging about it:


The United States has provided intelligence about Russian units that has allowed Ukrainians to target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the Ukraine war, according to senior American officials.


Ukrainian officials said they have killed approximately 12 generals on the front lines, a number that has astonished military analysts.


The targeting help is part of a classified effort by the Biden administration to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine. That intelligence also includes anticipated Russian troop movements gleaned from recent American assessments of Moscow’s secret battle plan for the fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the officials said. Officials declined to specify how many generals had been killed as a result of U.S. assistance.


The United States has focused on providing the location and other details about the Russian military’s mobile headquarters, which relocate frequently. Ukrainian officials have combined that geographic information with their own intelligence — including intercepted communications that alert the Ukrainian military to the presence of senior Russian officers — to conduct artillery strikes and other attacks that have killed Russian officers.


So, we are actively working to murder Russian military officers. Are we trying to provoke a counterattack by Russia, in order to have a justification for becoming more involved. Or is the Biden administration just clowning around, flexing its muscles in order to show the world how tough it is. If the latter we are dealing with macho bravado-- never a good look.


Better yet, the Times reports that the Biden people have been trying to keep its efforts secret. Yes, indeed. That is why it leaked the story to the New York Times-- from which it was picked up by news media across the world:


The administration has sought to keep much of the battlefield intelligence secret, out of fear it will be seen as an escalation and provoke President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia into a wider war. American officials would not describe how they have acquired information on Russian troop headquarters, for fear of endangering their methods of collection. But throughout the war, the U.S. intelligence agencies have used a variety of sources, including classified and commercial satellites, to trace Russian troop movements.


When it comes to working to put an end to the conflict, apparently the Biden administration has no interest whatever. Whether it knows it or not, it is opting for escalation.

4 comments:

IamDevo said...

"Either the Biden administration wants to provoke an armed conflict with Russia or its foreign policy is being conducted by incompetent buffoons. Take your choice."
These are not mutually exclusive categories.

DeNihilist said...

My take is that your administration is leaking this as a warning to China, N. Korea and others as a sign that American intel is light years above their foes.
Unfortunately from what I've read, the Russians are not using encrypted means of communication, so this may just be chest pounding as the Ukes are able to identify a lot of these targets themselves.

Still though, this is not a smart move when dealing with Putin. If America is claiming that they are the ones actually targeting his command staff, what is he to do?
I guess the administration is betting that he is just a bully and will back down when forcibly confronted.

And if he doesn't?

markedup2 said...

There is, potentially, much more going on here than meets the eye. I have no idea if the Biden administration is the least bit sane, although I'd bet against anything more than "least bit", but Putin - and Russia in general - has good reasons for what he's doing.

I highly recommend Peter Zeihan - search for him on YouTube, then buy his books. Russia is in a double trap and if they don't solve their problems, soon, they're not going to. The first problem is demographics: They won't have an army in ten years. The second problem is geography: Russia, as it stands, is not defensible without a large army.

Push the borders out to better places and (somewhat counterintuitively) they can defend themselves with far fewer troops. THAT is what the Ukrainian war is about. It was supposed to be fast because there are other targets.

If the US has any sense, all this sabre rattling is "If you think Ukraine is bad, just imagine what we'll do when you go for Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania."

On the flip side, tactical nukes have always been on the table for a Russian invasion westward. Putin is making sure they stay on the table.

Anonymous said...

At War with Russia
Speaking of what happens when the adults are in charge, the following story, from the New York Times, can be interpreted in two ways. Either the Biden administration wants to provoke an armed conflict with Russia or its foreign policy is being conducted by incompetent buffoons.

Take your choice. BOTH!!