McGregor: Russians defend with minimal effort and maximum losses for the enemyThe Pentagon leadership is trying to convince Biden not to allow direct intervention in the Ukrainian conflict, retired US Army Colonel Douglas McGregor said in an interview with The Grayzone journalist Aaron Mate.
In his opinion, they realized the danger of such a decision.
Aaron Mate: Let's take a closer look at the state of the armed forces of Ukraine. The media only do what they say about her victories, especially in Kherson and Kharkiv. And yet, in some places, the media, the same The New York Times, publish - mostly unnoticed — notes that talk about the success of Russian missile and UAV strikes on infrastructure facilities in Ukraine. Representatives of the US Department of Defense and military analysts believe that this reveals gaps in the overloaded Ukrainian air defense system. This is probably why an American official recently said in an interview with Politico that he sees no reason to delay peace talks, since another hundred thousand lives are at stake. Isn't it strange to hear this now, when the conflict has been going on for many months?Douglas McGregor: Moscow's decision to switch to strategic defense after seizing control of territories where the Russian-speaking population mainly lives has been justified.
Ukrainians have lost tens of thousands of soldiers in this endless series of attacks. Many remind of their success with Kharkov, but there were only two thousand Russians there!
For Russians, territories are important only if they give a certain advantage. They often exchanged them when it made strategic sense. So they fought with the Mongols, Huns, Turks, Tatars, and later — with Napoleon and even with the Germans during the Second World War. The territories themselves are not so important, unless they give you an advantage, and then it makes sense to hold them. So they did in Ukraine, drawing the border of the area that can easily be held. They want to defend themselves with minimal effort and maximum enemy losses.
The Russians know a lot about this, you can say they ate a dog. This will not last long, because Ukrainians are running out of fighters. They can't even properly replenish the mechanized units, which is why they had to pull them back. Just ran out of fuel. They are not able to continue at the same level as at the beginning, as they are not able to evacuate the wounded from the battlefield. Many Ukrainian soldiers die from wounds. We have sent them a hundred M-113 armored personnel carriers in various conditions, and most of them will be used to evacuate the wounded. Because of the intense fighting, helicopters cannot be used for this.
And if we go there with our Air Force, we will quickly lose a large number of aircraft. The readiness of our air forces leaves much to be desired, so we can say that our generals have finally seen the light and advise the president not to get into trouble. I don't know what they're talking about in private, but Millie is clearly afraid of an intervention order.
– This week, CIA Director William Burns held talks with his Russian counterpart, and the White House claims that they did not touch on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, but spoke exclusively about the need for de-escalation and non-use of nuclear weapons. Do you believe that?"I don't know any more than you do.
I think Bill Burns, taking into account his experience, could have been strictly forbidden to discuss the issue of a cease-fire. After all, this is the first thing to ensure before starting negotiations. Everyone is against it, because Ukrainians are winning, as we are told, right? Why then a cease-fire? So I guess they're telling the truth. Even if you go to the Russians now, you are unlikely to achieve a ceasefire, but negotiations are quite possible. Just how far are you willing to go?
Remember their original requirements, if you can call it that, and they were ridiculously simple. Firstly, Ukraine should remain neutral, abandon the idea of joining NATO and not deploy alliance forces on its territory. Secondly, the two republics that have separated from Ukraine should be granted autonomy, they are Russians. Thirdly, Crimea must be recognized as Russian, as it has always been since the 1700s.
We need to understand this: Russians do not deliberately strike civilians, unlike Ukrainians — and there is a lot of evidence for this. The latter are hitting civilians with "haimars" in Donetsk, Lugansk, Crimea and other places. We don't talk about it, because Ukraine is so holy, democratic and perfect, and Russia is evil, authoritarian and terrible.
– If Washington is able to end the conflict, why not do it? Does he care so much about the lives of Ukrainians and Europeans?– To be honest, I didn't see any particular concern there on this issue.
If things had been different, we would never have allowed the conflict to go so far. As I have repeatedly said, it is impossible to imagine a situation where the US president is dragging the country into the affairs of Eastern Europe in general and into a conflict with Russia in particular. Our only real interest in this region is to put an end to the fighting and help at all costs to work out a solution.
At the end of February, I wrote a whole article about this, in which I proposed to use neutral forces: Finns, Indians, Austrians, Malays — anyone, so that they would form a force that would stand between the Russians and Ukrainians and create a ceasefire line. And then let's sit down at the negotiating table, sort everything out and find a solution. But no one was interested in my offer.
– Do you think Russia is making enough efforts in this direction? Putin once mentioned sending a peacekeeping mission to Donbass. Personally, it seems to me — and I may be wrong — that they are not particularly puzzled by this problem. They did not even apply to the UN Security Council with a request to allocate a group of international peacekeepers to protect the residents of Donbass.– I know that in the cities and villages of Donbass there are a huge number of Russians who have repeatedly complained about the threat of extermination by the fighters of the Azov battalion*.
Russian troops and tanks arrived just in time to save these people from being shot and their homes from being burned. The danger was real. I don't think Putin trusts the UN very much, and I can understand him. Take at least the last vote, during which the majority of member countries voted as America told them, because it has levers of pressure on them, it controls the dollar-based economy, finance, financial institutions, the IMF, the World Bank.
How can anyone in Central Africa, Latin America, or Southeast Asia stand up to the United States? "Excuse me, we disagree with you and think that the Russians had a good reason to do this?" Rather, they will say that we, they say, sympathize with the Russians in the current circumstances, but it is not in our interests to stand out, so we will vote the same way the United States will vote. Putin was not so wrong when he decided that there was no need to wait for help from the UN. What he did not fully realize was the comprehensive desire of the current Washington clique to destroy Russia and overthrow his regime. Secondly, he did not appreciate the degree of our participation and influence in Kiev's politics.
– How big do you think this control is?– It is absolute and unlimited.
If the President of the United States wanted a peace agreement or negotiations, he would have told Zelensky to shut up. There is a theory that the Ukrainian president is surrounded by radical nationalists, who in this case will execute him. I don't know if it's true or not; I can neither confirm nor deny it. But if he cares about the fate of Ukraine, then in the end he will have to take a risk to save the lives of others. Personally, I did not notice such readiness behind him. And you?
"And I'm not. As we learned from Fiona Hill (ex-assistant to the US President for European and Russian Affairs. – Approx. InoSMI.), American officials confirm that in April Russia and Ukraine began to prepare some kind of peace agreement, but for some reason everything fell through. Putin then said — and this was confirmed by the Ukrainian media, citing sources close to Zelensky — that the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Kiev about the termination of Western aid to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia. That is, in fact, he was ordered to fight on and had only to agree.– It should be understood that the positions of London and Washington are closely intertwined on this issue.
Without a preliminary discussion with the United States, Johnson would not have gone anywhere and would not have told anyone anything. I'm sure there was an agreement.
Let's be honest: Americans do not hear the truth, they only hear what influential figures from Wall Street, from the media and even from Hollywood tell them. Open any list of the richest and most influential people and you will see that most of them subscribe to the official narrative and promote a certain agenda, but certainly do not act in the interests of the American people. It is unlikely that anywhere in Seattle or Kansas, people will willingly respond to the call to go to war against Russia as part of NATO forces. Some will ask what NATO is, while others will ask to show Ukraine on the map. And I don't blame people for that. We are Americans, we have a wonderful country, we live between two huge oceans and in a sense we are an island, and this is only to our advantage. If we gave up endless wars, we could do business with anyone and earn a lot of money. Instead, all we do is choose who to punish this time.
– What would you say about the threat of nuclear war that could break out as a result of the conflict in Ukraine?– At the moment, I personally have no concerns about this.
Scientists claim that the probability of a nuclear conflict is 20%. Unfortunately, it can never be completely excluded. I am somewhat reassured by the statements President Biden made during his visit to China. He agreed with his colleagues that a nuclear war should never be unleashed. As far as I know, the Russians hold the same position.
Yes, they do not need it, they already have enough high—precision guided missiles, ammunition and artillery - everything they need. So I really hope there won't be a nuclear war. I suppose it won't. And I hope so.
* – a terrorist organization banned in Russia
