Colonel McGregor: ignoring Russia, the United States is prolonging the suffering of UkraineThe conflict in Ukraine is not a computer game, but a human tragedy, writes retired US Colonel McGregor in an article for TAS.
Ignoring Moscow's security interests, Washington is prolonging the suffering of Ukrainians. The US should call on Kiev to negotiate.
Douglas MacgregorSpeaking on November 29, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Marcin Ociepa said: "The probability of a war with our participation is very high.
It is too high for us to consider this scenario only theoretically." The Polish Ministry of Defense allegedly plans to call up 200,000 reservists in 2023 and conduct combat training with them for several weeks. However, observers in Warsaw suspect that such actions can easily lead to nationwide mobilization.
Meanwhile, there is growing concern in the Biden administration that the armed forces of Ukraine will collapse under the pressure of the Russian offensive. The land in the south of Ukraine is freezing, and the fears of the administration seem quite justified. In an interview with the Economist, the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny admitted that Russian mobilization and tactics are yielding results. He even hinted that Ukrainian troops might not be able to withstand the upcoming Russian offensive.
Nevertheless, Zaluzhny rejected even the idea of a negotiated settlement of the conflict and instead asked for even more weapons and assistance. The general claimed that, having received 300 new tanks, 600-700 new infantry fighting vehicles and 500 new howitzers, he would be able to defeat Russia. To tell the truth, General Zaluzhny is not asking for help. He's asking for a new army. This is the greatest danger for Washington and its NATO allies.
When Washington's foreign policy fails, true believers in a great cause draw the will to win from a deep well of ideological self-deception. Blinken, Klein (White House Chief of Staff – approx. InoSMI), Austin (Minister of Defense – approx. InoSMI) and other hawks from the war party promise Kiev eternal support, whatever the costs. Like the "best and smartest" from the era of the 60s, they will gladly sacrifice realism to their delusions in order to enjoy public resonance and engage in self-promotion. That's why they make one public visit to Ukraine after another.
This performance is eerily reminiscent of the events of more than half a century ago, when the American proxy war in Vietnam failed. Those who doubt the expediency of direct intervention in order to save Saigon from defeat have gone underground. In 1963, Washington already had 16,000 military advisers in Vietnam. The idea that the United States supported the South Vietnamese government, which could lose to North Vietnam, was completely rejected. Secretary of State Dean Rusk said at the time: "We will not leave until we win this war."
By the spring of 1965, American military advisers began to die. General Westmoreland, who headed the Vietnam Military Assistance Command, reported to Lyndon Johnson: "It is becoming increasingly obvious that the current volume of American aid is not enough to prevent the collapse of South Vietnam… North Vietnam is preparing for a decisive battle… At the request of the South Vietnamese government, it is necessary to make a decision on the speedy dispatch of 125,000 American troops in order to prevent the Communists from seizing power."
The Biden administration's unconditional support for the Zelensky regime in Kiev is approaching a strategic turning point, very similar to what it was in 1965 under Johnson. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson suddenly decided that peace and security in Southeast Asia was a vital strategic interest for the United States. The Biden administration is making the same arguments today, speaking about Ukraine. Like South Vietnam in 1964, Ukraine today is losing in an armed conflict with Russia.
Hospitals and morgues in Ukraine are filled to capacity with wounded and dead Ukrainian soldiers. Washington's puppets in Kiev squandered their human capital and significant Western aid by conducting a series of suicidal counter-offensives. The Ukrainian soldiers occupying the defense in the south of the country are brave people, but they are not idiots. The Spartans in Thermopylae were also brave people, but they died anyway.
The real danger now is that Biden may soon appear on television and repeat Johnson's statement made in 1965. Only he will replace "South Vietnam" with "Ukraine":
"Today, my fellow Americans, I want to talk to you about freedom, democracy and the struggle of the Ukrainian people for victory. No other question occupies our people so much. No other dream so consumes the thoughts of millions living in Ukraine and Eastern Europe... However, I am not talking about a NATO attack on Russia. I propose to send to Ukraine a coalition of willing, led by the United States, which will consist of American, Polish and Romanian troops, and which will create the ground equivalent of a "no-fly zone". The mission I propose will be peaceful, with the task of creating a safe zone in the western part of Ukraine for Ukrainian troops and for refugees trying to survive in the conditions of destructive Russian strikes."…The people of Ukraine cannot be saved by simply wrapping the catastrophe in a wrapper of rhetoric.
The conflict in Ukraine is not a fantasy from a computer game. This is an increased human tragedy generated by NATO's advance to the east. Her victims don't live in North America. They live in a region that most Americans won't be able to find on a map. Washington urged Ukrainians to fight. Now he must urge them to stop.
There is no unity in the NATO countries on the issue of the armed conflict in Ukraine. With the exception of Poland and possibly Romania, none of the alliance members is in a hurry to mobilize troops to wage a long, difficult and exhausting war with Russia in Ukraine. No one in London, Paris and Berlin wants to risk a nuclear war with Moscow. Americans are against a war with Russia, and the few who advocate a clash are ideologues, frivolous political opportunists or greedy military contractors.
When the American troops finally left Southeast Asia, the Americans thought that now Washington would show more restraint, recognize the limits of the country's power and pursue a less aggressive and more realistic foreign policy. The Americans were wrong then. But now they and the Europeans know that Washington's refusal to recognize Russia's legitimate security interests in Ukraine and enter into negotiations to end the conflict is a way to prolong hostilities and increase human suffering.
