Senior Biden officials confirm to @washingtonpost that they are not trying to help #Ukraine achieve victory; they are trying to empower Kyiv to negotiate with #Putin, i.e. agree to the partition of the country and continued Russian occupation of parts. washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/…
The Biden people show how susceptible they are to #Russia's vision, unsurprisingly since so many are Obama holdovers: they leaked a CIA assessment that #Ukraine is militarily unable to retake #Crimea to WaPo, and expressed worries about the Russian "mobilisation".
Those believing Russia mobilising tens of thousands more people, including many convicts, helps rather than hinders their Army are rather wilful after everything we have seen so far. And if that is the Agency's view, Crimea could collapse next week.
https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/1625790864843841539?t=AkEOqQG1wl3-kwyvhL7aEw&s=19
The other most notable thing in the WaPo piece is that President Zelensky is personally directing the Ukrainian holdout at Bakhmut, which the US has advised him to let go, to preserve resources for a spring counter-offensive. Zelensky says losing Bakhmut is too damaging to morale
Been obvious for a long time the #Biden people do not intend victory in #Ukraine but some compromise that leaves #Russia occupying territory and in position to do this again. This is born of their ideology, the central pillar of which is "there are no military solutions".
It is disastrous strategic malpractice for the #Biden team to be broadcasting its intention to pressure #Ukraine to come to terms with #Russia. Even on their own terms, if that is the goal, the way to the best possible terms is to ensure Moscow fears total defeat.
As it is, #Russia has not abandoned its maximalist goal of conquering all of #Ukraine, so this evident neediness on the part of the #Biden team to "end the war" as soon as possible at most incentivises Moscow to freeze its gains in place and use the pause to rebuild to go again.
In the WaPo, Biden officials veer between stating their own preference to end this with parts of #Ukraine under #Russia's control, and claiming they are forced to this conclusion by the Republicans in the House, which is a real problem, but their ideology is the central issue.
#pt: More on the Biden administration's deficient strategic vision
https://twitter.com/Ayei_Eloheichem/status/1626402215278833665?t=JGJY7xX6Q8j1XMWs5EUjqg&s=19
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