It appears the madness in the empire’s star chambers has been cranked to 11, and they have gone and royally beclowned themselves with this “document leak” PSYOP.
And make no mistake, a PSYOP is precisely what we are dealing with here.
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Not only is it inarguably a PSYOP, but it is one that must have been conceived at the highest levels of the ruling junta.
How do we know this?
BECAUSE THE REACTION OF ALL THE EMPIRE’S POWER APPARATUS HAS BEEN TIGHTLY COORDINATED AND CAREFULLY SCRIPTED!
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Not only that, but the dopes bumbled and provided their patsy with documents whose provenance necessarily traces to TWO siloed sources: The DoD *AND* the CIA.
(Larry Johnson talks about this today in a short interview on Judging Freedom.)
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This means the package of documents that the adolescent gamer boys are alleged to have been playing with in a dark corner of the internet could only have come from someone with access to *BOTH* Pentagon and CIA reports.
There can’t be many people who fall into that category.
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But what’s the play here?
Maybe there’s a hint in the Ukrainian announcement that, because of this damaging leak, their best-laid plans have been compromised, and therefore the “spring” offensive must be delayed until summer.
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Of course, the real problem is they don’t have an army. They went through their first two like kegs at a frat party, and they can’t seem to conjure up a third ex nihilo.
The only way to keep the party going is to *IMPORT* a new army.
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And that’s where my thoughts from last week come to mind again:
Could the simplest answer be that the goal of this extraordinarily clumsy PSYOP is simply to buy time while the empire attempts to cojole, bribe, and coerce a “coalition of the willing” to rescue the situation?
I personally find it inconceivable that the Pentagon is *truly* relying upon OSINT and other such dubious intelligence.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t have some reason to give the impression that is true as part of a misinformation gambit.
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Remember, a “limited-hangout” misinformation stratagem can often be MOSTLY TRUE. It’s the 5% or 10% that is NOT true wherein the desired deception lies.
That said, I cannot yet ascertain with any degree of confidence what the objective would be in this case.
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I've been following the news emerging out of Syria. All that seems certain at this point is that something "bigger than usual" has happened, and there are some US casualties.
There is talk of several dozen "rocket" strikes, which suggests a locally based attack.
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The question now is how the US will respond. They don’t have sufficient ground forces in the region to engage in any sort of “punitive” counterinsurgency action. So, as per usual, it will be airstrikes. But against whom, and where?
Syria?
Iraq?
Iran?!
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The empire knows it will lose the war against Russia in Ukraine, and they must now understand better how ill-prepared they are for a war against China.
Even worse, there’s obviously a huge incipient financial crisis afoot.
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My brief commentary on the Wagner PMC/RF MoD tempest in a teapot:
I am strongly inclined to believe it is Russian maskirovka designed to lure the AFU to pump more forces into the closing jaws of the Bakhmut cauldron.
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I believe “Wagner PMC” is and always has been acting hand-in-glove with the Russian Ministry of Defense. I do not believe the “Wagner PMC” is what its popular image would suggest. More than likely it is a “shell company”, so to speak, for official Russian policy.
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I am also inclined to concur with Alexander Mercouris’ speculation that Yevgeny Prigozhin is very likely a figurehead, rather than the actual “owner” and “commander” of what is reputed to be a 50k-strong Russian-supplied army corps.
I’m on a Twitter hiatus in recent days to gather my thoughts without distraction. But I was reminded of this thread this afternoon and thought it worth revisiting.
Original post linked here; several of my replies further below.
Not only has AFU air defense been woefully crippled since the early days of this war, but its offensive air power has been effectively nonexistent.
The original inventory of Ukrainian Air Force fighter and attack aircraft is long-since destroyed.
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By and large, Russian aircraft fly where and when they will. Losses have been negligible. Close air support from both fixed-wing and rotary platforms is ubiquitous along the entire line of contact.
Conversely, the general rule for AFU aircraft is: You fly; you die.
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