Tonight in #TankieTears I'll introduce an ex-US Army man who switched sides & is now working for the propaganda ministry of Russia. His name is Douglas Macgregor and he's one of the well-known commentators on the Russo-Ukrainian War, making predictions that never come true.
First, let's give credit where credit is due: he was a great war commander during the 90's. His risky "blitzkrieg" style tactic led to some great victories in the Gulf War, and journalist Thomas E. Ricks described him as "one of the Army's leading thinkers on innovation".
His book "Breaking the Phalanx" called for a total overhaul of US army tactics and the head of Army US General Dennis Reimer passed copies of the book to other generals. His other book, "Transformation under Fire", was required reading for all officers in the Israeli Army.
But his unconventional thinking probably hindered his chances for promotion & eventually he was sidelined. In 1997 US Army refused him for the 3rd time for a position of combat brigade commander - basically a death warrant for his Army career.
Macgregor was one of the top planners in the 1999 attack and bombing on Serbia - a fact many vatniks (who usually also support Serbia) often fail to mention.
He later said that the US "put, essentially, a Muslim drug mafia in charge of that country."
In 2004 he left the Army.
Between 2017 and early 2022, Macgregor has appeared on Tucker Carlson's show 48 times (and many times since). Carlson has described him as a "one of the people we trust to give us real information."
You really can't make this nonsense up.
From his appearances on FOX, he was also noticed by Trump - In 2020 Macgregor was allegedly 2nd choice candidate for the position of undersecretary of defense for policy. He was also Trump's candidate for the position of US Ambassador to Germany.
Macgregor's capability to lie with a straight face was probably why Trump got so interested in him. When it comes to the war in Ukraine, Macgregor is a pathological liar. His predictions are similar to Jehova's witnesses predictions: they never come true.
Three days after the invasion begun, he predicted that "If they don't surrender in the next 24 hours, I suspect Russia will ultimately annihilate them."
He also said that "US should stay out of the conflict" and "avoid sending any aid to Ukrainian forces".
A few days later he said that "Russia has been too gentle" & that "I would say another 10 days this should be completely over." He's also called Zelenskyy a puppet and called for Ukraine's neutralization. After these comments, Tucker Carlson described him as an "honest man"
In March, Ukrainians were, based on Macgregor, losing again: "grounded to bits. There's no question about that despite what we report on our mainstream media." In an interview by the Grayzone, he said that Putin is taking good care of civilians and this delays his victory.
In Sep, 2022, he again told Carlson that "this war may be over soon" and that "the Ukrainian army is bled white, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded. Ukraine is really on the ropes". This was a few months before Russian troops fled from Kherson.
In Nov, 2022, he said that there are 540 000 Russian troops stationed at the outskirts of Ukraine preparing for a major, "war ending" offensive. 1000 rocket artillery systems and at least 1500 tanks. I guess these troops are still waiting for the right time for the attack.
Macgregor has also been accused of Anti-Semitism, calling Jews "rootless cosmopolitans" (old Russian pejorative epithet) and racism (he said that Mexican immigrants should be shot at the border; he also referred to blacks to as an "entitled underclass").
As we all know, Russia LOVES to use any media of US origin as a propaganda, both in their own country and elsewhere. MacGregor, along with Carlson, are providing endless amounts of propaganda material for them.
You can see this on fake news blogs, on Twitter, on FB: Macgregor's and Carlson's interviews and soundbites are one of the most used form of propaganda and disinformation:
Credit for inspiration for these posts goes to Pekka Kallioniemi who has an extensive library of posts calling out pro-Moscovite actors and propagandists.
History of Ukraine Part One - From Birth to Rebirth.
To understand the recent history of Ukraine including the current war we need to understand the genesis of the place which is now called Ukraine.
#Ukraine
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Lithuanian southward expansion reached its peak during the reign of Grand Duke Algirdas (ruled 1345-77) who succeeded in unifying all of the Belarusian and most of the Ukrainian territories in what many scholars have referred to as the Lithuanian-Ruthenian state.
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During the height of its expansion this state included nearly half of the former territory of Kyivan Rus'.
In my latest #TankieTears I'll introduce you to Irish politician and MEP: Mick Wallace.
He aligns himself strongly with another Irish MEP, Clare Daly, and his love for both Russia and China has been evident in his recent comments and appearances.
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His political career started at the Irish 2011 general election, and he was elected as an MEP in the 2019 European Parliament election. Wallace falls to the general category of "anti-imperialists", basically meaning anti-US and NATO.
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Wallace's views also line up perfectly with folk from the fake news blog The Grayzone: he's supported Venezuela, China, Russia, Belarus and Syria during his period as an MEP.
So if there's an authoritarian regime somewhere, it probably has Mick's support!
The Azov Regiment (sometimes erroneously still termed the Azov Battalion, though the latter folded in 2014) and the threat of “Ukrainian neo-Nazis” has attracted considerable Western press coverage since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. lens.monash.edu/@politics-soci…
From 2014 to 2022, the Azov Regiment was based in the city of Mariupol in southeast Ukraine, and this year the Azov fighters gained global visibility as defenders of the city.
Russia finally conquered Mariupol in May after a bloody two-month siege, destroying most of the city in the process.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace gave a traditionally forthright set of interviews this morning,
at one point describing allegations that NATO has asked Germany to remain in charge of their rapid-reaction force due to UK forces being overstretched as “just bollocks”. Not often you hear that on BBC Breakfast…
The claim was first made by Table.Media, a German media outlet, before being picked up in this weekend’s Mail on Sunday:
The Ukrainian national anthem can be traced back to one of the parties of the Ukrainian ethnographer and poet Pavlo Chubynsky that occurred during the autumn of 1862.
This poem gained a wide popularity among the Ukrainian intelligentsia.
It is likely that the Polish national song "Poland Is Not Yet Lost" ("Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła"), which dates back to 1797, also had an influence on Chubynsky's lyrics.
"Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła" was popular among the nations of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were at that time fighting for their independence; the January Uprising started a few months after Chubynsky wrote his lyrics.
Poland Is Not Yet Lost - The History of Poland's National Anthem
Whether you call it “Poland is Not Yet Lost,” “Song of the Polish Legions in Italy” or “Dąbrowski’s Mazurka,” they all describe the same thing: Poland’s national anthem. #MazurekDąbrowskiego
Despite the various sombre titles, the anthem is composed in the cheerful style of a Polish mazurka - lively Polish folk music that utilises a triple meter - and is played at all major sporting events and national holidays. #MazurekDąbrowskiego
The man behind the now famous lyrics is Józef Wybicki (1747-1822), a jurist by profession, but also a renowned Polish intellectual, poet, diplomat and political activist. #MazurekDąbrowskiego