There are multiple indications that members of the foreign policy establishment are increasingly worried that the American people are growing weary of Washington’s strategic overextension and the excessive costs in treasure and blood that role imposes. Elites show their nervousness through desperate attempts to preserve the policy status quo. One recent example was the effort in Congress to limit the president’s powers and options regarding NATO.
Gordon Hahn: Crisis of the Regime: Pre-Coup, Pre-Revolutionary Conditions in Ukraine
Kiev is now gripped by crisis politics.
Owen Matthews: Why accepting the partition of Ukraine may be necessary
Even if a reconquest of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donbas and Crimea were militarily possible, would their re-incorporation into Ukraine make the country safer and more stable — or the contrary?
AP: The US failed to track more than $1 billion in military gear given Ukraine
Shortfalls in required monitoring by American officials mean the U.S. cannot track more than $1 billion in weapons and military equipment provided to Ukraine to fight invading Russian forces, according to a Pentagon audit released Thursday.
The findings mean that 59% of $1.7 billion in defense gear that the U.S. has provided Ukraine and was directed to guard against misuse or theft remained “delinquent,” the report by the Defense Department’s office of the inspector-general, the watchdog body for the Pentagon, said.
Julia Gledhill: How Biden can bypass Congress on Ukraine aid
US weapons makers are teaming up with Kyiv to produce military gear in the war-torn country, likely, in part, at the taxpayer’s expense
VIDEO: John Mearsheimer: Who Is the US Enemy: Russia or China?
In a recent interview with Judge Napolitano, Professor Mearsheimer discusses US policy toward Russia and China.
ACURA ViewPoint: James W. Carden: Neocons Blame America First
The blame game has commenced; America’s Ukraine hawks have met the enemy, and it is us. [Read more…] about ACURA ViewPoint: James W. Carden: Neocons Blame America First
ACURA’s Anatol Lieven and Quincy’s George Beebe: Ukraine at a crossroads
The United States has not tested the assumption that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no interest in talking.
VIDEO: Neutrality Studies with Pascal Lottaz: Neocons Prepare for Third World War
Instead of trying to find an exit strategy from the wars in Ukraine and Israel, the neocons are actively preparing for a third one and they are trying to instil a sense of urgency in everyone to jump into the abyss with them.
Robert Borosage: The Empire Strikes Back
Once more, wars abroad threaten domestic reform.
Military Times: Unknowns about Ukraine gear accountability revealed in watchdog report
An obtained early report illustrates the severe limitations of early accountability measures, and how much Americans officials trust their Ukrainian counterparts to self-police.
Amb. Chas Freeman: NATO Unity Has Cracked
In a new interview, legendary US diplomat Chas Freeman discusses the current state of NATO.
Vladimir Golstein: A Happy Guest in Russia’s Pages
The road to hell is paved with certainties.
Jim Bovard: Truth is the Biggest Threat to DC ‘Democracy’
A hefty Washington Post piece last Wednesday vividly portrays U.S. government officials rushing to plug the hole in the dike before the leak swept away conventional wisdom lock, stock, and barrel. In a passage sure to boost sales of Kleenex inside the Beltway, the Post quotes a U.S. government official who was permitted to remain anonymous: “We were blindsided and furious.”
The leaks vexed Team Biden because President Joe Biden had already proven—via repeated statements—that the war was going great, that Ukraine was on the verge of victory, and that pouring endless billions into Ukrainian government coffers was the only way to save freedom around the world.
ACURA’s Anatol Lieven: Ukraine facing increasingly unfavorable odds
The military and economic balance in war has shifted strongly against Ukraine, and it is very hard to see how this tendency can now be reversed. There is still time for Ukraine to win a qualified victory against Russia; but only if the United States commits itself strongly to a compromise peace.
Gordon Hahn: Bucha and the Scuttling of the Russo-Ukrainian Istanbul Process
Few seem to recall that the infamous, supposed Russian massacre of Ukrainian civilians at Bucha in the the second month of President Vladimir Putin’s ‘special military operation (SVO) occurred on the background of the promising March 2022 Russo-Ukrainian peace talks held in Gomel, Belarus and then Istanbul Turkey.
Dominic Sansone: Ukraine and American Empire
Kiev is now entirely reliant on outside funds. But the cheerleaders for American Empire are still undeterred. A recently-released declassified intelligence report claims that Russia has lost 90 percent of its prewar army. Every U.S. establishment publication has gladly accepted that number and subsequently run with it as proof that Moscow’s forces can be ousted from eastern Ukraine given the requisite funds and weapons.
Paul Robinson: Next year in Ukraine, expect the unexpected
We should treat all current and future prognostications about the war with a massive dose of salt.
Richard Eskow: Ukraine Needs a Cease-Fire, Not Biden’s $50 Billion Escalation
Ted Galen Carpenter: My Own Brush with Death Has Intensified My Opposition to U.S. Imperialism
Instead of promoting negotiations that might bring the bloodshed to an end, the United States and other NATO members have encouraged (pressured?) Kiev to continue a war that has almost no prospect of a Ukrainian victory.