Ray McGovern and Scott Ritter on Same Page on Ukraine

In their latest ‘Lincoln-Douglas debate,” both are of the John Mearsheimer ‘Offensive Realist’ school in forecasting disaster for Ukrainians absent a ceasefire.

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Listen to the segment on The Critical Hour below or here.

Friday’s colloquy between Scott and me began with strong endorsement of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin clear “NO” to proposals for a “No-Fly-Zone-Light” over Ukraine. Scott spells out in some detail what all that would mean.

What are the chances of a false-flag chemical weapon attack blaming Russia? Was Blinken into a smoke-and-mirrors routine Wednesday, when he warned:

“We believe that Moscow may be setting the stage to use a chemical weapon and then falsely blame Ukraine to justify escalating its attacks.”

Worthy of note here, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an extraordinarily specific warning of what may be in store — and who Moscow might believe responsible — in a major speech on Dec. 21:

The presence of over 120 members of US private military companies in Avdeyevka and Priazovskoye, Donetsk Region, has been proved reliably. They are setting up firing positions in residential houses and social facilities and are preparing the Ukrainian special operations forces and far-right armed groups for active hostilities. Unidentified chemical warfare agents have been delivered to Avdeyevka and Krasny Liman for the purpose of provocations. … [Emphasis in bold added.]

Scott puts in context the revelations regarding what Victoria Nuland (who herself shares a lot of the responsibility for the crisis in Ukraine) called “Biological Research Facilities”. “This stinks to high heaven”, says Scott — and it surely does.

Last, but hardly least, China was discussed while the Chinese were giving their official readout from the telephone call yesterday that Biden had requested. Was Biden told he could use personal diplomacy to drive a wedge between China and Russia?! Or was this simply a cynical attempt by Blinken and fellow geniuses to tar China with the brush used for Russian invaders? Or both?

Sorry, Tony; that horse galloped out of the barn a year ago. Remember? The arrogantly naive “exceptional” attitude you and Jake Sullivan showed your Chinese counterparts in Anchorage a year ago could not have better designed to put them off? Whether this was intentional or just dumb doesn’t matter at this point. The Chinese still consider you “not qualified” to talk to them that way — or to prod President Biden to do the same.

While Scott and I were talking, the NY Times swallowed hard and issued this initial report of the Chinese readout:

According to a readout of the phone call between Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi released by Chinese state media, the Chinese leader expressed opposition to the broad sanctions imposed on Russia, warning they could trigger crises in the global economy. He referenced a Chinese saying, “Let he who tied the bell on the tiger take it off,” an idiom that he has used before to convey that the responsibility for solving a problem should fall on the person who created it. In the call, Mr. Xi did not suggest that China could play a role in ending the war.

Finally, Scott expressed the view that, although the Russians have faced unexpectedly strong opposition from a Ukrainian army now trained and led by NATO standards, Russian victory on the ground is inevitable.

8 thoughts on “Ray McGovern and Scott Ritter on Same Page on Ukraine”

  1. From ABSMil telegram channel with video… Video shows attack helicopter firing cannon and missiles at various targets.

    https://t.me/asbmil/780

    Insane footage 🔥 pilot of Ka52 alligator & mi-24 described his mission near Kiev in which Ukrainian forces were destroyed.

    “I had to call a strike on myself – They came to the airfield first, in the first attack they destroyed the calculation of MANPADS. The objects were well camouflaged, so they had to call fire on themselves so that the crews could see where the fire was coming from and practiced on them. In total, 18 launches of MANPADS were recorded on my helicopter, the helicopter survived, although the main gearbox and the left engine were damaged. Our group destroyed 6 anti-aircraft installations, we could not even count the amount of MANPADS launched. They simply would not have reached the airfield, they decided to land closer to their own and took up all-round defense. There is a lot of work, we did a good job, victory will be ours”

  2. BREAKING: According to online reports, Russia started using Thermobaric rockets TOS-1 against Ukrainian military & Nazi battalion positions.

    You’ve seen some videos of those in my earlier posts in earlier threads. These are hideous weapons that spread gas over an area, which is then detonated to suck the air out of the area and are essentially giant flame throwers. Probably one of the most feared weapons in the Russian arsenal.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOuNuzgoGDA

  3. Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry

    Units of the Russian Armed Forces are completing the defeat of the nationalist battalion “Donbass”.

    During the day, they advanced 12 kilometers, reached the Nikolskoye line and, in cooperation with the units of the Donetsk Republic, blocked Sladkoye from three sides.

    Up to 60 militants, 2 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 6 field artillery guns and mortars of nationalists were destroyed.

    Currently, they are fighting with the remnants of militants and units of the 54th separate mechanized brigade of Ukrainian troops for the capture of Sladkoye, Novoukrainka and Shakhterskaya.

    The grouping of troops of the Donetsk People’s Republic continued to pursue the retreating units of the 53rd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, developing an offensive in Novomikhailovka direction.

    Up to 30 militants, 1 tank, 1 infantry fighting vehicle and 3 all-terrain vehicles were destroyed.

    In Novoselovka Vtoraya direction, units of the Donetsk Republic have wedged into the defence of the 25th Airborne Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and are now fighting for the capture of Kamenka and Novoselovka Vtoraya.

    Operational-tactical and army aviation hit 89 military assets of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Among them: 4 command posts, 2 multiple launch rocket systems, 9 artillery mounts, 5 missile and artillery weapons depots, as well as 65 areas of military equipment concentration.

    Russian air defence means shot down 7 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle in the air.

    In total, 214 unmanned aerial vehicles, 1,483 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 150 multiple launch rocket systems, 584 field artillery and mortars, as well as 1,279 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.

  4. From RT News Telegram channel… This “volunteer” thing is really working out for Ukraine… LOL

    Volunteers have been flocking to fight in the
    International Legion for Ukraine, but one Briton found that the reality
    of the experience is not what’s being sold.

    Jake Priday, a teacher and veteran, had taken three weeks off to
    answer Zelensky’s call for foreign mercenaries. However, upon arriving
    in Poland, he found himself surrounded by naïve recruits, and then –
    paperwork.

    Recruits have been asked to sign a contract binding them to the rules
    of martial law, effectively forcing them to fight indefinitely, and for
    only $230 a month compensation and five days’ training. Worse, they
    would be heading straight for the front line.

    After trying to convince fellow recruits to quit, few of whom had any
    military experience, Priday hitchhiked his way back to the Polish
    border. His term of service lasted only nine hours.

    Subscribe to RT t.me/RTNews8

  5. Ex-CIA Larry Johnson on the Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian training center in western Ukraine…with details of the facility.

    Russia Exploits Ukraine’s Western Flank
    https://sonar21.com/russia-exploits-ukraines-western-flank/

    But Russia has not stopped there. ASB Military news reports Russia hit another site, Delyatyn, which is 60 miles southeast of Yavoriv.

    In a warning to NATO, Russia fired the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ‘Dagger’ hypersonic missile in combat for the first time to engage targets in Western Ukraine, neutralising a large underground warehouse in the village of Delyatyn in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region near the country’s border with NATO’s Poland — over which it has a been receiving the bulk of military supplies, and reportedly destroyed a huge quantities of munitions. This is the first and only known use of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile. This footage is unconfirmed — there’s no known confirmed footage of the missile at the moment. — However, the use of the missile has been officially confirmed.

    These strikes are a deadly reminder to NATO that Russia is serious about destroying NATO military supplies and, if present in Ukraine, military and intelligence personnel providing training to Ukrainian military and paramilitary groups.

    What is shocking to U.S. military leaders in EUCOM is that the Russians hit both sites and Ukraine was unable to raise an alarm warning of an impending attack and was unable to shoot down the missiles. This may explain NATO’s renewed hesitancy to sending MIG-29s to Ukraine.

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