POTD: Bombed Out Russian Tank

 

Source: "Ukraine has become a graveyard for Russians — and for modern weapons systems"--Salon

    The Ukrainian conflict in back in the news for all the wrong reasons. First up, if you haven't already come across it, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has published an article--"How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline"--that not only asserts that the United States planted the explosives that destroyed the pipelines, but delves into the planning and even how the defense/intelligence establishment justified not informing Congress of what it was doing. An excerpt:

    ... On February 7, less than three weeks before the seemingly inevitable Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden met in his White House office with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who, after some wobbling, was now firmly on the American team. At the press briefing that followed, Biden defiantly said, “If Russia invades . . . there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

    Twenty days earlier, Undersecretary Nuland had delivered essentially the same message at a State Department briefing, with little press coverage. “I want to be very clear to you today,” she said in response to a question. “If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”

    Several of those involved in planning the pipeline mission were dismayed by what they viewed as indirect references to the attack.

    “It was like putting an atomic bomb on the ground in Tokyo and telling the Japanese that we are going to detonate it,” the source said. “The plan was for the options to be executed post invasion and not advertised publicly. Biden simply didn’t get it or ignored it.”

    Biden’s and Nuland’s indiscretion, if that is what it was, might have frustrated some of the planners. But it also created an opportunity. According to the source, some of the senior officials of the CIA determined that blowing up the pipeline “no longer could be considered a covert option because the President just announced that we knew how to do it.”

    The plan to blow up Nord Stream 1 and 2 was suddenly downgraded from a covert operation requiring that Congress be informed to one that was deemed as a highly classified intelligence operation with U.S. military support. Under the law, the source explained, “There was no longer a legal requirement to report the operation to Congress. All they had to do now is just do it—but it still had to be secret. The Russians have superlative surveillance of the Baltic Sea.”

    The Agency working group members had no direct contact with the White House, and were eager to find out if the President meant what he’d said—that is, if the mission was now a go. The source recalled, “Bill Burns comes back and says, ‘Do it.’”

If Hersh is correct, Biden authorized a military attack against an ally--Germany--and dragged another ally--Norway--into the operation. Impeachable offenses, I would say. Be sure to read the whole thing.

    And, I would add, although Hersh's article has not been completely ignored by mainstream outlets, the response was certainly muted. Reuters begins its article with the White House's denial of the claims made in the article, but notes:

    Sweden and Denmark, in whose exclusive economic zones the blasts occurred, have both concluded the pipelines were blown up deliberately, but have not said who might be responsible.

    The United States and NATO have called the incident "an act of sabotage." Moscow has blamed the West for the unexplained explosions that caused the ruptures. Neither side has provided evidence.

The New York Post at least begins with Hersh's allegations, but ends its article with comments about Hersh's prior accusations that the killing of Osama bin Laden was “one big lie.”

    Next up, Ukraine is claiming that Russia is amassing 500,000 soldiers and 1,800 tanks for an offensive planned to begin in the next 10 days. 

    Russia is preparing to launch a powerful new offensive in 10 days’ time involving up to 500,000 conscripts and thousands of pieces of military equipment with the aim of capturing the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, according to Kyiv’s military officials.

    Ukrainian officials and foreign analysts have been predicting for weeks that the Kremlin was gearing up for a decisive push to seize the battlefield initiative from Kyiv’s forces in the hope of scoring a major victory in time for the Feb. 24 first anniversary of the war.

    A Ukrainian military official speaking to Foreign Policy magazine on condition of anonymity said, “We expect in the next 10 days a new, huge invasion.”

    According to the official, Russia has already amassed an estimated 1,800 tanks, 3,950 armored vehicles, 2,700 artillery systems, 810 Soviet-era multiple rocket launch systems, 400 fighter jets and 300 helicopters.

There is speculation that the Russians are rushing the planned operation in order to be able to begin on the first anniversary of the beginning of the invasion. And, "[t]he Kremlin is in a race against time to turn the tide of war in its favor before the first battle tanks and long-range missiles pledged to Kyiv by the US and European countries begin arriving in Ukraine, which could be as early as March."