Western press, especially in the U.S. and U.K. spew endless propaganda about 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin losing the Ukraine War. U.S. and British intel services think that Putin’s objective in Ukraine is to conquer Ukraine, wipe out the Ukrainian people or at least turn them into a slave state. So, for every pyrrhic victory for Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky, every battle won is a symbolic victory against Putin. But the undeniable reality is that Ukraine has been bombed into the Stone Age by the Russian Federation, all because Zelensky and 80-year-old President Joe Biden decided to go to war against the Kremlin. Zelensky has won many battles but he’s lost the war allowing Ukraine’s infrastructure, including its electricity grid, to be decimated by the Russian Federation. Putin doesn’t play into the U.S. or U.K. narrative about who’s winning the war.
No one wins a war of attrition when the primary country’s infrastructure has been set back generations. How does Zelensky win when his government is bankrupt, requiring to the U.S. Treasury to fund his government? Zelensky no longer has an economic plan to pull Ukraine out of the deep hole,that only gets deeper by the day because Kiev continues the fight with the Kremlin. Putin met with his generals today to discuss the Ukraine war, including Air Force General Sergei Surovikin, responsible for the bombing campaign of Ukraine’s infrastructure. Putin discussed with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General State Valery Gerasimov to talk ongoing strategy. Putin recently rejected Zelensky’s peace plan requiring Russia to leave every inch of Ukrainian territory. Putin told Zelensky his plan must be realistic, accepting what’s happening on the ground.
When you listen to U.S., U.K. and Kiev, Putin has lost the war in Ukraine because he didn’t conquer Kiev in the early days of the campaign started Feb. 24. Putin clearly pivoted early on realizing that Ukraine had U.S. and NATO resistance to his military plans. Ukraine War reached a dangerous phase with Biden committing Patriot Missile Batteries to Kiev, hoping to slow down the Russian air assault on Ukraine’s infrastructure. But Kremlin Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that if Biden goes ahead with Patriot Missile Batteries, the Kremlin would target the U.S. for becoming an enemy combatant in the conflict. Kremlin officials have known for some time that the battle in Ukraine is more about fighting the U.S. than battling Ukraine, since the U.S. supplies all the cash-and-weapons. French President Emmanuel Macron, 44, has tried to keep the peacemaking viable.
Zelensky’s recent peace proposal is a non-starter, telling Putin he must leave every inch of Russian territory. Biden surely knows that giving Kiev Patriot Missile Batteries will be countered with a new Russian offensive on Ukraine’s battered infrastructure. Instead of escalating the war, why isn’t Biden working with Zelensky to move from the battlefield to the peace table? Adding Patriot Missile Batteries to the Ukraine theater won’t help drive Russia out, it will only force Putin to dig in more, possibly expand the conflict to NATO countries. Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stolenberg, 63, warned recently that the conflict could spread to the European Continent, starting WW III. Zelensky already thinks Ukraine fights WW III, isn’t concerned about more U.S. or NATO weapons or troops, even if it drags the EU and NATO into the conflict.
Zelensky asked Stoltenberg to “fast-track” NATO membership, only to find out that NATO isn’t going to make that happen. Stotenberg knows that offering NATO membership to Kiev would expand the conflict to the EU and NATO. Zelensky has been waging his own vendetta against Putin with U.S. cash-and-arms, unable to mount a serious counteroffensive without U.S. help. Zelensky rejected all of Putin peace overtures early on in the 10-moth old conflict, when he asked Zelensky to accept Russian control over Donetsk and Luhansk and sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky opted for war over accepting the status quo, that Russia controls much of Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial Southeast. Putin’s generals are focused on Donbas, not on taking over all of Ukraine as Biden and Zelensky insist. Putin’s war effort has pivoted the Russian army to consolidating control over Donbas.
Putin met with his generals not because the war is going badly but because he’s consolidating gains in the Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Giving Kiev Patriot Missile Batteries would start another deadly escalation that, as Stoltenberg says, could expand the conflict to the European Union. Biden should listen to 64-year-old Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Miley who said recently that only a political settlement can end the Ukraine War. Miley sees no end in sight unless both sides can sit down at a neutral site in Istanbul and figure out a way out. Patriot Missile Batteries only assure that war rages on indefinitely with Putin waging a long-term war of attrition much like he did in Chechnya. Miley wants a political settlement to spare Ukraine any more carnage and destruction. Biden and Zelensky still think they can vanquish the Russian military, maybe topple Putin.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
