Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 64-year-old Gen. Mark Miley said the Ukraine war will end in negotiations not the battlefield. Miley’s statements run counter to the White House, where 80-year-old President Joe Biden still believes he can beat Russia on the battlefield. Biden rubber stamps the wishes of 45-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that no negotiations can take place until every Russian soldier is out of Ukraine. Zelensky said before, but has since reneged, that he would not negotiate with the Kremlin until 70-year-old President Vladimir Putin has resigned or removed from power. Offering a 10-point peace plan, Zelsnky demanded that Putin be prosecuted for war crimes in The Hague’s International Criminal Court and pay reparations for all the damage done to Ukraine. Zelensky’s plan is not peace plan at all, just a defiant diatribe.
Sending more lethal weapons to Ukraine, including M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 German tanks plus more HIMARS long range missiles, Biden and Zelensky insist that Ukraine can eventually vanquish the Russian military. Miley’s underling, 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said April 26, 2022 in Ramstein, Germany that the aim of the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine was to degrade the Russian military to the point it could
No longer wage war. So with that in mind, there’s a disconnect between n the White House and Pentagon on the war’s objective. White House officials, especially 45-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, want to battle the Kremlin to the bitter end. Blinken and Sullivan push for Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan. Miley’s the only White House official telling the truth about the Ukraine War.
Zelensky looks ahead to Kiev’s Spring offensive when he unleashes the new weapons on the Russian military, hoping to gain an advantage on the battlefield. Miley knows that to achieve Zelensky’s peace plan, it would cost both combatants dearly in blood-and-treasure, only to eventually wind up at the peace table. “At some point people will figure out that the cost of continuing to execute this war through military means is extraordinarily challenging. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done. And I applaud the Ukrainians’ will and their courage and their resilience,” Miley told the Euro Group Foundation today. Miley said he doubts that Zelensky’s plan to evict all Russians from Ukraine is unrealistic give the current circumstances with Russia firmly in charge of 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Miley thinks the costs to Ukraine and Russia is too great to continue fighting on the battlefield.
Miley has been saying for some time that Kiev cannot accomplish its objectives without a serious toll of blood-and-treasure. “But there’s also the practical matter of being able to physically kick out every single Russian out of all of Ukraine,” Miley said, doubting that Kiev can achieve its military goals. “Someone’s going to figure out how to get to a negotiating table, and that’s where this thing will get settled out eventually,” Miley told the Eurasia Group Foundation. All the talk of beating back the Russian military by Biden and Zelensky doesn’t look realistic to Miley when he considers all the blood-and-treasure needed to pull it off. Biden and his national security team doen’t want to hear Miley tell the truth. Zelensky reacts harshly to any suggestion that Kiev should seek peace talks with the Kremlin. Zelensky wants all the U.S. and NATO cash to fund his bankrupt government.
Zelensky has rejected all peace plans, whether from China or private citizens saying that Ukraine must make concessions for peace. Kiev told billionaire Tesla Motors and SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk to “F-off,” when he announced his peace plan, requiring Kiev to make concessions to Moscow. No one questions Zelensky when he promises the European Union [EU] that Ukraine defends European democracy. White House and EU officials don’t question the reality of a bankrupt, war-torn country saving European democracy. NATO, not Ukraine, is there to defend European democracy if Russia threatens it. No matter how much cash-and-arms the U.S. supplies Kiev, beating back a determined Russian armed forces won’t be easy. Zelensky presides over a bankrupt country, unable to pay government salaries, including Zelensky’s, without U.S. taxpayer cash.
Gen. Mike Miley is the only White House official telling the truth about the Ukraine War. Miley told the Eurasia Groun today that winning the Ukraine War on the battlefield won’t a happen anytime soon. Zelensky hopes to launch his Spring counteroffensive sometime soon, once he gets more tanks and guided missiles to battle the Russian Federation. How Putin responds to Zelensky’s counteroffensive is anyone’s guess. If the first year of the war tells anything, Putin doesn’t back down from any fight. While progress has been painstaking, Putin still controls much of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, continuing to battle for control of Donbas in Bakhmut. Miley told the truth saying the costs in terms to blood-and-treasure isn’t worth the fight when a peace process is the best way to settle the dispute. Biden and Zelensky have not caught up to Miley’s analysis that only a political settlement can end the conflict.
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.
