War re Ukraine: Thread

[grarpamp]

Rickards: The Horrifying Endgame In Ukraine

https://dailyreckoning.com/the-horrifying-endgame-in-ukraine/

In yesterday’s issue, I addressed the biggest and most complex topic
on the geopolitical landscape today — China.

But today I’m discussing what is by far the most alarming topic on the
geopolitical landscape today. That’s the war in Ukraine and the
dangers of escalation.

I’ve written extensively about two facets of the war in Ukraine that
you don’t hear from legacy media in the United States or U.K.

The first is that Russia is actually winning the war.

U.S. outlets such as The New York Times (a channel for the State
Department) and The Washington Post (a channel for the CIA) report
endlessly about how Russian plans have failed, about how incompetent
they are about how the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have pushed back
Russians in the Donbass, and how NATO weapons such as U.S. Abrams
tanks, U.K. Challenger tanks and German Leopard tanks will turn the
tide against Russia soon.

This is all nonsense. None of it is true.

Reality Check

First off, the Ukrainian advances that took place in late summer were
against lightly defended positions that the Russians quickly conceded
to conserve forces. The Russians were willing to give up the land so
that they wouldn’t lose valuable men and materiel.

The Russians withdrew to more defensible positions and have been badly
mauling Ukrainian attacking forces ever since. Ukraine has wasted
incredibly large amounts of men and equipment in these futile and
ill-advised attacks.

In all, credible reports indicate that AFU casualties are nearing
500,000 and are increasing at an unsustainable rate. On the other
hand, reports of 100,000 Russian dead are almost certainly wild
exaggerations put out by Ukraine. The BBC attempted to verify these
numbers and could only find about 20,000 confirmed Russian dead based
on extensive searches on funeral notices, public records, etc.
Send in the Tanks — Eventually!

What about the tanks NATO is supposedly sending? Well, the tanks have
not been delivered yet and most won’t be for months or longer. Our own
M1 Abrams tanks might not even arrive for a year or more.

We actually have to custom build these tanks so that they don’t have
the special armor and other advanced systems that our own M1s have.
The Pentagon doesn’t want them falling into Russian hands if they’re
destroyed or captured. Besides, we’re only sending 31 tanks anyway.

When the NATO tanks do arrive, they’ll likely quickly be destroyed by
Russian artillery, anti-tank weapons and precision missiles. They’re
good tanks, but far from invincible. For decades, the Russians have
been developing powerful weapons specifically designed to destroy
these NATO tank models. The Russians aren’t particularly worried about
them.

Aside from that, tanks rely on effective air cover for protection,
which Ukraine lacks. They’ll be sitting ducks on the battlefield. It
doesn’t really make sense to send tanks to Ukraine unless you send
combat aircraft to give them cover (more on that below).
Russia’s Winning on the Battlefield

Meanwhile, Russian forces have nearly encircled the city of Bakhmut,
which is a major transportation and logistics hub, with several key
roads and rail lines passing through it. It’ll probably fall to the
Russians within weeks.

Losing Bakhmut will be a major blow to Ukraine, despite claims in the
western media that it really isn’t very important. Ukraine’s entire
800-mile defensive line would probably begin to crumble, and they
don’t have heavily fortified positions to fall back on. Ukrainian
troops, while brave and competent soldiers, are exhausted and running
out of supplies as it is.

On top of that, it appears likely that Russia is preparing a
devastating offensive with massive amounts of men, tanks, armored
personnel carriers, artillery, helicopters, drones and fixed-wing
aircraft.

This Russian army is not the same army that invaded Ukraine a year
ago. It’s much better trained, led and equipped. It’s learned from the
mistakes it made during its initial invasion last February. Ukraine
shouldn’t expect them to repeat those mistakes.

Does all this mean I’m cheering on a Russian victory in Ukraine? No,
I’m just observing the facts on the ground and consolidating them to
perform an objective analysis.

That analysis leads me to believe that Russia will win the war
militarily. Western military assistance may prolong the fighting but
won’t affect the ultimate outcome. It’ll just delay the inevitable and
get a lot more people needlessly killed.
The Much Greater Risk

The second facet of this war not reported in the media, or at least
downplayed, is the growing risk of nuclear war.

This risk increases with every escalatory step by both sides. The U.S.
is the leader in reckless escalation by supplying long-range
artillery, Patriot anti-missile batteries, intelligence, surveillance,
and now the tanks. Russia responds at each step.

There’s a number of steps before the two sides arrive at the nuclear
level, but neither shows a willingness to step back.

By the way, Russia has every legal right to attack those NATO
countries supplying arms to Ukraine. By supplying arms to a party to
the conflict, they’ve given up their neutrality and have become, in
effect, combatants. Russia hasn’t done this because it doesn’t want to
bring NATO directly into the fight. But legally, it can.
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

Ukraine’s demands on the U.S., UK and the rest of NATO for advanced
weapons to fight Russians know no limits. The West began by supplying
Ukraine with cash, intelligence and anti-tank weapons such as the
Javelin missile. Soon we were supplying long-range artillery, drones,
and more cash.

As Russian advances continued, Zelensky demanded and got Patriot
anti-missile batteries that can destroy incoming Russian missiles. The
U.S. artillery was aimed at Russian Crimea. Several drones struck
inside Russia at sensitive air bases with nuclear weapons nearby.

The next demand for more weapons involved advanced tanks that are in
the process of being supplied by the U.S., UK, Germany, and Poland. In
the latest move, that comes as no surprise, Ukraine is now demanding
F-16 fighter jets from the U.S., one of the most advanced aircraft in
the world.

But Russia has the most sophisticated air defense system in the world
and is very capable of shooting down F-16s in large numbers.

Biden has denied Zelensky’s request so far, but he previously ruled
out sending tanks before finally giving in. The same thing will
probably happen with the planes. But they won’t turn the tide against
Russia.

Once these advanced systems show they can’t help, what’s the
Ukrainian’s next demand? Russia can escalate just as quickly and
lethally as the U.S.

This entire scenario is a long slow march toward nuclear war or the
complete disintegration of Ukraine.
Is Anyone Really Prepared for This?

The U.S. won’t end the weapons deliveries because Joe Biden is afraid
of losing face and his closest advisors such as Victoria Nuland have
an irrational hatred for Russia and are total warmongers.

Now, we can add a new danger, resulting from desperation. This is the
fact that the U.S. itself may be the biggest loser in the war.

As Ukraine disappears under a massive Russian onslaught, the U.S. will
grow increasingly desperate. Its credibility is on the line after
committing so much money, materiel and moral weight to Ukraine’s
defense.

The Biden administration has essentially turned the war in Ukraine
into an existential crisis for the U.S. and NATO, when it never should
have been. Ukraine has never been a vital U.S. interest. But the war
is existential for Russia, and won’t give up.

Is the U.S. just going to throw up its hands and concede Russian
victory? NATO may actually disintegrate in the face of such
spectacular failure. So, we’ll probably double down.

Maybe a desperate Biden orders troops into western Ukraine as a buffer
against a complete Russian takeover of the country. You can imagine
what could go wrong. That situation may quickly devolve into a direct
war between the U.S. and Russia rather than the proxy war that it is
now.

The American people and investors in particular are not prepared for
any of this. They should be. It’s becoming increasingly likely.