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The U.S. and its vassals are growing weary of its proxy war in Ukraine. This isn’t a weariness borne from sadness over destroyed lives and grieving families – its more the petulant tantrum of a childish bully that isn’t getting what it wants – this western geopolitical gambit is turning into yet another disaster.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be and certainly not what the puppet emperor Zelensky and neo-Napoleon General Zaluzhny had promised. In return for tanks, armoured vehicles, missiles, artillery, ammunition and of course money (lots and lots of money) the grand Ukrainian counter-offensive was to deliver Zaporizhzhia today and Crimea tomorrow. But five months of obscene losses later it is the Russians that are gaining ground and British Intelligence officers are scouring their thesaurus for new synonyms of the word ‘retreat’ with todays phrase being ‘relatively static’.
A devastating article in Time Magazine paints Zelensky as a deluded messianic fool, as bereft of a reverse gear and an ability to adapt to changing circumstances as the neocon clique at The White House. All the signs point to a slow but inevitable defeat for Ukraine, now made all the worse because the world’s attention is on Gaza – not Kyiv.
How different it all was when Zelensky was being buffed by the western media as the new Churchill, the indefatigable champion of Ursula von der Leyen’s shared values – the cutting edge of the dagger that would fell Putin. No less than erm… Time Magazine made him their man of the year! From hero to zero in eleven months and it’s now clear that Zelensky is being fitted for a new role – fall guy.
Suddenly the U.S. wants presidential elections in Ukraine with Zelensky considering the “pros and cons” of holding presidential elections next spring while The Guardian has suddenly remembered that:
“In 2019, the former actor and comedian had no political experience other than playing the role of president in a TV series when he won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.”
Zelenksy may well be pondering the pros of his off-shore bank accounts being connected to a beach house in Florida and the cons of being on the losing team. His ‘loyal’ General Zaluzhny was getting his excuses in early in a bizarre interview in The Economist where he bemoaned the lack of everything from a death star to transformer robots as explanation for the failed counter offensive.
Perhaps it wasn’t such a swell idea to pour $76 billion into Ukraine after all, indeed with just a teeny bit of foresight one might have paused to consider what might happen to all that lolly in a nation with notoriously endemic corruption and some bothersome neo-Nazi elements.
Zelensky has only recently starting sacking officials who trouser too much cash but one could argue that its a bit late for that now. Just as SH has noted on several occasions, chunks of the money have gone who knows where and the weapons to god knows who. Europe may yet pay a heavy price for arming neo-Nazi militias.
It remains unclear what the U.S. plan now is for Ukraine, if they even have a plan or remain capable of formulating one. The logical direction would steer towards a face saving off-ramp and the predicted pivot towards China – but logic and the current U.S administration are distant cousins at best. Perhaps they inhabit the mindset of an oligarch football club owner and imagine that a new manager and yet more cash will deliver the elusive title – or maybe they just want to cut Zelensky loose and run.
Either way it seems that the tactical position of Ukraine and Zelensky could be summarised in one rude word.
Not to worry, the U.S. will sweep on to its next sacrifice zone and it was a hell of a ride. All it cost was another shattered country, $100 billion and 250,0000 dead.
I wonder who will be the next lucky passengers on NATO’S caravan of love?
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