PRIGOZHIN’S FOLLY
The Russian ‘revolt’ that wasn’t strengthens Putin’s hand

SEYMOUR HERSH
The Biden administration had a glorious few days last weekend. The ongoing disaster in Ukraine slipped from the headlines to be replaced by the “revolt,” as a New York Times headline put it, of Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the mercenary Wagner Group.

The focus slipped from Ukraine’s failing counter-offensive to Prigozhin’s threat to Putin’s control. As one headline in the Times put it, “Revolt Raises Searing Question: Could Putin Lose Power?” Washington Post columnist David Ignatius posed this assessment: “Putin looked into the abyss Saturday—and blinked.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken—the administration’s go-to wartime flack, who weeks ago spoke proudly of his commitment not to seek a ceasefire in Ukraine—appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation with his own version of reality: “Sixteen months ago, Russian forces were . . . thinking they would erase Ukraine from the map as an independent country,” Blinken said. “Now, over the weekend they’ve had to defend Moscow, Russia’s capital, against mercenaries of Putin’s own making. . . . It was a direct challenge to Putin’s authority. . . . It shows real cracks.”
...
So, below is a look at what is really going that was provided to me by a knowledgeable source in the American intelligence community:

“I thought I might clear some of the smoke. First and most importantly, Putin is now in a much stronger position. We realized as early as January of 2023 that a showdown between the generals, backed by Putin, and Prigo, backed by ultra-nationalist extremists, was inevitable. The age-old conflict between the ‘special’ war fighters and a large, slow, clumsy, unimaginative regular army. The army always wins because they own the peripheral assets that make victory, either offensive or defensive, possible. Most importantly, they control logistics. special forces see themselves as the premier offensive asset. When the overall strategy is offensive, big army tolerates their hubris and public chest thumping because SF are willing to take high risk and pay a high price. Successful offense requires a large expenditure of men and equipment. Successful defense, on the other hand, requires husbanding these assets.
...

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Well, very interesting point of view from Hersh. It may be wrong, but is deserves to be heard/read...
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Remember three years ago, this topic was promoted in all Western media: «Putin paid the Taliban with the aim of killing the US and British military»? Then everyone admitted that it was a dirty fake. But the noise was famous, because it was used against Trump.
The fact that the United States and Britain are now directly paying for the killing of Russian soldiers does not bother them at all! Now the question is: what will stop us from implementing the scenario that they wrote three years ago.

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An advertising banner was hung in New York:

— No Zelensky, No war!

Is something getting clearer now?

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Ukraine. New ritual at the cemetery???
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Moment 'evil child trader' is caught trying to take 11-month-old baby out of Ukraine to 'sell for organ transplants' after 'paying his mother $1,000'
—The trafficker allegedly offered the mother a total of $5,000 for her young child
—She reported him to authorities and he was detained at the Slovakian border
Daily Mail
A charity worker and 'evil child trader' has been detained in Ukraine after he was caught red-handed seeking to take an 11-month-old baby abroad to 'sell for organ transplants'.

The man, 43, had allegedly given a $1,000 downpayment to the boy's mother, claiming he would ensure the boy was adopted in the EU to live in safety away from the war.

He offered the woman, from Zhytomyr, a total of $5,000 for the baby who he then intended to sell to traffickers for $25,000.

Pictures showed the man detained with a female accomplice at the Ukraine-Slovakia border as he intended to cross with the child.

While this boy was saved, it is suspected the man had previously sold three other children on the pretext of taking them out of war-torn Ukraine and finding them adoptive parents abroad.

The detained man 'had been looking for parents who were ready to sell their child for organs', reported Ukrainian journalist Vitaliy Glagola.

'Law enforcement officers have operational information that this was not for adoption to the EU, and the child was to have been sold to [illegal] organ transplanters.'

The mother of the child had alerted law enforcement, it was reported.

An operation by police, the SBU secret service and border guards detained him at the Malye Selmentsy frontier checkpoint.

The man was remanded in custody pending further investigation, while the rescued child was reunited with his mother.

The man is held under child trafficking laws, said a police spokesman, and faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

There have been repeated warnings in recent years of children from impoverished eastern Europe exported on the black market by gangs linked to organ transplants for wealthy clients, especially in the Middle East.

But Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which sent millions of Ukrainian citizens fleeing across the border, presented an opportunity for human traffickers to prey on the most vulnerable of refugees.

Earlier in the war there were several reports of criminals targeting unaccompanied female refugees and children fleeing from Ukraine by promising them safe accommodation and free transport, posing as good Samaritans to lure them away from the safety of official checkpoints.

Charity workers on the Polish-Ukrainian border have warned that the traffickers are working alone and in gangs to kidnap the women and children who are an 'easy target'.
...
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63% of Ukrainians now say they know at least one close relative or friend who died in the war, on average there are three.

This is a huge increase from the last poll in February, which showed that only 17% of Ukrainians reported losses, compared to just 9% in September 2022.

This is convincing evidence that the “Bakhmut meat grinder” has done its job and the Ukrainian counteroffensive is going as badly as previously thought.

It should also be noted that mortality is also concentrated by region: 69% in the West and only 52% in the East. This suggests heavier casualties from the main strongholds of the Ukrainian nationalists.

Translated from Militarist
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Looters in Rouen.

From Militarist
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