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Washington Moves On to Plan B, by Mike Whitney

26-4-2024 < UNZ 15 1477 words
 

Here’s what everyone needs to understand about Ukraine:

The United States has already moved on to Plan B. No, the Biden administration has not issued an official statement on the matter, but the shift has already begun. The Washington Brain-trust has abandoned any hope of winning the war outright (Plan A) and has, thus, adopted a different strategy altogether. (Plan B)


Plan B is a combination of two main elements:



  • A—A Strategy of Denial, which is ‘a defensive approach designed to stop an adversary’ from achieving its goals. In this case, the objective is to prolong the conflict for as long as possible to prevent Russian from achieving a clear victory. That is the top priority.

  • B—To continue to increase and intensify asymmetrical attacks on vital infrastructure and civilian areas in Russia proper in order to inflict as much damage on Russia as possible.


This, in essence, is Plan B. Any concern for the Ukrainian people or the future viability of the Ukrainian state, have not been factored in to Washington’s cynical calculation. What matters is preventing a Russian victory and inflicting as much pain on Russia as possible. Those are the primary objectives. In practical terms, that means that more Ukrainian soldiers will be slaughtered wholesale in order to continue using Ukraine as a launching pad for attacks on Russia. In fact, UK warlords have already confirmed what we are saying here. Check out this excerpt from an article at Zero Hedge:



… UK defense chief, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, telling Financial Times that the West’s new infusion of military aid will help Ukraine increase its long-range strikes on Russian territory:


Ukraine is set to increase long-range attacks inside Russia as an influx of western military aid aims to help Kyiv shape the war “in much stronger ways”, the head of the UK military has said….


Adm. Radakin continued, “As Ukraine gains more capabilities for the long-range fight . . . its ability to continue deep operations will [increasingly] become a feature” of the war…… More of Radakin’s words point to escalation (and not negotiations) in the following… UK Defense Chief Says Ukraine To Increase Long-Range Strikes In Russia, Zero Hedge


See what I mean? This is Plan B spelled out in black and white. There is no longer any expectation that Ukraine will win the war. None. The country will merely be used as a platform for hectoring, harassing and terrorizing the Russian people. That’s Plan B in a nutshell.


But how can we be certain that Plan B has already begun?


First, consider the allocation of resources provided under the new “National Security Supplemental” that Biden signed into law earlier this week. The bill provides $61 billion for Ukraine, of which a mere $13 billion will be spent on weapons and weapons systems. How is that paltry sum going to help defeat the Russian Army?


Keep in mind, the US and NATO allies have already spent more than $200 billion funding the war in Ukraine, and the Ukrainians are losing. How is another $13 billion supposed to make a difference?


It won’t, nor is it intended to. As we said earlier, the real purpose of the money is to prevent a clear Russian victory by launching random attacks on critical infrastructure and civilian areas in Russia. Once you understand that the basic operational plan has changed, developments on the ground begin to make sense. The goal is to antagonize a geopolitical rival not to win a war. Capisce?


Here’s what the $61 billion aid package will not do: (According to political analyst Ted Snider)



It will not provide enough money. It will not provide the badly needed weapons, nor deliver them on time. It will not provide the even more badly needed troops. And it will not provide victory…..Though $61 billion is a massive amount of money, it is not massive enough to defeat Russia. What $61 Billion for Ukraine Won’t Do, The American Conservative


It’s worth noting, that most of Ukraine’s best-trained combat units have already been obliterated. They’re gone. That has forced the Zelensky regime to abduct men off the streets of Kiev and send them into battle with just two-weeks training, which is why casualties are so high. No one believes that these “green recruits” are going to rout the Russian Army or even slow its inexorable advance. No one. These men are simply being sacrificed so Washington can continue to launch its drone attacks on Russian oil facilities near Moscow or bomb civilian villages on the Russian border or conduct airstrikes on the Kerch Bridge . In other words, this ongoing orgy of carnage is being perpetuated so that deranged western elites can continue to deliver glancing blows that the Russian bear brushes off like a pesky mosquito. That is the value these billionaire elites place on human life. It means nothing to them. Check out this clip from an article by Scott Ritter:



US President Joe Biden recently signed a long-delayed $95 billion package, including $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, into law. At least $13.8 billion of this sum will be used to deliver weaponry, such as long-range ATACMS missiles and F-16 fighter jets….


“The $13.8 billion in military assistance that will be provided to Ukraine will be insufficient to basically halt the ongoing Russian advance,” and “to change the outcome on the battlefield,” he stated….


Russia currently enjoys “military superiority, if not outright supremacy, along the entire line of contact, not just on the front lines, but extending well into the rear areas of the Ukrainian defense areas.”… Scott Ritter: Hefty US Military Aid for Ukraine Won’t Hamper Russia’s Strategic Advantage, Sputnik


The American people who foolishly believe that the new supplemental aid package will help to expel the “evil” Russians from Ukraine are living in La la land. Nothing could be further from the truth. No one who follows events on the ground thinks Ukraine has any chance of beating a well-equipped and highly-motivated Russian Army that boasts nearly unlimited reserves, unlimited industrial capacity, unlimited resources and a firm conviction that the West is using Ukraine to break up their country and install its own puppet in Moscow. That’s what they are fighting for, and that’s why they’re going to win. Here’s more from Snider:



“$61 billion will not change the outcome of this war,” Nicolai Petro, Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhodes and the author of The Tragedy of Ukraine, (According to) Valery Zaluzhny…..That… would require five to seven times that amount, or $350-400 billion.” (But) Even if the money was sufficient, it would not provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs because the weapons are not available for purchase. (According to) Retired U.S. Army Colonel Daniel Davis, Senior Fellow at Defense Priorities: “even if you get the money, you’re not going to have the number of artillery shells, interceptor missiles for air defense. You can’t make the artillery shells any faster than we are right now. It’s a matter of physical capacity: we can’t do it.”…


Even if the West could provide Ukraine with the weapons on time, the “big problem for Ukraine,” Davis says, is not the provision of weapons, but the “manpower issue.” Ukraine’s losses on the battlefield, to death and injury, have left Ukraine with a bigger manpower problem than artillery problem…. even if the U.S. gave Ukraine all the weapons it needed, they “don’t have the men to use them.” What $61 Billion for Ukraine Won’t Do, The American Conservative


This is all pretty basic stuff. Obviously, if you don’t have the men or the money or the weapons, you’re going to lose. And, the maniacal stewards of this failed anti-Russia crusade KNOW that Ukraine is going to lose, but they’ve chosen to continue the war anyway. Why?


Because the lives, and the destruction, and the dissolution of the Ukrainian state don’t matter to them. All that matters is inflicting pain on Russia, whatever the cost. That is the ‘noble cause’ for which 500,000 Ukrainians have given their lives. And that is why this bloody debacle continues to drag on endlessly even though the outcome has never been in doubt.


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