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February 8, 2023 Ukraine news with comments and excerpts; bookmark for future reference if desired Dear friends -- Good afternoon! The articles below are now linked at https://lasg.org/Ukraine/Ukraine.html; the comments and excerpts will follow shortly. Scroll down for previous days. Look there every day for more. Please advertise this web site to your friends via social media. We are working on multiple fronts, preparing for meetings in DC, and so are depending on you and your friends. There's a lot of ignorance about this war in our communities. Hence this note. It's very important to speak up clearly at this time. Also, we are seeking volunteers and interns. We take care of our people. Call us. The Hersh, Lawrence, and MacGregor pieces will be particularly illuminating to many people. One approach is to discuss them with close friends, or in a religious community setting. I suppose everyone knows that there will be no decent solutions to any social or environmental problems while war strengthens the sinews of violence and operates from within on the structures of our government. "War," said Randolph Bourne, "is the health of the state." The heavy-lidded, bestial health. Feb 8, 2023 Hersh's account, based in part on anonymous interviews, adds to previous accounts (e.g. this one), based on open-source data and analysis. Bernhard and commenters took up the Hersh account in a posting today. It was an unprecedented act of terrorism against U.S. allies (Germany primarily but not exclusively) and the environment, as well as of course Russia. Useful for understanding the legal implication of Biden's publicly-stated conditional commitment to "end" Nordstream: no congressional oversight was deemed necessary if the military was in charge. Key role of Norway, which like the U.S. also benefited financially. Hersh's source: "The only flaw was the decision to do it." • State of the Union: Biden Says Beating China Should ‘Unite All of Us’, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Feb 7, 2023 "The president made little mention of the war in Ukraine besides platitudes about “standing up” for vague principles. “Putin’s invasion has been a test for the ages. A test for America. A test for the world. Would we stand for the most basic of principles?” he said...Overall, Biden’s speech focused very little on foreign policy. He closed the speech by saying, “May God protect our troops,” but did not mention any of the wars they are fighting in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen." • Patrick Lawrence: The Press Reckoning on Russiagate, Consortium News, Feb 7, 2023 "As Glenn Greenwald remarked in a lengthy “System Update” segment reviewing the Gerth series, however much contempt you may have for the corruptions of the American press, you are not contemptuous enough.¶ For a long while I have held to the thought that the day may come when the American press and broadcasters would have some kind of come-to-Jesus awakening and begin a new and excellent era as a freestanding pole of power.¶ Gerth’s series persuades me that this is no longer a realistic expectation. Russiagate deformed the function of media, and media’s understanding of its function, beyond repair. Over the past seven years mainstream American media have come to see — embrace, indeed — their task as the conveyance of official propaganda.¶ We must not be so surprised or shocked. This is what happens to empires in their declining phases." • NYT On Ukraine - Real Reporting, Propaganda For Balance, Ominous Warning, Moon of Alabama, Feb 7, 2023 NYT: "Exhausted Ukrainian troops complain they are already outnumbered and outgunned, even before Russia has committed the bulk of its roughly 200,000 newly mobilized soldiers. And doctors at hospitals speak of mounting losses as they struggle to care for fighters with gruesome injuries....The first stages of the Russian offensive have already begun. Ukrainian troops say that Bakhmut, an eastern Ukrainian city that Russian forces have been trying to seize since the summer, is likely to fall soon. Elsewhere, Russian forces are advancing in small groups and probing the front lines looking for Ukrainian weaknesses. The efforts are already straining Ukraine’s military, which is worn out by nearly 12 months of heavy fighting....Losses among Ukrainian forces have been severe. Troops in a volunteer contingent called the Carpathian Sich, positioned near Nevske, said that some 30 fighters from their group had died in recent weeks, and soldiers said, only partly in jest, that just about everyone has a concussion." • On the edge of essentially all out war with Russia, Straight Calls with Douglas Macgregor, YouTube, Feb 7, 2023 Excellent 23 min. video interview with Macgregor. Concisely discusses background, current military situation, and the need for negotiations without preconditions, which could lead to a ceasefire if sincere. Nota bene, Ray McGovern believes, and so do we, that such negotiations are impossible with Blinken, Sullivan, and Nuland in their current positions. • America Sleepwalks Into War with Russia, Francis P. Sempa, RealClear Wire, Feb 3, 2023 Conservative analyst longing for listening to restraining, experienced, realist voices, marginalized in the U.S. today. • Truth About Tanks: How NATO Lied Its Way to Disaster in Ukraine, Scott Ritter, Sputnik, Jan 28, 2023 Battle tanks are far from a military panacea given modern anti-tank weapons. Extensive training and maintenance are required, as well as sophistication in combined-arms operations. Western tanks, at this stage, will hurt Ukraine more than help it. Greg and Trish
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