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Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy
The only relevant question is why does Putin permit the Ukraine conflict to continue?
The only relevant question is why does Putin permit the Ukraine conflict to continue?
Paul Craig Roberts
The Western discussion of the conflict in Ukraine is the most nonsensical collection of lies and delusions I have encountered in my lifetime. Nothing reported in the Western media is accurate. Consider this BBC report from Johnson’s Russia List today June 23, 2023:
#1
BBC Monitoring
Ukraine says 680 Russian troops killed in past 24 hours
Some 680 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine over the past 24 hours, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook on 23 June.
This brings Russia’s estimated total losses since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine to around 223,330 personnel.
Russia’s other total approximate losses include 4,017 (+four over the past 24 hours) tanks, 7,798 (+15) armoured fighting vehicles, 3,985 (+44) artillery systems, 617 MRLS, 379 (+three) air defence systems, 314 warplanes, 307 helicopters, 3,447 (+nine) UAVs, 1,214 cruise missiles, 18 warships/boats, 6,708 (+30) vehicles and fuel tankers, and 545 (+six) pieces of special equipment, the update reads.
There is not one word of truth in this report.
Consider the BBC’s description of the conflict as “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.” There is no such invasion. The Russian forces–mainly those of a private military organization known as the Wagner Group and the two Donbass militias–are, and have been, operating in the Russian Donbass now reincorporated into Russia, not in Ukraine. Putin has repeatedly declared that the Russian aim is limited to evicting Ukrainian forces from Donbass, not to conquering Ukraine. It is extraordinary that Western military analysts could be so stupid as to think that a real Russian invasion of Ukraine would still be continuing after 16 months.
Consider the Russian losses reported after 16 months of conflict: 223,330 troops! This number is larger than the combined personnel of the Wagner Group and Donbass militias. If it were correct, there would be no Russian forces present.
Consider the reported Russian losses of military equipment: 4,021 tanks, 7,813 armored fighting vehicles, 4,029 artillery systems, 617 MRLS, 382 air defense systems, 314 warplanes, 307 helicopters, 3,456 UAVs, 1,214 cruise missiles, 18 warships, 6,738 vehicles and fuel tankers, 545 pieces of special equipment.
Anyone who believes these figures is a total moron. If these numbers were correct, there would be nothing left of the Russian forces and Ukraine would have achieved total victory.
The same day that these absurd numbers were reported, CNN admitted that “Ukraine’s counteroffensive is having less success and Russian forces are showing more competence than western assessments expected.” It is unbelievable that there is a single person anywhere who is so totally stupid that he believed in Ukraine’s success! What kind of delusion-creating deceptions from media and officials were necessary to produce such a ridiculous belief?
Next we hear that Ukraine blames the failure of its “counteroffensive” on the West’s failure to provide enough weapons. If Ukraine lacked weapons, how did Ukraine achieve 223,330 Russian casualties, destroy 4,021 Russian tanks, 7,813 armored fighting vehicles, 4,029 artillery systems, 621 aircraft, etc.?
The Western media is so incompetent that it is unable to recognize its own blatant contradictions.
What is the purpose of this massive disinformation from the Western media? How does it help Ukraine’s cause for the Western World to massively deceive itself about the conflict. How can the West prevail when the West has no idea of what is occurring?
As I said this morning in a live interview on RT International television, the only relevant question about the conflict in Ukraine is why does the Kremlin permit the conflict to continue? By applying conventional force at its disposal, the Kremlin can end the conflict in 3 days with total victory over all of Ukraine. Why does the Kremlin refuse to use sufficient force to end a conflict that is ever-widening and growing ever more in danger of spinning out of control and producing a nuclear confrontation? This is the only relevant question. Why am I the only person asking it?