by Larry Johnson
Conventional wisdom claims the aphorism, “You can’t polish a turd,” came from sailors who were given an impossible task of trying to shine something that was dull and slippery. Someone needs to get word to General Milley about this truth. Milley, along with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, engaged in some world class “turd” polishing today (Thursday) as they briefed reporters on the results of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels.
The problem with the NATO plan for Ukraine’s faltering offensive is encapsulated in the following quote (it starts at the 8:51 mark in the video below):
More than six thousand Ukrainians are being trained right now at 40 different locations (sic) training locations in 65 courses in 33 Nations on three continents. That is all happening right now today
Let me give you some facts. If you join the U.S. Army and want to learn to crew a M1 Abram tank, you are looking at a minimum of 6 months training. And that is just learning how drive the tank and fire shells. But that is only the beginning. Soldiers are not given their own personal tank to tool around the base. Once a soldier and his crew learn how to start, steer, shoot and stop, the team must then learn how to operate in a coordinated fashion with a company (150 soldiers ), a battalion (800 to 1000 soldiers), a brigade (5000 soldiers) and a Division (10,000 to 15,000 soldiers).
Instruction starts with the simple and proceeds to the complex. Effectively operating a tank as part of a Division is the most complicated task and mission. Guess what? To learn to do this requires at least two years of training. There are no shortcuts. I spoke the other day with a young Army Captain who remarked how difficult it was to train U.S. troops to carry out brigade level tank maneuvers even after two years of training.
With that as background do you now appreciate the stupidity of Milley’s comment? The Ukrainians are not being taken to one location in one country and asked to master two or three courses of instruction. Nope. They are in 40 different locations in 33 different countries and 6000 Ukrainian troops are being fed a firehose of 65 courses. Do the math. That works out to about 93 soldiers per course. And the instructors most likely do not speak Ukrainian, so the soldiers are getting translated lessons in English, French, German, Polish and Italian. This is a veritable tower of Babel.
So let’s entertain the assumption that these 6000 souls are really fast learners and magically complete the training. How do you integrate 6000 soldiers that have been in 33 countries and being trained to different standards? Short answer — you don’t. It is impossible.
But then consider this. During just one week of combat against Russian forces, the Ukrainians lost 7500 men (killed and wounded). All of those trained soldiers erased in the flash of an artillery shell, a mortar or a glide bomb. Again, do the math. If Ukraine is losing 6000 men a week, then the training pipeline better have at least 80,000 Ukrainians attending these courses. Otherwise, NATO training cannot keep pace with Ukrainian casualties.
What we are witnessing is military malpractice on a colossal scale. I find it hard to believe that Milley, Austin and their NATO compatriots are really this stupid in touting this training regimen as something responsible and wise. It is madness. The cynical part of me believes that Ukraine is just being used as a pretext to juice the Western defense industries. After years of neglect and outsourcing, the U.S. and its NATO partners have discovered that they no longer have the factories and materials necessary to supply an industrial scale war.
06/16/23 – Russian soldiers really did stand still for 2 hours for their commander’s speech, leaving them sitting ducks for a HIMARS strike, Ukrainian official says –
A pro-war Russian military blogger:
Actually, your “own stupidity and sloppiness” are at war with highly competent, highly motivated Ukrainian patriots, protecting their homes and families from unwilling Russians invaders who have no desire to be fighting Putin’s war in the first place.
Judge Napolitano and I Discuss General Milley’s Criminal Malpractice, Jack Teixeira and the Passing of Daniel Ellsberg – A Son of the New American Revolution (sonar21.com)
At this point, it actually looks like the American Federal Government is MORE corrupt, or at least on par, with Putin and his dictatorship.
I’d tend to that first before raising up your Ukrainian fodder as heros they aren’t.
They are dying because of you and yours.
Biden is a dictator.
Your regime is failing.
06/16/23 – LOST CONTRTOL Delusional Putin rants Ukraine has ‘no chance’ even as his soldiers’ corpses and wrecked tanks litter liberated towns –
Assassination by drone is less likely than poison, a bullet from a Kremlin insider, or a bomb.
greg, you’re becoming more and more unhinged.
Absolutely bonkers, you are.
Since Aljezeera hates the West and Russia equally, I think their reporting might be a bit more accurate than CNN or RT:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/17/russia-ukraine-war-list-of-key-events-day-479
Highlights:
In short, both the Ukrainians and Russians are trying to out-embellish/lie each other, which is to be expected.
Just some reminders:
Ukrainians aren’t noble patriots.This war was started by NATO expansion and meddling in the Ukrainian gov.Putin is a war criminal in the same way Barack Obama, George Bush, and Joe Biden are war criminals.Hundreds of thousands of people would be alive if Democrats and the deep state hadn’t rigged our election and installed senile puppet Joe Biden, which every American now admits is a Dictator.The real bet is on who will be removed first:
Biden, Zelenskyy, or Putin.
I think that order is accurate, actually.
Thankfully Ukraine is losing bidens war
Trump was removed first.
Hey meathead. Those piece is by your favorite analyst.
Have joe and jill recognized their seventh grandchild yet?
Was he though?
He’s the de facto leader of the nation during this dark time in America when we have no president.
We’re getting a lot of disinformation.
But one thing is for sure: the Russians will use their nuclear weapons before they will lose this war.
So, the Russians are winning and the Ukrainians are losing.
joe has been using taxpayer dollars to pay his blackmailers in Ukraine.
One by one they abscond with as much cash as possible.
This “training” of Ukrainian soldiers is a Potemkin village, a sham, just to give a compliant press something to brag about.
If they do, we’ll probably nuke Moscow. Hopefully somebody puts a bullet in Putin before it comes to that.
We? Who is “we”, Comrade Greggie? Do you have a rat in your pocket?
Why would the U.S. do that? We are not at war with Russia, or are you admitting that Joey Soft Brain has thrown us into a war without Congressional approval like a dictator?
If you want that done, what are you waiting for?
That would probably irradiate some of idiot Biden’s bribery money, so that is doubtful. Keep in mind, were it not for idiot Biden’s stupid energy policies, none of this would be taking place. Were it not for Democrat election fraud, none of this would be taking place.
I think removing Biden would end this war much, much quicker than trying to assassinate Putin.
Trump will get this sorted. We’ll either legally elect Trump, or officially expose this fraud fed government for what it is: not ours.
Our allies will be more than happy to help us restore our Republic, I’m sure.
I’d renounce your allegiance now, greg. Lots of people are going to prison for their real crimes against our nation.
You might be one of them.
06/17/23 – Putin warns NATO over being drawn into Ukraine war, says Russia has more nuclear weapons
06/17/23 – Putin rebuts key elements of African peace plan for Ukraine
06/17/23 – Ukraine war: Putin confirms first nuclear weapons moved to Belarus
06/18/23 – Ukraine war is hurting Africa, South African President Ramaphosa tells Putin –
As if Putin gives a rat’s ass about who he hurts…
Says the guy glibly stating that “we” will “nuke Moscow” as if that wouldn’t end humanity and kill Billions.
It’s never too late to get an education, old timer. You need to read more and write less.
Even your deranged and dwindling Leftist cult disagrees with you.
But you DO sound a lot like Trump.
I wonder why.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/donald-trump-russia-nuclear-submarines
So what magical technology do you have knowledge of that makes Putin’s larger nuclear arsenal suddenly worthless?
I’m curious.