Other than all being gamekeepers turned poacher – establishment figures, including but not confined to the military, now sternly critical of their countries’ elites and media narratives – what do the following have in common: Jacques Baud, Karen Kwiotkowski, Douglas McGregor, Lawrence Wilkerson?
Each was a colonel in his or her country’s armed forces. On the one hand that’s a rank senior enough to confer a comprehensive understanding of strategy and policy, and the habits of critically appraising the same. On the other, colonels are less likely than generals or admirals to be inextricably bound up with ruling elites and their agendas. When those agendas strike them as myopic, venal and/or criminal there are fewer constraints on their preparedness to speak out as conscience dictates.
Here in discussion with a non military gamekeeper turned poacher, Judge Andrew Napolitano, is Colonel (Ret.) Douglas McGregor. Recorded two days ago – after Iran’s drone and missile strike of April 13-14 but before Israel’s face-saving but non escalatory response of April 19 – he gives his assessment on two burning questions:
- When and how will the Ukraine conflict end?
- Will Israel go nuclear?
The first is addressed between 00:00 and 06:15, with a claim not only of snowballing acts of unauthorised surrender by Ukrainian forces but of hard core and largely Nazi commanders telling Zelensky they’re done fighting. This makes sense, the first claim at least, when even some of the West’s corporate media are finally acknowledging not only the impossibility of Ukrainian victory but the inevitability of territorial loss. (This after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian dead, and after Boris Johnson urged Zelensky in March/April 2022 to walk away from peace talks that would have left Ukraine intact.) Why would they want to die for a cause which even the West, having promised unwavering support, is now openly speaking of as lost?
But I’ve been unable to corroborate large scale surrender by AFU soldiers. As best I can tell – can anyone out there help on this point? – no one else is making the claim. If it weren’t that it makes sense logically, and that Colonel McGregor is not a man I associate with hyperbole or grandiose assertions, I’d disregard it.
As for whether Israel will escalate – see my previous post, which also predates Israel’s April 19 move, and this from Caitlin Johnstone, which does not – the answer is a little longer. Why don’t I just handover to Colonel (Ret.) Douglas McGregor?
* * *
Bernard over at Moon of Alabama posted this the other day;
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/04/ukraine-sitrep-the-power-plant-war-ideological-losses-more-signs-of-corruption.html#more
Which contained a link, a quote, and some comment regarding the problems the Ukraine military are experiencing with the neo-nazi elements which have been incorporated into the Ukrainian Armed Forces:
First, the quote:
“After losing some positions on the Chasiv Yar front in Donetsk Oblast, where heavy fighting has been ongoing since the beginning of 2024, the 67th Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps is being investigated and the military personnel who served as the brigade’s backbone are being transferred to other units.
…
One of the factors revealed by the audit was issues within the brigade. The leadership allegedly separated the soldiers from the Right Sector and those who were transferred from other parts during the recent replenishment (they were referred to as “pixels”, in reference to the pattern on the Ukrainian military uniform). The attitude toward the “pixels” was even worse; they were the first to be sent into combat, and their lack of experience made them lose territory.
According to a source of Ukrainska Pravda, this was not the only reason for the brigade’s combat capacity deficiencies, as revealed by the audit.
According to a former Ukrainian Volunteer Corps fighter who served in the unit during the 2014-2018 anti-terrorist operation in Ukraine’s east and the first year of the full-scale invasion, the current problem stems from the inability to reform the former volunteer unit into a regular brigade of the Armed Forces.
Following the reformatting of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps into the 67th Brigade, volunteers were forced to live “according to military tenets”, as determined by the newly formed army command. The former Ukrainian Volunteer Corps leaders lacked the military experience necessary for high positions.”
Followed by Bernard’s observation:
“The street gangs and hooligans of the fascist Right Sector, who played a major role during the so called Maidan revolution, were not keen to be real soldiers. They put the least experienced mobilized men into the frontline and kept their ideological brethren in the back.”
This was expanded upon in one of Alexander Mercouris’s (of The Duran) long dialogues in the middle of this week which noted that other units of the Ukraine Armed forces containing other neo-nazi groups such as the Azov were having to be dealt with in the same way for much the same reasons.
The video headlines of some of the subsequent program’s put out by Mercouris over the last day or two seem to be suggestive of mass surrenders. Though there are not enough hours in the day to plough through all of these.
Notwithstanding that the other half of The Duran duo yesterday posted his usual more time manageable daily news report which opened with a video clip posted on Redit (from two days ago now) which I never thought I’d ever see and hear in my lifetime.
Boris Johnson for the first time in his life actually making an honest statement:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineRussiaReport/comments/1c6adit/ua_pov_if_ukraine_falls_it_will_be_a_catastrophe/
“If Ukraine falls…..it will be the end of Western Hegemony.”
– Boris Johnson
Out of the horse’s mouth.
– It is not about democracy.
– It is not about human values.
– It is not about freedom.
What it is about is the Western elites being the biggest, baddest and bestest in order to Lord it over the entirety of life on this planet. To take everything, including life itself, and give nothing.
Given Johnson’s role in scuppering the peace deal in April 2022 it seems reasonable to detect a high degree of personal panic in his rant. The question arises, however, as to whether Johnson’s evident distress at the very real prospect of the end of ‘Western Hegemony’ is indicative of the present state of mind of the rest of the Western elite on this inevitability and its obvious implications or whether he is an outlier in that regard?
Thank you Phil for this great interview. I learned a lot. On a completely different note… Or rather unfortunately not a different note.
We live as you know by the Clyde. The nuclear submarine base at Faslane is not far from us. The amount of massive oil tankers and nuclear submarines travelling into Gare Loch to be refuelled, whatever, and then back out to sea has increased phenomenally over the last days. It is a chilling sight to see these great evil machines, the most powerful and deadly weapons ever existed, sail silently out to sea on their dark voyage of destruction and death.
Though if the Russians repsond to an attack on Iran then I suspect it will be via cyber warfare. They have been dealing with North Korea and China who have evolved complex and sophisticated methods of cyber interference with information systems. Russia is increasingly not ony self sufficient in many basic goods, it is gradually creating a surplus. It is using these to trade, esepcially with North Korea. NK has developed a whole program of chosen people, who cannot of course say no, who focus continually on developing complex cyber warfare way beyond anything the US have created. So I supsect the threat is more from a breakdown of our infrastructure than actual nuclear attack.
A beast is at it’s most dangerous as its power wanes. That’s the US. Yes, it’s Netanyahu and the Zionist fantatics. It is also the US using Israel for its own ends – to wipe out by proxy Iran’s nuclear capacity before it gets going.
Dark days Phil. Time for a walk in the sun!
Hi Anne. Greetings from sunny(!) Argyll. If it’s any consolation, these boats are not as effective as they look. The RN is a shadow of its former self. At any one time half of the very small fleet and increasingly obsolete fleet is docked for repairs. They recently had to mothball two newly refurbished frigates because they couldn’t find crews. The US Navy is in the same shape – not enough building yards or skilled builders or non-obese, basically educated crew persons, and all these toys costs are going through the roof. Same goes for planes and tanks etc. Another twenty years and they will all be gone. As will the Empire of Lies/Genocide which created them. They aren’t strong enough now to beat Iran, let alone Russia and China. But as you say, we will need some luck to get there unscathed. Fingers crossed.
“.. NK has developed a whole program of chosen people, who cannot of course say no, who focus continually on developing complex cyber warfare way beyond anything the US have created…”
I’m not sure what this means. Why cannot these Koreans say “No”? My concern is that we shouldn’t acccept propagandist stereotypes.There is no scientific or itellectual progress without questioning and honest discussion, I suspect that north Koreans are much like the rest of us and they don’t respond well to intimidation- which is why they work to destroy imperialism.