As over 300,000 Ukrainian troops have died (some 70,000 killed and wounded in the “Counter Offensive” which began on 4th June) the former US arms negotiator, Scott Ritter has summed up the American trap for Ukraine:
Ukraine must understand that the United States does not care about Ukraine’s losses. We are interested in increasing Russia’s losses, so the United States is pushing Ukraine forward, but the Ukrainians cannot say no. If the Ukrainians refuse, decide to stop, go back on the defensive, be smarter in using their valuable resources, then they will not get the F-16 fighters, tanks and weapons they need to survive this conflict.
Note “survive”, not win. That is the political profit the war mongers who surround Biden are targeting. The fact that the geopolitical losses around the world are mounting daily (as critical US allies like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Brazil move towards Russia and China and the US Dollar loses its power) does not occur to them.
There are others in the US political Establishment who see the urgency of a settlement of the war and articles about the possibility of negotiations have already been published by The New York Times, New Yorker, and Foreign Affairs.
The Ukrainian TG-channel “Resident” quoting a source in Zelensky’s Office claims that
the Americans are demanding that Kiev hold elections to implement the “Korean scenario” (a split between the Ukrainian West and Russian East) in order to end the war.
Given the unpopularity of Zelensky in Ukraine and the political profit the Biden hawks see in Russia’s losses, this is unlikely.
THE ECONOMIC WAR PROFIT:
The enormous profit being made by US Defence contractors and the re-cycling of the over $100bn US aid to Ukraine into lobbying/buying Congressmen at home means there is also an economic imperative. (The collapsed cryptocurrency company FTX was the core of donations to Ukraine some of which found its way back the US Democrat party). And we must not forget the USA’s profit from supplying LNG to a Europe starved of Russian gas.
According to the New York Times, a new weapons factory is being built in the Texas town of Mesquite to produce artillery shells for the Ukrainian army. When some voices in the region objected they were attacked by a number of local lawmakers and the town’s newspaper wrote that
“the effort to arm Ukraine and Kiev’s insatiable appetite for weapons and ammunition has been a real boon and a gold mine for the U.S. arms industry.”
BRITISH MERCENARIES MURDERED BY THEIR OWN SIDE. BRITISH TRADE UNIONS OPPOSE WAR.
As two British mercenaries were found murdered in Ukraine, the three largest British trade unions representing firefighters, sailors and railway workers refused to support Ukraine, while accusing Western countries of imperialism and condemning their involvement in the conflict. The censorship of anti war voices in the UK has hitherto been absolute – but it is difficult to avoid such a large body of organised labour!
The bodies of the two mercenaries were found behind Ukrainian lines in the Zaporozhye region with their hands tied behind their backs. They were Daniel Burke and Jordan Chadwick. The former was the leader of the English-speaking mercenaries “Dark Angels”.
It has been speculated that their deaths were to do with financial conflict between foreign mercenaries or between mercenaries and Ukrainians.
ANTI ZELENSKY MOVEMENT?
The former mayor of Kiev, Leonid Chernovetskiy, has unexpectedly said that there was and is no war between Ukraine and Russia. According to him, there was a special operation (Russia’s SMO) against the totally irresponsible policies of the regime in Kiev.
We know of frequent refusals of Ukrainian troops to being hurled against insurmountable Russian defences, often without proper training or sufficient ammunition and even a video of troops saying they were a far greater danger to Zelensky than the Russians! He has made sworn enemies among both the decimated armed forces on the one hand and the Nazi groups who accuse him of betrayal if he even thinks of negotiating a peace.
Perhaps that is why this month the military law enforcement service, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, conducted a mass check of people and vehicles throughout Kiev and the Kiev Oblast. A source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Strana
“Whole areas will be blocked. Both military and civilians will be checked. The purpose of such events is to identify deserters and unregistered weapons or ammunition,” says the source.
Similar checks would take place throughout Ukraine.
WHICH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WILL EXTRADITE UKRAINIANS FOR CONSCRIPTION?
Davit Arahamiya, the head of the Ukrainian president’s Servant of the People faction, stated that Ukrainians who left Ukraine using forged certificates of being unfit for military service could be extradited home. More than 160,000 Ukrainians of conscription age fled to Germany after the Russian intervention in the war in early 2022.
However Germany has said they will not extradite. Austria’s Interior Ministry has also said they will not extradite Ukrainians of conscription age if Ukraine makes such a request. There are 14,000 such Ukrainians in Austria.
Hungary’s deputy prime minister Zsolt Schemien also said they will not extradite to Ukraine its citizens who evade conscription for military service and who are in Hungary as refugees.
But Poland has started the process of extraditing Ukrainians of military conscription age. Poland has rapidly lost patience with Ukraine, not least because Zelensky has been critical of Poland while thousands of Poles have died in Ukraine. Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller has said that “Poland will stop aid to Ukrainian refugees from 2024,” “Support for refugees, which includes the removal of residency requirements and the granting of work permits, free access to schools, health care and family allowances, will not be extended next year,” he said.
Ireland has denied sending out demands to Ukrainian refugees and a letter purporting to be from the Department of Justice addressed to a Ukrainian in Ireland has been denounced as a fraud by the Department. However I have seen no specific Irish policy NOT to return refugees to Ukraine.
WILL THE UK EXTRADITE UKRAINIANS?
I have written to my MP who has requested an official statement of British Government policy on extraditing Ukrainian refugees for military service. I await the reply. Given the fanatical war mongering of the British political class they will find it hard to say no to Zelensky but the sight of such very public extraditions would be disastrous for the Government. At last they will be confronted with the reality of the war they have enthusiastically promoted.
