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Leaked stories from the Pentagon have exposed how mainstream media reports Russia’s conduct in the Ukraine war, in a bid to counter propaganda intended to get NATO into the conflict, writes Joe Lauria.



Consortium News
Consortium News
Volume 27, Number 84 — Friday, March 25, 2022
FOREIGN POLICY, INTERNATIONAL, MEDIA, MILITARY, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, PENTAGON, RUSSIA, UKRAINE
Pentagon Drops Truth Bombs to Stave Off War With Russia
March 23, 2022
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UPDATED: Leaked stories from the Pentagon have exposed how mainstream media reports Russia’s conduct in the Ukraine war, in a bid to counter propaganda intended to get NATO into the conflict, writes Joe Lauria.


The Pentagon. (Joe Lauria)

By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News



The Pentagon is engaged in a consequential battle with the U.S. State Department and the Congress to prevent a direct military confrontation with Russia, which could unleash the most unimaginable horror of war.

President Joe Biden is caught in the middle of the fray. So far he is siding with the Defense Department, saying there cannot be a NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine fighting Russian aircraft because “that’s called World War III, okay? Let’s get it straight here, guys. We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine.”

“President Biden’s been clear that U.S. troops won’t fight Russia in Ukraine, and if you establish a no-fly zone, certainly in order to enforce that no-fly zone, you’ll have to engage Russian aircraft. And again, that would put us at war with Russia,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this month. (The administration plan is to bring down the Russian government through a ground insurgency and economic war, not a direct military one.)

But pressure on the White House from some members of Congress and especially the press corps is unrelenting to recklessly bring NATO directly into the war. (Secretary of State Antony Blinken who initially backed a plan to send NATO planes from Poland to Ukraine has backed down and now opposes any no-fly zone. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also supported the Polish planes scheme, which was shot down by the Pentagon.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, hailed as a virtual superhero in Western media, has vacillated between openness to negotiating a peace settlement with Russia and calling for NATO, again on Friday, to “close the skies” above Ukraine. To save his country he appears willing to risk endangering the entire world.

Meanwhile, Western corporate media, depending almost exclusively on Ukrainian sources, report that Russia is losing the war, with its military offensive “stalled,” and in frustration has deliberately targeted civilians and flattened cities.

Biden has bought into this part of the story, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal.” He has also said that Russia is planning a “false flag” chemical attack to pin on Ukraine.

But on Tuesday, the Pentagon took the bold step of leaking two stories to reporters that contradict those tales. “Russia’s conduct in the brutal war tells a different story than the widely accepted view that Vladimir Putin is intent on demolishing Ukraine and inflicting maximum civilian damage—and it reveals the Russian leader’s strategic balancing act,” reported Newsweek in an article entitled, “Putin’s Bombers Could Devastate Ukraine But He’s Holding Back. Here’s Why.”

The piece quotes an unnamed analyst at the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) saying, “The heart of Kyiv has barely been touched. And almost all of the long-range strikes have been aimed at military targets.”

A retired U.S. Air Force officer now working as an analyst for a Pentagon contractor, added: “We need to understand Russia’s actual conduct. If we merely convince ourselves that Russia is bombing indiscriminately, or [that] it is failing to inflict more harm because its personnel are not up to the task or because it is technically inept, then we are not seeing the real conflict.”

The article says:

“As of the past weekend, in 24 days of conflict, Russia has flown some 1,400 strike sorties and delivered almost 1,000 missiles (by contrast, the United States flew more sorties and delivered more weapons in the first day of the 2003 Iraq war). …

A proportion of those strikes have damaged and destroyed civilian structures and killed and injured innocent civilians, but the level of death and destruction is low compared to Russia’s capacity.

‘I know it’s hard … to swallow that the carnage and destruction could be much worse than it is,’ says the DIA analyst. ‘But that’s what the facts show. This suggests to me, at least, that Putin is not intentionally attacking civilians, that perhaps he is mindful that he needs to limit damage in order to leave an out for negotiations.'”

A second retired U.S. Air Force officer says:

“I’m frustrated by the current narrative—that Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, that it is demolishing cities, and that Putin doesn’t care. Such a distorted view stands in the way of finding an end before true disaster hits or the war spreads to the rest of Europe. I know that the news keeps repeating that Putin is targeting civilians, but there is no evidence that Russia is intentionally doing so. In fact, I’d say that Russian could be killing thousands more civilians if it wanted to.”

These Pentagon sources confirm what Putin and the Russian Ministry of Defense have been saying all along: that instead of being “stalled,” Russia is executing a methodical war plan to encircle cities, opening humanitarian corridors for civilians, leaving civilian infrastructure like water, electricity, telephony and internet intact, and trying to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible.

Until these Pentagon leaks it was difficult to confirm that Russia was entirely telling the truth and that corporate media were publishing fables cooked up by Ukraine’s publicity machine.

No Evidence of Chemicals

The Pentagon’s mettle will be tested if there is a chemical weapons attack in Ukraine. Biden has said Russia would pay a “severe price” but who the perpetrator would be might be murky. Whoever might be behind such an attack, the calls for direct military action are sure to increase in the U.S. media, the Congress and perhaps internally at the State Dept.

The second mainstream article directly undermines Biden’s dramatic warning. Reuters reported: “The United States has not yet seen any concrete indications of an imminent Russian chemical or biological weapons attack in Ukraine but is closely monitoring streams of intelligence for them, a senior U.S. defense official said.”

It quoted the Pentagon official as saying, “There’s no indication that there’s something imminent in that regard right now.” Neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post published the Reuters article, which appeared in the more obscure U.S. News and World Report.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story — even if it could lead to the most devastating consequences in history.

Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and numerous other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He can be reached at joelauria@consortiumnews.com and followed on Twitter @unjoe



https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/23/pentagon-drops-truth-bombs-to-stave-off-war-with-russia/

Johnrake69:
If you don't pay in rubbles you don't receive Russian gas. I don't think it's that difficult. Alternatively, you can decide to get else we're at 2 or 3x the price Russia offers.

I don't see Europe surviving this. Their economy will take a serious hit.

phelps007:


Zelensky asking for peace talk with Russia on one hand and at the same time asking for even more tougher sanctions on Russia on the other.

I feel really terrible seeing innocent Ukrainian civilians paying heavy price for a war that could have been avoided in the first place.

Peace is priceless, War is senseless...

HallaDaTruth:
@lalasticlala send this to the front page, let's get other views for once. Finally some real news.

Buliwyf:
I agree with some of what you have written there. And it may not be as easy as you think. But if you think that with all the war going on and Putin asking people to pay for gas in Rubles, that the European bureaucracy won't be scrapped or lessened to make way for LNG docking then you must think that the EU is run by morons.

Desperate times demand desperate measures.

gidgiddy:
I dont think its about the Russian Army defeating the Ukrainian Army. The question is how does Russia defeat 45 million Ukrainians?

Even if Russia defeats Ukraine, it will lead to years of internal armed resistance against Russian occupational forces by millions of Ukrainians that will be armed supported by many countries in the west

Russia has already lost this war, it us fighting a war it can never win

EmperorHadrain:
Well, other sensible nations are learning not only from Russia but Libya , Venezuela, Iran and Afghanistan that keeping ones nation's wealth in western banks be it paper dollar or gold will inevitably lead to the US finding an excuse to seize that wealth.

China, Brazil , India and even the Saudis are now diversifying from the fiat dollar.

Will the US wage war with the world for rejecting their scam currency ?.

The idiots in Abuja are too preoccupied looting and lavishing on concubines and wh0res to see that the paper dollar hegemony is about coming to an end

EmperorHadrain:
[s][/s]

All your disinformation about this war comes from the same people that shilled hard for a virus and pushed the vaxx on you .

If you haven't learnt anything about western MSMs and big Tech from the whole Covid fiasco then you my friend are irredeemable.

FYI: I provided a bio of Larry Johnson here. He is a CIA veteran and not a Putin stooge as you will like to decieve yourself with.

mrgreen4real:
You this pro-Putin don't come here and decive some pple with your fact you probably got somewhere. If Anatoly Chubais (a long time Putin's adviser) who knows putin far better than you do resigns and flee Russia believe Russia at war is uncalled for then who are you convince me Ukraine is defeated.

EmperorHadrain:
Bio– Larry C Johnson is a veteran of the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He is the founder and managing partner of BERG Associates, which was established in 1998. Larry provided training to the US Military’s Special Operations community for 24 years. He has been vilified by the right and the left, which means he must be doing something right. His analysis and commentary can be found at his blog, https://sonar21.com/

EmperorHadrain:
Question 6– Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lionized in the western media as a “wartime leader” and a modern-day “Winston Churchill”. What the media fails to tell its readers is that Zelensky has taken a number of steps to strengthen his grip on power while damaging fragile democratic institutions in Ukraine. For example, Zelensky has “banned eleven opposition-owned news organizations” and tried to bar the head of Ukraine’s largest opposition party, Viktor Medvedchuk, from running for office on a bogus “terrorist financing” charge. This is not the behavior of a leader that is seriously committed to democracy.

What’s your take on Zelensky? Is he really the “patriotic leader” the media makes him out to be?

Larry C. Johnson– Zelensky is a comedian and an actor. Not a very good one at that in my view. The West is cynically using the fact he is Jewish as a diversion from the size-able contingent of Neo-Nazis (and I mean genuine Nazis who still celebrate the Ukrainian Waffen SS unit’s accomplishments while fighting with the Nazis in WW II). The facts are clear—he is banning opposition political parties and shutting down opposition media. I guess that is the new definition of “democracy.”

mrgreen4real:
Oga they are not defeated yet except I don't know the meaning of "defeat" have Ukrainian soldiers surrendered? NO
Is the war going on? YES

And you said they are defeated

EmperorHadrain:
Question 5– Russian media reports that Russian “high precision, air-launched” missiles struck a facility in west Ukraine “killing more than 100 local troops and foreign mercenaries.” Apparently, the Special Operations training center was located near the town of Ovruch which is just 15 miles from the Polish border. What can you tell us about this incident? Was Russia trying to send a message to NATO?

Larry C. Johnson– Short answer—YES! Russian military strikes in Western Ukraine during the past week have shocked and alarmed NATO officials. The first blow came on Sunday, March 13 at Yavoriv, Ukraine. Russia hit the base with several missiles, some reportedly hypersonic. Over 200 personnel were killed, which included American and British military and intelligence personnel, and hundreds more wounded. Many suffered catastrophic wounds, such as amputations, and are in hospital. Yet, NATO and the western media have shown little interest in reporting on this disaster.

Yavoriv was an important forward base for NATO (see here). Until February (prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), the U.S. 7th Army Training Command was operating from Yavoriv as late as mid-February. Russia has not stopped there. ASB Military news reports Russia hit another site, Delyatyn, which is 60 miles southeast of Yavoriv (on Thursday I believe). Yesterday, Russia hit Zytomyr, another site where NATO previously had a presence. Putin has sent a very clear message—NATO forces in Ukraine will be viewed and treated as combatants. Period.

EmperorHadrain:
Question 3– Last week, Colonel Douglas MacGregor was a guest on the Tucker Carlson Show. His views on the war are strikingly similar to your own. Here’s what he said in the interview:

“The war is really over for the Ukrainians. They have been ground into bits, there is no question about that despite what we hear from our mainstream media. So, the real question for us at this stage is, Tucker, are we going to live with the Russian people and their government or we going to continue to pursue this sort of regime change dressed up as a Ukrainian war? Are we going to stop using Ukraine as a battering ram against Moscow, which is effectively what we’ve done.” (Tucker Carlson– MacGregor Interview)

Do you agree with MacGregor that the real purpose of goading Russia into a war in Ukraine was “regime change”?

Second, do you agree that Ukraine is being used as a staging ground for the US to carry out a proxy-war on Russia?

Larry C. Johnson – Doug is great analyst but I disagree with him—I don’t think there is anyone in the Biden Administration that is smart enough to think and plan in those strategic terms. In my view the last 7 years have been the inertia of the NATO status quo. What I mean by that is that NATO and Washington, believed they could continue to creep east on Russia’s borders without provoking a reaction. NATO and EUCOM regularly carried out exercises—including providing “offensive” training—and supplied equipment. I believe reports in the United States that the CIA was providing paramilitary training to Ukrainian units operating in the Donbass are credible. But I have trouble believing that after our debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, we suddenly have Sun Tzu level strategists pulling the strings in Washington.

There is an air of desperation in Washington. Besides trying ban all things Russian, the Biden Administration is trying to bully China, India and Saudi Arabia. I do not see any of those countries falling into line. I believe the Biden crew made a fatal mistake by trying to demonize all things and all people Russian. If anything, this is uniting the Russian people behind Putin and they are ready to dig in for a long struggle.

I am shocked at the miscalculation in thinking economic sanctions on Russia would bring them to their knees. The opposite is true. Russia is self-sufficient and is not dependent on imports. Its exports are critical to the economic well-being of the West. If they withhold wheat, potash, gas, oil, palladium, finished nickel and other key minerals from the West, the European and U.S. economies will be savaged. And this attempt to coerce Russia with sanctions has now made it very likely that the U.S. dollar’s role as the international reserve currency will show up in the dustbin of history.

EmperorHadrain:
Question 2 – Why is the media trying to convince the Ukrainian people that they can prevail in their war against Russia? If what you say is correct, then all the civilians that are being sent to fight the Russian army, are dying in a war they can’t win. I don’t understand why the media would want to mislead people on something so serious. What are your thoughts on the matter?

It's so true! Truth is the first casualty of war. So many people have been zombified by the media.

Larry C. Johnson – This is a combination of ignorance and laziness. Rather than do real reporting, the vast majority of the media (print and electronic) as well as Big Tech are supporting a massive propaganda campaign. I remember when George W. Bush was Hitler. I remember when Donald Trump was Hitler. And now we have a new Hitler, Vladimir Putin. This is a tired, failed playbook. Anyone who dares to raise legitimate questions about is immediately tarred as a Putin puppet or a Russia stooge. When you cannot argue facts the only recourse is name calling.

EmperorHadrain:
Question 1– Can you explain to me why you think Russia is winning the war in Ukraine?

Larry C. Johnson – Within the first 24 hours of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, all Ukrainian Ground Radar Intercept capabilities were wiped out. Without those radars, the Ukrainian Air Force lost its ability to do air to air intercept. In the intervening three weeks, Russia has established a de facto No Fly Zone over Ukraine. While still vulnerable to shoulder fired Surface to Air Missiles supplied by the U.S. and NATO to the Ukrainians, there is no evidence that Russia has had to curtail Combat Air Operations.

Russia’s arrival in Kiev within three days of the invasion also caught my attention. I recalled that the Nazi’s in Operation Barbarossa took seven weeks to reach Kiev and the required 7 more weeks to subdue the city. The Nazis had the advantage of not pulling punches to avoid civilian casualties and were eager to destroy critical infrastructure. Yet many so-called American military experts claimed that Russia was bogged down. When a 24 mile (or 40 mile, depends on the news source) was positioned north of Kiev for more than a week, it was clear that Ukraine’s ability to launch significant military operations had been eliminated. If their artillery was intact, then that column was easy pickings for massive destruction. That did not happen. Alternatively, if the Ukrainian’s had a viable fixed wing or rotary wing capability they should have destroyed that column from the air. That did not happen. Or, if they had a viable cruise missile capability they should have rained down hell on the supposedly stalled Russian column. That did not happen. The Ukrainians did not even mount a significant infantry ambush of the column with their newly supplied U.S. Javelins.

The scale and scope of the Russian attack is remarkable. They captured territory in three weeks that is larger than the land mass of the United Kingdom. They then proceeded to carry out targeted attacks on key cities and military installations. We have not seen a single instance of a Ukrainian regiment or brigade size unit attacking and defeating a comparable Russian unit. Instead, the Russians have split the Ukrainian Army into fragments and cut their lines of communication. The Russians are consolidating their control of Mariupol and have secured all approaches on the Black Sea. Ukraine is now cut off in the South and the North.

I would note that the U.S. had a tougher time capturing this much territory in Iraq in 2003 while fighting against a far inferior, less capable military force. If anything, this Russian operation should scare the hell out of U.S. military and political leaders.

The really big news came this week with the Russian missile strikes on what are de facto NATO bases in Yavoriv and Zhytomyr. NATO conducted cyber security training at Zhytomyr in September 2018 and described Ukraine as a “NATO partner.” Zhytomyr was destroyed with hypersonic missiles on Saturday. Yavoriv suffered a similar fate last Sunday. It was the primary training and logistics center that NATO and EUCOM used to supply fighters and weapons to Ukraine. A large number of the military and civilian personnel at that base became casualties.

Not only is Russia striking and destroying bases used by NATO regularly since 2015, but there was no air raid warning and there was no shutdown of the attacking missiles.

kollinz1234:
u are now sounding like a talkative

kollinz1234:
the greatest threat to world Peace is any nation who doesn't want to hear the voice of it's people (democracy); the country which wants to tell a sovereign nation what to do and what not to do; the country which has preference for the creation of weapons of mass destruction rather than logic and brotherly love; a country that bombs, shells a children's hospital, a country that is sending it's army to a senseless war. Russia is a threat to world Peace, and it won't be long before they become another Nazi Germany whom the rest of the world will cripple

jaxxy:
Putins top adviser just resigned and fleed the country and u are still talking here??

kollinz1234:
Putin who is far more experienced and intelligent than you said the war will end in four days

Merisbankie:
One nigga was screaming fake news
I can't help laughing

AJSfan:
With all the carpet bombing it took USA over 3 months to capture Afghanistan. Ukraine is a big country with a strong NATO-trained military. Just that they are no match for the Russian Military

WriterNig:
Click on the Twitter link. That page is an accurate source for any military news. Confirmed ✔️ Just search for Sergei Driga on Twitter and see for yourself.....

Cc Lalasticlala Mynd44 Seun

Botlord:
So you guys don't have any propaganda to present us again, it's now this...

I pity Ukraine for thinking the west can face Russia on it behalf.

Propaganda don't win war, it'll only make such countries appear foolish later.

Meanwhile Ukraine has killed 100,000 Russian soldiers, destroyed thousands of ammunitions. We're winning on Twitter, CNN, BBC, nairaland...

God bless Putin and mother Russia.

Buliwyf:
Typical bloviating buffoon. Show me where I quoted any article. This one wants to stand me face to face lol. You no go even free show up. You are the one posting and quoting articles. And that article you just posted was as at when Germany haven't fully decided on decoupling from Russia yet. Now that the new Chancellor has decided, things are moving fast.

In your first article you said 4 years. I debunked that. Now you are posting about 2024. That's a timeline that requires the usual EU bureaucracy that take a year to even sign documents. But with the new plans, bureaucracy is out of the window and rest assured that LNG terminals for receiving gas might be a major thing by the next winter.

Sense you no get. Learn you can't learn. You are always using every opportunity to show the whole Nairaland you are daft.

Jeromejnr:
Now 11 percent about 1 hour ago

Rise of Russian Rubles coming soon..being a majorly independent nation ain't no joke.

gambojimeta:
In summary.

The government of Germany and Qatar are wasting their time and should not bother since the cost would be too high.

Well, maybe these countries will stop sending aid and money to Africa, South America and Asia only for politicians to loot and steal. Time for Africa to stand alone which is a good thing. They could use some of that money to get gas at an higher cost as long as they are getting the gas. No wahala ba.

RICH Western Europeans need subsidy and rebates too.

Another arm chair expert on Nairaland.

gambojimeta:


You have never heard of oil and gas tankers

How do you think Nigeria gets its refined crude oil?

Jesse25:
Ewooo just imagine every nation demanding to be pay with their currency that one mean say USA go enter one corner dance

Drenimarcus:
The German chancellor already said no. The DPR and Russian troops take control of the Azov-Stal perimeter and they reached the perimeter of the neo-Nazi fortified area at the industrial zone of the Azov-Stal plant.

Drenimarcus:
If they come into Ukraine, they will clash with Russia and we might have a full blown war on our hands.

DoctorOlasDesk:
As expected you're estremely stupeed. Look for someone else's time to waste with your useless banter.


Good day