Time is Running Out both for Zelensky and NATO. Operation ‘meat grinder’ needs to start

Few if any western pundits ask themselves “if it’s going well, then why the immediate demand of NATO membership? Where’s the crisis?”

Can NATO expect to survive its policy on blinded dogma escalation in the longer term or face a period of decline, even expiration? Seems far-fetched? Not when you examine the timeline of the past two years and you observe the direction this war machine business empire conglomerate is heading under the leadership of Washington.

At Vilnius we are expected to believe that despite the summer offensive going well for Ukraine’s army – which is a lie perpetuated by western media – that Ukraine should be given full NATO membership. The hysteria which can be seen in the eyes of Zelensky who is calling for this is palatable. But few if any western pundits ask themselves “if it’s going well, then why the immediate demand of NATO membership? Where’s the crisis?”.

The real reason for Zelensky demanding this, as well as Eastern European countries talking about putting their own soldiers on the ground, simply, amounts to the same conclusion. The war is not going well at all for the Ukrainian army which, even by the kindest, conservative estimation, has lost at least 150,000 men. Retired U.S. generals who are in touch with military observers on the ground put this figure as high as 250,000 as the Ukrainian media operation in Kiev obviously doesn’t provide any serious data on the subject. Zelensky’s problem is two-fold. He has announced to the world that he is about to start a summer offensive, which didn’t get off to such a bad start – it punched a hole in the Maginot Line which Russia has laid complete with mines – and took a few villages. Good video handout fodder for the call centre journalists in Ukraine who take their orders from the Kiev media office which controls where they can go and what they can report on. But the minor detail of what they are not reporting is the real story.

The Ukrainian army is so understaffed, under-resourced and its men so woefully undertrained that the rate and speed of its losing military hardware is frightening. Brigades are going into battles in armoured vehicles with support from artillery and are getting wiped out at a remarkable speed. In just one day, according to one report, 16 Bradley armoured personal carriers were either hit and burned, or just abandoned by Ukrainian forces. For Pentagon officials mulling over their intelligence reports, this should be worrying given that this one loss represents a quarter of all the Bradleys given to the Ukrainians. It is this rapidity of material losses which is worrying Zelensky and western elites. They look at the data and when they see minuscule token victories, like the villages recently taken, they do not celebrate. They simply look at the losses and do the maths.

How much longer can the Ukrainian army exist? Zelensky knows only too well that he needs at least 2-300,000 more men and the tanks, armoured personal carriers to go with them to make any impact at all. He, along with NATO bosses, also knows that if you sit back from enemy lines and do nothing, as each day passes, your credibility wanes, especially if you have just announced to the world that you’re about to start a massive offensive.

This is really was the next NATO summit is all about. How to send Zelensky much, much more kit, but also the men to go with it. There is really not too many options. Either sending troops from eastern European countries who will not be protected by Article 5 of NATO as it will have to be clearly stated that they are going there not under a NATO mandate. Good luck expecting the Russian military to respect such nonsense. Alternatively, you look at the possibility of creating groups of mercenaries made up of retired soldiers from NATO countries. Western media is failing us here wholesale when it fails to report on unconfirmed reports of plans by Washington to oversee a program which allows a private defence contractor to recruit retired U.S. air force pilots to fly in Ukraine. This is the latest hair brain idea which is set to escalate the war further and push NATO deeper into the hole it has dug – and continues to dig – itself.

When a new NATO chief takes over in October, almost certainly to be Ben Wallace of the UK who has shown remarkable sycophancy towards Biden and the war racket (the only qualification which is important for the job) he may well find the credibility and standing of NATO at an all-time low as the war stakes are cranked even higher. The problem that NATO and Zelensky have can be summed up in one word. Time. They don’t have time on their side as the war machine in Ukraine, which not one citizen of any western country has been consulted on, will be cranked up to a new level, which will make the 130 bn dollars which the U.S. has put in so far look like chicken feed.

NATO is moving to a new level and preparing the western world through very well-crafted media work, for a new war with higher stakes and bigger causalities. Unfortunately, due to the very low numbers of both men and equipment, the only way forward is with the existing NATO hardware which member states have, rather than surplus equipment it may donate. The stocks are at rock bottom now for most major components used in the war, so dangerously low that many NATO countries don’t have the equipment to send any more and they don’t have it ready on the production line either.

So, rather than grandiose talk of a ‘summer offensive’ what we have instead is a summer lull. And this could stay like this for at least 6 to 12 months before even the trickle feed of equipment can start again. Don’t be fooled by the talk of F16s. If European NATO members are to donate them, we are looking at very, very low numbers perhaps a couple from Belgium’s outdated airframes of only 20; perhaps one from the Netherlands’ more modern fleet of 40. But the training, which we are told could be as little as three months, is, in reality closer to nine if both air-to-air and air-to-ground disciplines are bundled.

Zelensky and Western Elites who claim to support him know that time is running out. For them a solution is a quick one. And the only quick one is how to find 100,000 soldiers for the Ukrainian meat grinder soon. Expect an ‘attack’ on a nuclear power plant within Ukraine days before the NATO Summit with, of course, Russia blamed by western media with articles all sourcing Zelensky himself as the chief, unbiased expert. We are now are the point where false flag attacks is the only strategy left or to push his 12 brigades of old men (around 50,000 reserve soldiers) towards the trap which Russia has laid for them. It is one thing to break through the minefields laid along the front line; it is quite another to retreat through the same track.

Original article: https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/06/20/time-is-running-out-both-for-zelensky-and-nato-operation-meat-grinder-needs-to-start/