President Joe Biden gave an address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 20th. The speech was a disaster. Putting aside Biden's slurred words, the message from Biden is there will be no compromise at all when it comes to Ukraine.
It is a dead certainty that Zelensky and his government possess damning kompromat (компрометирующий материал) that would destroy the Biden presidency if made public.
The Democrats can try to claim that the upcoming Republican hearings to explore a possible Biden impeachment is nothing more than a partisan political stunt based on fabricated evidence. That would be much more difficult to brush off if the Ukraine government decided to call out Biden and his family’s corrupt Ukraine business dealings because U.S. support was (in their view) flagging.
Kompromat goes a long way towards explaining the Biden administration’s escalating material support and continuing uncompromising rhetoric (such as Biden’s UN speech). It is certainly awkward to have a Commander-in-Chief who is in a position to be blackmailed!
Patrick Lawrence explores this possibility in this recent commentary:
good overview stephen.. thank you... if anyone wants to know what is happening from russias viewpoint, you can do no better then read lavrovs devastating speech at the UN from the past day or two... if you read this, you'll see just how wide the gap is, over the polarized perceptions of what is happening here.. the usa doesn't have a diplomat on the level of lavrov, or anything even close..
“with the "track record" of the Kiev regime, which unleashed a war against a huge part of its own people - against those millions of people who did not agree to control themselves to neo-Nazis and Russophobes who illegally seized power in the country and buried the Minsk agreements approved by the UN Security Council, thereby undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Interesting that Zelensky got so wound up today about Polish 'actors' playing games (as elections next week in Slovakia and Poland give a foretaste of more consequential hurdles in the US soon).
My view of Z from the start is that he's always been an actor playing a role.
It got him elected to real president (of a rather imaginary country) and I'm very impressed how he's risen to - whatever one's politics - a very demanding role.
But Z getting stuck in his new role of War Leader of the World is now the biggest obstacle to any pragmatic resolution of the mad conflict above the Black Sea.
He has become a classic exemplar of what Greek dramatists and philosophers called *hubris*.
...Basically, confusing yourself with a self-image in a role - an actor who forgets he's just an actor, and confuses his show for reality, with tragic consequences for himself and everyone else.
Again, his irate criticism today of Polish leaders for just this mistake is for me very telling.
I guess we're moving toward the end of Act Three, Crisis...
...And I'm starting to taste Schadenfreude ahead of the lead actor's fall.
Trump = No American troops in Ukraine and probable peace treaty. Anyone else = ? Any Dem president = America at war. That’s what this election is about.
don't kid yourself... trump will be tied up more ways then not if he doesn't go along with the cia and friends game plan here.. in fact - that is what the whole ''russiagate'' thing was... tie him up and make him walk a particular line..
I repeat, the Ukraine Russia was is a war of EXISTENCE for Ukrainians. Putin has come out and said point blank that Ukraine is NOT even a country, and has no right to exist. NO ONE has said that about Russia. So, what you are saying is that Ukrainians are fighting and dying so that NATO can have missles in Poland and Romania? That simply means there SHOULD be a negotiation between Russia and NATO over missles in Poland and Romania. It has NOTHING do do with Ukrainians fighting and dying to maintain their own sovereignty. Now, just as Kennedy agreed to remove the Atlas ICBMs from Turkey when he demanded that Khrushchev remove the Russian missles from Cuba, I would say that it would be a fair trade for Russia to end the Russia Ukraine war if NATO removed any ICBMs or IRBMs from Poland and Romania. But no one has even heard that as a topic of discussion. There are, however, multiple agendas of several players going on simultaneously with this war. BTW, very few people know the real hammer that Kennedy was holding when he told Nikita Sergeevich to get his missles out of Cuba. I have been told, by more than one retired SAC officer, (all now deceased) that at the time of the phone call to Khrushchev, Kennedy had, and told Khrushchev that he had, 6 - B 52's with nuclear weapons inside Soviet airspace. The guys who told me this were not lying; they were in their 80's. One told me the story spontaneously, and I asked another couple if it was true. Everyone said it was.
I’m not sure whether you draw a salary from Putin directly, or just applause for being a useful idiot. What claptrap masquerading as realpolitik criticism. In this you’re not alone; there are certainly a whole tribe of your ilk out there.
That you think that a negotiated settlement is the way forward in Ukraine is a defeatist mentality. As has been noted by many Putin regime dissidents, including people such as Navalny and Kasparov, Putin won’t stop until he is stopped. Negotiating away Ukrainian territory for a tenuous peace with the Mafia clan that runs Russia is not only appeasement that will beget further depredations around the world, it also doesn’t acknowledge the heroism and sacrifice of the Ukrainians themselves.
There must be an accounting for Russian crimes in Ukraine, which are horrific. That will never happen if people like you persuade Americans that its too much to ask of America to be the leader of the free world.
Speeches like the one he gave always go through an interagency vetting process. But, at the end of the day, those closest to Biden will do the final editing. I would guess that the NSC told State what they wanted in the speech and they made the first draft. That would put Nuland in charge. What Biden had to say really isn't any different from what Blinken had to say in his (lousy) speech at Johns Hopkins.
Biden's speech was awful; an old man yelling angrily into the wind shaking his fist. Nothing of substance. But Blinken's speech was...bizarre. The only I really was clear about is that he really, really likes Jake Sullivan. I just find him to be a very strange character and he never seems to actually have a point; just awkwardly says the same select platitudes in a different order.
Stephen, (aside from me) you're the only commentator who dares to note that as the US-NATO escalates terror campaigns "...the Russians ... may start to strike US and NATO assets elsewhere."
Let me add this Fun fact (ignored by the press) : last week at the UN, FM Lavrov declared that the US and Russia are no longer fighting a proxie war, but are now direct combatants. In other words, a State of War exists between Russia and the USA. Nice, hey, as we Sleep Walk into Nuclear Armageddon?
Bottom line: If the AFU launches cluster bombs mounted on ATACMS or German Taurus missiles, and those projectiles reach Russia Proper, don't be shocked if a thank-you note lands on Ramstein or maybe Alaska 45 minutes later. If we're lucky.
Putin himself has articulated Russian Defense Doctrine: If war is imminent, there won't be a gradual escalation from the Russian side. The ENTIRE NUCLEAR ARSENAL will be emptied. Sleepers Awake.
Stephen: You wrote in AT that if the US provides weapons that reach Russian soil, the AFR "may start to strike US and NATO assets elsewhere."
Yes Indeed. It's the old principle: The guy who hands a loaded gun to the trigger man, is just as culpable for murder as the one who actually fired the weapon itself. So if US ATACMS strike Russian soil, isn't Russia justified in taking out some bases or civilian targets (oil rigs or bridges) in Alaska? As Sarah Palin liked to say "I can see Russia from my house".
Biden is merely parroting Zelenskiy. Bryen is about half right, and half wrong. The enormous difference between Ukraine and Russia, is that Ukrainians are fighting for their EXISTENCE. Ukrainians are prepared to fight until the last Ukrianian dies. Russians are doing everything they can to run away, surrender, quit fighting. Some Russians are now partisans against Russia. This is NOT a war for the average Russian. Russia is merely fighting to restore the Soviet empire. There is NO discrimination between Ukrainian and Russian speaking Ukrainians. Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, but virtually EVERY Ukrainian speaks both Ukrainian and Russian, may be a few born after 1991 in western Ukraine who don't speak Russian well, but they understand it. I have spent a LOT of time in Odesa, where Russian is actually preferred over Ukrainian language. NOT a problem, NO ONE is discriminated against because they want to speak Russian. (I have a home near Odesa, no damage so far.) There is more going on here than is apparent to most people. This war is really a GREAT opportunity for NATO to find out which hardware works and what doesn't. Too much stuff has only had "theoretical" evaluation of effectiveness. Most NATO equipment is being sent to the war for evaluation, and because whoever sends it wants upgraded equipment. Half of what has been supplied was NOT in "serviceable condition" when the Ukrainians got it. The risk of use of a nuclear weapon is probably negligible. Russia knows that NATO would destroy a LOT of military hardware in Russia with CONVENTIONAL weapons if Russia were to go nuke. Even Russia's nukes are suspect for working correctly based on how most of their other stuff works, but there are at least 5 different scenarios regarding how Russia could use nukes. There seems to be a mutual understanding that if Russia doesn't go nuke, NATO will not get involved with troops. There is a LOT more to this war than Bryen or others are reporting. Right now, my personal estimate is that there is a 70% chance that Ukraine will: 1. Get all their territory back 2. Get NATO membership and security guarantees. Ukraine now has the BEST Army in Europe, behind NO ONE, including the US. NATO will really WANT them. 3. Leave Russia largely depleted militarily, except for long range and strategic aviation, submarines, strategic rocket forces and maybe some fighter/attack aircraft. The Russian army is, or soon will be a hollow shell.
" The enormous difference between Ukraine and Russia, is that Ukrainians are fighting for their EXISTENCE. "
Bollocks. The US has dual use Offense- Defense cruise missile weapons in Poland and Romania that are 5 minute flight time to the Kremlin. Should Russia just shrug when NATO missiles are aimed at them from the Ukrainian border at point blank range? Isn't that EXISTENTIAL? The US sure thought it was existential in 1962 when Soviet missiles were aimed at the US from 90 miles away in Cuba. No grandiose rhetoric about national defense/ sovereignty then, was there?
Cuba in fact had a good case for requesting Soviet WMDs... they actually had been invaded and could expect more of the same. And, of course, the maniacs in the DC Swamp started it all by placing large nuclear tipped ICBMs on the Soviet border in Turkey starting in 1959.
The whole proxy drama in Ukraine is just a replay of the same script that was run 60 years ago.
Biden is merely parroting Zelenskiy. Bryen is about half right, and half wrong. The enormous difference between Ukraine and Russia, is that Ukrainians are fighting for their EXISTENCE. Ukrainians are prepared to fight until the last Ukrianian dies. Russians are doing everything they can to run away, surrender, quit fighting. Some Russians are now partisans against Russia. This is NOT a war for the average Russian. Russia is merely fighting to restore the Soviet empire. There is NO discrimination between Ukrainian and Russian speaking Ukrainians. Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, but virtually EVERY Ukrainian speaks both Ukrainian and Russian, may be a few born after 1991 in western Ukraine who don't speak Russian well, but they understand it. I have spent a LOT of time in Odesa, where Russian is actually preferred over Ukrainian language. NOT a problem, NO ONE is discriminated against because they want to speak Russian. (I have a home near Odesa, no damage so far.) There is more going on here than is apparent to most people. This war is really a GREAT opportunity for NATO to find out which hardware works and what doesn't. Too much stuff has only had "theoretical" evaluation of effectiveness. Most NATO equipment is being sent to the war for evaluation, and because whoever sends it wants upgraded equipment. Half of what has been supplied was NOT in "serviceable condition" when the Ukrainians got it. The risk of use of a nuclear weapon is probably negligible. Russia knows that NATO would destroy a LOT of military hardware in Russia with CONVENTIONAL weapons if Russia were to go nuke. Even Russia's nukes are suspect for working correctly based on how most of their other stuff works, but there are at least 5 different scenarios regarding how Russia could use nukes. There seems to be a mutual understanding that if Russia doesn't go nuke, NATO will not get involved with troops. There is a LOT more to this war than Bryen or others are reporting. Right now, my personal estimate is that there is a 70% chance that Ukraine will: 1. Get all their territory back 2. Get NATO membership and security guarantees. Ukraine now has the BEST Army in Europe, behind NO ONE, including the US. NATO will really WANT them. 3. Leave Russia largely depleted militarily, except for long range and strategic aviation, submarines, strategic rocket forces and maybe some fighter/attack aircraft. The Russian army is, or soon will be a hollow shell.
Outstanding overview, Stephen.
It is a dead certainty that Zelensky and his government possess damning kompromat (компрометирующий материал) that would destroy the Biden presidency if made public.
The Democrats can try to claim that the upcoming Republican hearings to explore a possible Biden impeachment is nothing more than a partisan political stunt based on fabricated evidence. That would be much more difficult to brush off if the Ukraine government decided to call out Biden and his family’s corrupt Ukraine business dealings because U.S. support was (in their view) flagging.
Kompromat goes a long way towards explaining the Biden administration’s escalating material support and continuing uncompromising rhetoric (such as Biden’s UN speech). It is certainly awkward to have a Commander-in-Chief who is in a position to be blackmailed!
Patrick Lawrence explores this possibility in this recent commentary:
https://scheerpost.com/2023/09/20/patrick-lawrence-the-question-about-biden/
good overview stephen.. thank you... if anyone wants to know what is happening from russias viewpoint, you can do no better then read lavrovs devastating speech at the UN from the past day or two... if you read this, you'll see just how wide the gap is, over the polarized perceptions of what is happening here.. the usa doesn't have a diplomat on the level of lavrov, or anything even close..
https://karlof1.substack.com/p/lavrovs-devastating-unsc-presentation
Great link
And what a great speech
“with the "track record" of the Kiev regime, which unleashed a war against a huge part of its own people - against those millions of people who did not agree to control themselves to neo-Nazis and Russophobes who illegally seized power in the country and buried the Minsk agreements approved by the UN Security Council, thereby undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Interesting that Zelensky got so wound up today about Polish 'actors' playing games (as elections next week in Slovakia and Poland give a foretaste of more consequential hurdles in the US soon).
My view of Z from the start is that he's always been an actor playing a role.
It got him elected to real president (of a rather imaginary country) and I'm very impressed how he's risen to - whatever one's politics - a very demanding role.
But Z getting stuck in his new role of War Leader of the World is now the biggest obstacle to any pragmatic resolution of the mad conflict above the Black Sea.
He has become a classic exemplar of what Greek dramatists and philosophers called *hubris*.
...Basically, confusing yourself with a self-image in a role - an actor who forgets he's just an actor, and confuses his show for reality, with tragic consequences for himself and everyone else.
Again, his irate criticism today of Polish leaders for just this mistake is for me very telling.
I guess we're moving toward the end of Act Three, Crisis...
...And I'm starting to taste Schadenfreude ahead of the lead actor's fall.
This is a very good comment
Trump = No American troops in Ukraine and probable peace treaty. Anyone else = ? Any Dem president = America at war. That’s what this election is about.
don't kid yourself... trump will be tied up more ways then not if he doesn't go along with the cia and friends game plan here.. in fact - that is what the whole ''russiagate'' thing was... tie him up and make him walk a particular line..
I repeat, the Ukraine Russia was is a war of EXISTENCE for Ukrainians. Putin has come out and said point blank that Ukraine is NOT even a country, and has no right to exist. NO ONE has said that about Russia. So, what you are saying is that Ukrainians are fighting and dying so that NATO can have missles in Poland and Romania? That simply means there SHOULD be a negotiation between Russia and NATO over missles in Poland and Romania. It has NOTHING do do with Ukrainians fighting and dying to maintain their own sovereignty. Now, just as Kennedy agreed to remove the Atlas ICBMs from Turkey when he demanded that Khrushchev remove the Russian missles from Cuba, I would say that it would be a fair trade for Russia to end the Russia Ukraine war if NATO removed any ICBMs or IRBMs from Poland and Romania. But no one has even heard that as a topic of discussion. There are, however, multiple agendas of several players going on simultaneously with this war. BTW, very few people know the real hammer that Kennedy was holding when he told Nikita Sergeevich to get his missles out of Cuba. I have been told, by more than one retired SAC officer, (all now deceased) that at the time of the phone call to Khrushchev, Kennedy had, and told Khrushchev that he had, 6 - B 52's with nuclear weapons inside Soviet airspace. The guys who told me this were not lying; they were in their 80's. One told me the story spontaneously, and I asked another couple if it was true. Everyone said it was.
Bryen,
I’m not sure whether you draw a salary from Putin directly, or just applause for being a useful idiot. What claptrap masquerading as realpolitik criticism. In this you’re not alone; there are certainly a whole tribe of your ilk out there.
That you think that a negotiated settlement is the way forward in Ukraine is a defeatist mentality. As has been noted by many Putin regime dissidents, including people such as Navalny and Kasparov, Putin won’t stop until he is stopped. Negotiating away Ukrainian territory for a tenuous peace with the Mafia clan that runs Russia is not only appeasement that will beget further depredations around the world, it also doesn’t acknowledge the heroism and sacrifice of the Ukrainians themselves.
There must be an accounting for Russian crimes in Ukraine, which are horrific. That will never happen if people like you persuade Americans that its too much to ask of America to be the leader of the free world.
Cancel my subscription.
Your comments are extremely offensive --in fact, disgusting. I am delighted to cancel your subscription.
I was trying to see who's controlling that Biden puppet for this speech - I think it's Nuland.
Speeches like the one he gave always go through an interagency vetting process. But, at the end of the day, those closest to Biden will do the final editing. I would guess that the NSC told State what they wanted in the speech and they made the first draft. That would put Nuland in charge. What Biden had to say really isn't any different from what Blinken had to say in his (lousy) speech at Johns Hopkins.
Biden's speech was awful; an old man yelling angrily into the wind shaking his fist. Nothing of substance. But Blinken's speech was...bizarre. The only I really was clear about is that he really, really likes Jake Sullivan. I just find him to be a very strange character and he never seems to actually have a point; just awkwardly says the same select platitudes in a different order.
People in America worry about Clarence and Ginni.
I worry about Vicky and Bob.
And about a corrupt hawkish Democrat controlling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Biden is a brain dead puppet
Cia, Dod, state department started this war decades ago by moving NATO closer to Russia.
Ukraine will surrender one day
The way Japan surrendered after ww2
Let’s go Brandon
Stephen, (aside from me) you're the only commentator who dares to note that as the US-NATO escalates terror campaigns "...the Russians ... may start to strike US and NATO assets elsewhere."
Let me add this Fun fact (ignored by the press) : last week at the UN, FM Lavrov declared that the US and Russia are no longer fighting a proxie war, but are now direct combatants. In other words, a State of War exists between Russia and the USA. Nice, hey, as we Sleep Walk into Nuclear Armageddon?
Bottom line: If the AFU launches cluster bombs mounted on ATACMS or German Taurus missiles, and those projectiles reach Russia Proper, don't be shocked if a thank-you note lands on Ramstein or maybe Alaska 45 minutes later. If we're lucky.
Putin himself has articulated Russian Defense Doctrine: If war is imminent, there won't be a gradual escalation from the Russian side. The ENTIRE NUCLEAR ARSENAL will be emptied. Sleepers Awake.
One more "analyst" grabbing his "opinions" from Russian propaganda. Does Yorktown University pay so little?
Dear Walter, your comment is unacceptable. How dare you make such accusations.
Stop watching Russia Today. Maybe then you get some enlightenment in your head.
Stephen: You wrote in AT that if the US provides weapons that reach Russian soil, the AFR "may start to strike US and NATO assets elsewhere."
Yes Indeed. It's the old principle: The guy who hands a loaded gun to the trigger man, is just as culpable for murder as the one who actually fired the weapon itself. So if US ATACMS strike Russian soil, isn't Russia justified in taking out some bases or civilian targets (oil rigs or bridges) in Alaska? As Sarah Palin liked to say "I can see Russia from my house".
Sarah should stay clear of windows.
Biden is merely parroting Zelenskiy. Bryen is about half right, and half wrong. The enormous difference between Ukraine and Russia, is that Ukrainians are fighting for their EXISTENCE. Ukrainians are prepared to fight until the last Ukrianian dies. Russians are doing everything they can to run away, surrender, quit fighting. Some Russians are now partisans against Russia. This is NOT a war for the average Russian. Russia is merely fighting to restore the Soviet empire. There is NO discrimination between Ukrainian and Russian speaking Ukrainians. Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, but virtually EVERY Ukrainian speaks both Ukrainian and Russian, may be a few born after 1991 in western Ukraine who don't speak Russian well, but they understand it. I have spent a LOT of time in Odesa, where Russian is actually preferred over Ukrainian language. NOT a problem, NO ONE is discriminated against because they want to speak Russian. (I have a home near Odesa, no damage so far.) There is more going on here than is apparent to most people. This war is really a GREAT opportunity for NATO to find out which hardware works and what doesn't. Too much stuff has only had "theoretical" evaluation of effectiveness. Most NATO equipment is being sent to the war for evaluation, and because whoever sends it wants upgraded equipment. Half of what has been supplied was NOT in "serviceable condition" when the Ukrainians got it. The risk of use of a nuclear weapon is probably negligible. Russia knows that NATO would destroy a LOT of military hardware in Russia with CONVENTIONAL weapons if Russia were to go nuke. Even Russia's nukes are suspect for working correctly based on how most of their other stuff works, but there are at least 5 different scenarios regarding how Russia could use nukes. There seems to be a mutual understanding that if Russia doesn't go nuke, NATO will not get involved with troops. There is a LOT more to this war than Bryen or others are reporting. Right now, my personal estimate is that there is a 70% chance that Ukraine will: 1. Get all their territory back 2. Get NATO membership and security guarantees. Ukraine now has the BEST Army in Europe, behind NO ONE, including the US. NATO will really WANT them. 3. Leave Russia largely depleted militarily, except for long range and strategic aviation, submarines, strategic rocket forces and maybe some fighter/attack aircraft. The Russian army is, or soon will be a hollow shell.
" The enormous difference between Ukraine and Russia, is that Ukrainians are fighting for their EXISTENCE. "
Bollocks. The US has dual use Offense- Defense cruise missile weapons in Poland and Romania that are 5 minute flight time to the Kremlin. Should Russia just shrug when NATO missiles are aimed at them from the Ukrainian border at point blank range? Isn't that EXISTENTIAL? The US sure thought it was existential in 1962 when Soviet missiles were aimed at the US from 90 miles away in Cuba. No grandiose rhetoric about national defense/ sovereignty then, was there?
Cuba in fact had a good case for requesting Soviet WMDs... they actually had been invaded and could expect more of the same. And, of course, the maniacs in the DC Swamp started it all by placing large nuclear tipped ICBMs on the Soviet border in Turkey starting in 1959.
The whole proxy drama in Ukraine is just a replay of the same script that was run 60 years ago.
Biden is merely parroting Zelenskiy. Bryen is about half right, and half wrong. The enormous difference between Ukraine and Russia, is that Ukrainians are fighting for their EXISTENCE. Ukrainians are prepared to fight until the last Ukrianian dies. Russians are doing everything they can to run away, surrender, quit fighting. Some Russians are now partisans against Russia. This is NOT a war for the average Russian. Russia is merely fighting to restore the Soviet empire. There is NO discrimination between Ukrainian and Russian speaking Ukrainians. Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, but virtually EVERY Ukrainian speaks both Ukrainian and Russian, may be a few born after 1991 in western Ukraine who don't speak Russian well, but they understand it. I have spent a LOT of time in Odesa, where Russian is actually preferred over Ukrainian language. NOT a problem, NO ONE is discriminated against because they want to speak Russian. (I have a home near Odesa, no damage so far.) There is more going on here than is apparent to most people. This war is really a GREAT opportunity for NATO to find out which hardware works and what doesn't. Too much stuff has only had "theoretical" evaluation of effectiveness. Most NATO equipment is being sent to the war for evaluation, and because whoever sends it wants upgraded equipment. Half of what has been supplied was NOT in "serviceable condition" when the Ukrainians got it. The risk of use of a nuclear weapon is probably negligible. Russia knows that NATO would destroy a LOT of military hardware in Russia with CONVENTIONAL weapons if Russia were to go nuke. Even Russia's nukes are suspect for working correctly based on how most of their other stuff works, but there are at least 5 different scenarios regarding how Russia could use nukes. There seems to be a mutual understanding that if Russia doesn't go nuke, NATO will not get involved with troops. There is a LOT more to this war than Bryen or others are reporting. Right now, my personal estimate is that there is a 70% chance that Ukraine will: 1. Get all their territory back 2. Get NATO membership and security guarantees. Ukraine now has the BEST Army in Europe, behind NO ONE, including the US. NATO will really WANT them. 3. Leave Russia largely depleted militarily, except for long range and strategic aviation, submarines, strategic rocket forces and maybe some fighter/attack aircraft. The Russian army is, or soon will be a hollow shell.
Right now, my personal estimate is that your personal estimate is not 30% but 100% wrong :-)
obviously I don't agree
That was a reply to 70% Ryan, not to you, Stephen :-)
Excellent article. On the question of whether Zelensky and others are in a position to extort American military support, see my recent article https://richardspeed.substack.com/p/are-the-walls-closing-in-on-joe-biden