Berlin, FRG (Welttexpress). According to US Secretary of War: “We believe they can win!” US Secretary of State: “Russia has failed. Ukraine has succeeded.” Comment by a well-known US military expert: “One of the most concise and at the same time craziest statements I have ever heard.” What explains this detachment from reality on the part of US politicians?
Earlier this week, on Monday, October 21, US Secretary of War Lloyd Austin arrived by rail in the Ukrainian capital Kiev for an unannounced visit. His arrival comes at a time when the Ukrainian armed forces in the east of the country are being pushed back further and further west, with ever greater territorial losses. At the same time, Vladimir Zelensky, who has been allowed to continue playing president illegally for almost half a year because he has not been re-elected, but with the approval of his Western supporters, is expressing his frustration with increasing desperation at the lack of extensive new military aid from the West, which is why he is obviously taking refuge in excessive drug use – there is no other explanation for his recent behavior.
The videos of Zelensky presenting his ludicrous plan for victory in the Ukrainian parliament speak for themselves and probably shocked the top Western politicians not only because of their content, but also because they were presented by an obviously drugged-up junkie. Nevertheless, his absurdity was “rewarded” by the MPs present with repeated, prolonged standing applause. Only the top military officers of the Ukrainian “Wehrmacht”, who were also present, gave Selensky’s ludicrous victory plan only symbolic applause, visibly sour-faced.
US Secretary of War Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on the other hand, seemed to have an excellent understanding of Zelensky. Both praised his great successes so far in the fight against the Russians, and the two US ministers are obviously less and less able to distinguish between wishful thinking and reality, or they are deliberately lying to themselves in order to deceive the public at home in the USA.
On his arrival in Kiev, Austin told reporters: “It’s absolutely remarkable that Ukraine has been able to do what it has done. That was only possible, of course, because we supported them from the beginning, and we got about 50 countries to participate in that support.”
Elsewhere, Austin underlined his confidence in Ukraine’s ability to win the war against Russia, and he emphasized his firm belief in Ukraine’s victory, saying: “The first step to victory is believing that you can win. And they (the Ukrainians) believe that they can win. We believe they can win if they have the right equipment and the right support.”
In this context, Austin appealed to the other countries of the collective West and emphasized the need for continued support for Ukraine. However, the additional US military aid of 400 million US dollars that he announced was extremely meagre. Even the contents of the US aid package – ammunition, armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons and a few HIMARS missiles – were not what Zelensky had been demanding with increasing urgency for many months. Above all, the missiles for strikes on targets deep inside Russia, on which Zelensky’s deranged fantasies of victory against Russia rest, are not on the already slimmed-down list of Austin’s next “aid package”.
Either Austin’s out-of-this-world optimistic statements are evidence of complete ignorance of the reality of the increasingly desperate military situation and the logistical bottlenecks of the Ukrainian armed forces, or even Pentagon boss Austin must be dancing to the political tune of Team Biden in the White House. Team Biden wants to maintain the narrative of the Ukrainian victory and the correct political decisions of the Biden administration at least until the presidential election in two weeks’ time. The aim is to prove that the hundreds of billions of dollars in US arms and financial aid to Ukraine have been well invested and not wasted, as claimed by a growing number of Trump’s critics.
The simultaneous statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken must also be seen against this backdrop, although it is even more out of touch with reality than Austin’s. Blinken’s most recent statement on Ukraine in this regard has been discussed on relevant Telegram channels such as “The Deep Dive” by Daniel Davis, ex-colonel in the US Army, promptly labeled him “obviously delusional”. Blinken claimed that “Russia has failed in Ukraine” and that “Ukraine has succeeded”.
In his statement, however, Blinken initially praised the success of his or the US strategy to support Ukraine and also emphasized his own merits as Secretary of State by praising the international solidarity that had exerted pressure on Russia. He emphasized that the support of more than 30 countries had contributed to Ukraine’s considerable successes and that Russia had therefore not achieved its goals. He literally said: “Russia has failed. Ukraine has succeeded. Russia has tried to completely subjugate Ukraine and take away the country’s sovereignty and independence. That has failed.”
No wonder Blinken’s statement seemed completely absurd to the analysts on Telegram, as it is Russia that – contrary to Blinken’s claims – is making significant territorial gains on a daily basis, inflicting heavy losses on Ukraine in terms of soldiers and material. In view of the massive destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure and military capabilities, Blinken’s statements were “one of the most concise and at the same time craziest statements I have ever heard”, said Andrei Martianov, a former officer in the Russian navy and US citizen for 30 years and currently a sought-after military expert on alternative media.
Davis and Martianov discussed at length whether Austin and Blinken believe their own lies? You can make jokes about Austin, “but he’s definitely not stupid,” said Martianov and went on to say that Austin “has to toe the party line”, “even though it’s threatening to fall apart.”
The two panelists Davis and Martianov quickly agreed on whether Blinken also believes his own stories, with the devastating verdict that the US Secretary of State is too ignorant in military matters but also too stupid overall to have a clear view, which is why he himself believes in his misleading stories.
Martianov concluded by comparing the behavior of Austin and Blinken to the Roman emperor Nero, “who played his lyre while Rome burned”. This is exactly what they are doing by ignoring the destruction in Ukraine and pretending that everything is fine. The two US ministers have now become an international laughing stock, especially in Russia, where jokes are made about their detachment from reality.
Back to Austin’s brief visit to Kiev, which was accompanied by critical comments in the leading US media. The Wall Street Journal wrote about Austin’s aid package: “It was one of the smaller aid packages announced by the Biden administration and contained no new weapons systems.”
Even CNN, which is aligned with the Biden administration, noted that Austin’s visit to Kiev „took place in a gloomy and pessimistic environment“. The broadcaster quoted an unnamed but high-ranking US government official, who was part of Austin’s entourage, as saying that the visit to Kiev was “not a victory lap”. The Ukrainians are in a “very difficult” situation with the Russians ahead of the winter.
But the election campaign between Biden and Trump was also present during Austin’s visit to Kiev. Against the backdrop of the ongoing Republican criticism of the Ukraine war mentioned above, including the call to take care of Americans first in the event of natural disasters instead of transferring billions to Ukraine, Secretary of Defense Austin tried to rebut these arguments with the following not very happily chosen words: “Anyone who thinks American leadership is expensive should consider the price of an American withdrawal. Not since World War II has America systematically rallied so many countries to provide such a range of industrial and military support to a partner in need.” said Austin.
