The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Podcasting World War III

Posted on | March 26, 2022 | Comments Off on Podcasting World War III

Tonight on The Other Podcast (7 p.m. ET), my good friends John Hoge, Dianna Deeley and myself will be discussing the news of the week, including the latest blunder by Bumbling Joe Biden:

The White House was forced to once again clean up highly problematic remarks made by Democrat President Joe Biden during his trip to Poland this week.
“A dictator, bent on rebuilding an empire, will never erase the people’s love for liberty,” Biden said on Saturday at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, for free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness. For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
The White House had to quickly clean up the president’s remarks after they were widely interpreted in reports as him calling for regime change in Russia.
“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” a White House official said. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”

(Hat-tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.) It seems to me that Biden was reading off the teleprompter and just decided to add the “For God’s sake” thing, as part of his tough-guy take-’em-out-behind-the-school act. This was the second time in two days that the White House had to clean up Joe’s mess; on Friday, he told troops from the 82nd Airborne, stationed in Poland, that they were going to Ukraine.

In other World War III news, yet another Russian general has been killed in Ukraine, bringing their total to seven. We’ll talk about all this and more, so please tune in to The Other Podcast.




 

Category: Joe Biden, The Other Podcast, Ukraine

‘Alexa, What Is an Ideologue?’

Posted on | March 26, 2022 | Comments Off on ‘Alexa, What Is an Ideologue?’

This week’s Judiciary Committee hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson were eye-opening in a lot of ways. Sen. Marsha Blackburn — whom I’ve considered a 2024 presidential contender for a long time — managed to embarrass Jackson with a very simple question:

Blackburn: “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?”
Jackson: “Can I provide a definition?”
Blackburn: “Mhmm, yeah.”
Jackson: “No, I can’t.”
Blackburn: “You can’t?”
Jackson: “Not in this context — I’m not a biologist.”

The “not in this context” part has been somewhat overlooked in the general point-and-laugh reaction to her “not a biologist” reply. As someone said, I’m not a veterinarian, but I know what a dog is. Nevertheless, as Byron York notes, the “context” is important because Blackburn prefaced her question by referencing the 1996 Supreme Court case of U.S. vs. Virginia, which declared that the all-male status of Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional on Fourteenth Amendment grounds. It so happens that I believe that case was wrongly decided — a legal travesty, as the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment obviously had no such intent at the time the amendment was ratified.

In the hands of ideologues, the Fourteenth Amendment becomes an omnivorous predator that swallows whole the rest of the Constitution, like a great white shark gobbling up baby seals in shallow water. If you want to know how we got to the point that Will “Lia” Thomas is NCAA women’s swim champion, you can look back to U.S. v. Virginia as a milestone on the road to this madness of “equality.”

Anyone who directly opposes the radical egalitarian agenda can expect to be smeared as a “racist,” etc., as I remarked earlier this week (see “The Problem With ‘Equality’”), and it is therefore scarcely surprising to hear Democrats attacking Marsha Blackburn (“Can we just go set Marsha Blackburn on fire?”). Neither should we be surprised that academic “gender experts” rushed to defend Jackson.

Cited as “experts” by USA Today were Rebecca Jordan-Young, “a scientist and gender studies scholar at Barnard College,” Sarah Richardson, “a Harvard scholar, historian and philosopher of biology,” Juliet Williams, “a professor of gender studies at UCLA who specializes in gender and the law,” and Kate Mason, “a gender studies professor at Wheaton College who studies social inequality.”

The prestige of their positions as professors is thus thrown into the balance on Jackson’s side, and we are supposed to be so awed by this display of academic prestige that our critical faculties simply cease to function and we mutely accept the assertion that only “experts” are qualified to tell the difference between male and female. This consensus of academic “experts,” however, is an artifact of the ideological conformity that prevails in our nation’s education system which, in turn, is enforced through federal Title IX authority. Any university employee who expressed skepticism toward contemporary “gender theory” would face severe career repercussions, and might even become unemployable in academia. An ambitious young scholar is not going to find many opportunities to publish research that doesn’t support the prevailing gender theory narrative, so the artificial consensus of “experts” is maintained by the simple mechanism of silencing (or excluding from membership in the professorial guild) any would-be dissenters.

This regime of conformity has been enforced with increasing rigidity for the past three decades. Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, there were still university professors who were outspoken in opposition to the ideology of radical egalitarianism, but those dissenters have retired, and the growing conformity of the academic system has prevented them from being replaced by like-minded scholars. Meanwhile, the fanatical beliefs that once were shocking when expressed by elite university professors (e.g., Judith Butler at Cal-Berkeley) have trickled down and become pervasive among nearly all college-educated young people. This is why, for example, you have elementary school teachers promoting LGBTQ ideology and telling them to keep it secret from their parents.

It is almost certain that the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court. If Joe Manchin won’t vote against her, that more or less guarantees her seat on the court. But we have learned something valuable about the beliefs of those who would rule over us.




 

Category: Constitution, Senate, Supreme Court

In The Mailbox: 03.25.22

Posted on | March 25, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 03.25.22

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Finally, the end of the week.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: I Hope You’re Able To Accept Freezing In The Dark
EBL: The Solemnity Of The Annunciation Of The Lord
Twitchy: White House & “Fact Checkers” Try To Clean Up Slow Joe’s Latest Ukraine Mess
Louder With Crowder: Donald Trump Sues Hillary Clinton & Many Others Over The Russian Collusion Conspiracy
Vox Popoli: Preparing To Back Down, also, The Jab Kills More Than Corona-chan
According To Hoyt: Socialism Causes Incompetence
Monster Hunter Nation: WriterDojo S2 E12 – How To Tell A Story In 5000 Words
Urban Scoop: The Right To Disagree

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: Biden To Prioritize Journalists & LGBT Among Ukrainian Refugees
American Greatness: Rep. Issa Demands Facebook & Twitter Records Over Suppression Of Hunter Biden Story
American Power: Catherine Belton – Putin’s People
American Thinker: Ketanji Brown Jackson Is A Trojan Horse
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Evil Vs. Stupid Friday
Babalu Blog: “Free Education” In Communist Cuba, also, A Medical Power Without Doctors
BattleSwarm:
Behind The Black: Pushback – Lawsuit By Professor Fired For His Opinions To Be Heard By Virginia Supremes, The Absurd 2nd Century Space Opera You’ll Never Read, and FAA Delays Decision On Environmental Reassessment Of SpaceX Boca Chica Facility – Again
Cafe Hayek: And WHY Do They Not Know? also, More On Oren Cass’ Misunderstanding Of Adam Smith 
Chicago Boyz: Russia & Ukraine
Da Tech Guy: Under The Fedora – Logistics & War, Manchin, Pot, Reality, & Other Thoughts
Don Surber: Be The Party That Protects Kids, also, Biden’s Sanctions Hit America Hardest
Gates Of Vienna: Of Eyeballs & Face Masks, also, Mene, Tekel, Perish!
The Geller Report: Hunter Biden Firm Secretly Funded Bioweapons Labs In Ukraine, also, European MPs Slam PM Zoolander For Human Rights Violations
Hogewash: Mercury & The Solar Wind, also, Maryland’s Gerrymander
Hollywood In Toto: Anne Tyler Slams Cancel Culture & Triggers The Left
The Lid: Home Deport Canada – White People Are All Racist
Legal Insurrection: Gov. Hair Gel Proposes $400 Gas Cards For Car Owners, Sen. Sasse Won’t Vote For Judge Jackson But Manchin Will, and Slow Joe Tells 82nd Airborne They’re Going To Ukraine
Nebraska Energy Observer: Scattershot Friday
Outkick: Arkansas Saw Gonzaga Dancing In Pregame – Saved Last Dance For Hogs, The Ringer Claims ESPN Discriminates Against Black People, and Fla. State Player Sits Out Practice Because Of NIL, Then Transfers
Power Line: What Happened To Roland Fryer? also, The O’Keefe Project – Not All Is Well
Shark Tank: Rubio & Sabatini Comment On Democrat COVID Ideology
Shot In The Dark: There But For The Grace Of God, Truth In Advertising, and Just Another Day On The Vomit Comet
The Political Hat: Artificial Neurons Mean One Thing – Bioroid Dryads & Cyborg Catgirls, also, Firing Line Friday
This Ain’t Hell: Valor Friday, Navy Officer Busted For Sex Trafficking, and Feelgood Story – Neither Confirm Or Deny
Transterrestrial Musings: The Real Racists & Sexists, What Is A Woman?, and Coffee Again
Victory Girls: Judge Jackson & The Progressive War On Women, also, Is Putin’s Power Crumbling?
Volokh Conspiracy: More On Students’ Disruption Of The Yale Law Event
Watts Up With That: MSM Panics, Confuses “Unprecedented” Climate Model Temp Spikes With Actual Temperatures, also, A Modest Proposal, SEC Edition
Weasel Zippers: Biden Econ Advisor Not Confident U.S. Won’t Go Into Recession, Biden Compares Ukraine To Tiananmen Square, and SecTreas Yellen Dismisses High Gas Prices – “They’re Not As High As Earlier This Century”
The Federalist: Gov. Hair Gel’s Gas Card Giveaway Is A Subsidy For The Rich, J6 Committee Claims It’s Above The Law, and Utah Legislature Overwhelmingly Votes To Override Governor’s Veto Of Trans Ban For Girls’ Sports
Mark Steyn: Spinning Ginni

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Category: Linkagery

Ukraine: Fighting in Nemishaeve?

Posted on | March 25, 2022 | Comments Off on Ukraine: Fighting in Nemishaeve?

The biggest hint of what’s happening in the fight northwest of Kyiv, where Russian forces hold Bucha and Hostomel, is this report:

Bucha, Irpen, Hostomel, Makariv are the most fierce points in Kyiv region . . . head of Kyiv Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Pavliuk has said.
“Over the past 24 hours, the enemy has not been successful in any of the directions. There is a fight against sabotage groups. The defense forces have been able to improve positions in some areas. The most violent points are Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Makariv, the villages of the Nemishaeve community. Constant mortar and artillery shelling,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Friday.

Now, it happens that I have seen a Radio Free Europe video in which a reporter accompanied a Ukrainian reconnaissance crew to Makariv and, as far as I could tell, there were no Russian forces there. But if you look at the map, you see that Nemishaeve (also spelled Nemishajeve) is 20 miles northeast of Makariv, and six miles northwest of Bucha. So if Ukrainian forces have retaken Makariv, and are now fighting near Nemishaeve, the Russians around Bucha are now facing a threat to their western flank and rear — the “encirclement” that was widely discussed in news accounts earlier this week. Another report I saw today said Kyiv itself is no longer being shelled, which suggests either that (a) the Russians have been pushed back out of artillery range or (b) they’re saving their limited supply of ammunition to fend off the Ukrainian counterattacks.

Of course, it is impossible to ascertain exact information about a battlefield situation on the other side of the globe, but these limited reports indicate that the Ukraine counter-offensive is making progress. If that is the case, we should soon begin hearing about fighting around Borodyanka, a key crossroads that would logically need to be taken by Ukrainian forces seeking to surround the Russian force at Bucha.

PREVIOUSLY:




 

Category: Military, Russia, Ukraine

Tax Dollars: ‘Six Porsches, Six BMWs, Two Mercedes-Benzes, a Ferrari, and a Tesla’

Posted on | March 25, 2022 | Comments Off on Tax Dollars: ‘Six Porsches, Six BMWs, Two Mercedes-Benzes, a Ferrari, and a Tesla’

Remember “free” COVID-19 testing? Kind of like the “free” vaccine? All of that “free” stuff was actually funded by taxpayer money, as the federal government ran up trillions of dollars of new deficit spending for the pandemic emergency. Whenever government makes something “free,” it’s always taxpayers footing the bill, and you can trust that well-connected people are getting rich from the transaction:

The owner of a lab that made hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money for running COVID-19 tests has amassed a fleet of luxury cars and at least two private planes, WGLT has learned.
Aaron Rossi of Bloomington is CEO at Reditus Labs in Pekin. Rossi was recently indicted on federal tax fraud charges and faces a lawsuit from a business partner who accuses Rossi of “pillaging” Reditus to fund a “nouveau riche over-the-top lifestyle,” court records show.
Rossi’s vehicle collection certainly points to a spending spree.
There are 28 vehicles registered in Rossi’s name or that of his company, AJR MD Consulting, according to state records obtained by WGLT through the Freedom of Information Act. That includes six Porsches, six BMWs, two Mercedes-Benzes, a Ferrari, and a Tesla, records show. Almost all of them are model years 2020, 2021, or 2022, suggesting they were purchased recently.
Separately, there are 59 other vehicles registered to Reditus Laboratories, which Rossi owns. That includes nine BMWs, a Porsche, and a Tesla. . . .
Public records also show that Rossi or his companies own at least two private planes.
One of those planes is a Beechcraft King Air B200GT, registered to AJR MD Consulting – the same Rossi company that many of the luxury vehicles were registered to, according to FAA records. The second plane is a jet (a Mystere Falcon 900) that’s registered to Pekin-based RLL Aviation LLC, another Rossi company. . . .
Rossi, a 39-year-old entrepreneur who grew up in the Morton and Peoria area, rose to prominence during the pandemic. Rossi quickly became a high-profile businessman in central Illinois — even appearing alongside Gov. JB Pritzker in 2020 — when Reditus won hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts to run COVID-19 tests, including from a testing site in Bloomington.

Keep this in mind if the question ever arises why politicians sought to make COVID-19 vaccine mandatory. Pharmaceutical companies made billions off the “free” vaccine. They make big contributions to politicians, and employ obbyists in Washington. “Follow the money.”

(Hat-tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)




 

Category: Corruption

In The Mailbox: 03.24.22 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | March 25, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 03.24.22 (Evening Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Where we’re at with the Narrative.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Bureaucracies Protect Themselves – UK Edition
EBL: Jackass Forever, also, Pope Francis Consecrates Russia To The Immaculate Heart Of Mary
Twitchy: Comedian Dana Gould Thinks Rush Limbaugh Created Nothing Of Lasting Value, also, Here’s A Look Inside A Kid’s Book That Defines “Coming Out”, “Drag”, and “Pansexual”
Louder With Crowder: Joe Rogan Blasts SNL For Turning Into Woke Crap
Vox Popoli: The Intoxification Of Success, Convergence & Crime Statistics, and Ukraine Resorts To Black Magic

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: The Greasy Pole Episode #20 – The Cut & Paste Episode
American Conservative: The Bright Ages
American Greatness: The Real “Reset” Is Coming, also, Hindsight Is 20/20 Unless You’re A Democrat
American Power: Biden’s State Department Not Rising To The Occasion, also, Vindication For Neoconservatism?
American Thinker: The Power Of Terrible Ideas, also, The Democrats Need COVID To Stay In Power
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Alaskan Representation News
Babalu Blog: Communist Cuba’s New Phantom Hotels
BattleSwarm: Just How Screwed Are Russian Airlines?
Behind The Black: Blue Origin Delays First New Glenn Launch Again, Administration Demands All NASA Grantees Hire Minorities/Women, and Today’s Blacklisted American
Cafe Hayek: Rein In The Administrative State
CDR Salamander: What’s Wrong With The Anglosphere’s Merchant Fleet? also, Scratch One Russian Alligator-Class LST
Chicago Boyz: Bearing False Witness
Da Tech Guy: Told Ya, also, The Regime, The Media, & Big Tech Are Suppressing The Truth About The Jab
Don Surber: Globalist Says Putin Killed Globalism
First Street Journal: Some Truths Just Don’t Fit Teh Narrative
Gates Of Vienna: “The Federal Constitutional Court No Longer Protects Our Basic Rights”, also, Michael Mannheimer’s Final Post?
The Geller Report: Airline CEOs Tell Biden To Drop The Mask Mandate, also, GHOST TOWN – NYC Unemployment Twice The National Average
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, Is The DNC A Racketeering Enterprise? and A Kilonova
Hollywood In Toto: Man Of God Recalls A Grave Injustice Met With Christian Piety, also, Lost City Has A Trick Up Its Silly Sleeve
The Lid: Rasmussen – Voters Say Hunter Biden’s “Laptop From Hell” Is Important Story
Legal Insurrection: Vassar Student Newspaper Apologizes For Mostly Quoting White Students, Parents Furious With Colo. School District For Abolishing Valedictorian Recognition, and Murder Turtle Won’t Support Judge Jackson’s Nomination
Michelle Malkin: Unstifling Savanah
Nebraska Energy Observer: Caring Fatigue
Outkick: Second Grand Jury To Hear Evidence Against DeShaun Watson, ESPN Analyst Charged With 11 Counts Of Battery, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Claims Enes Kanter Freedom Hasn’t Been Blackballed
Power Line: The Freeport Question Of Our Time, Joe Biden – Liar, and Down Memory Lane With The NYT
Shark Tank: GOP Congressional Primary Getting Ugly In FL-7
Shot In The Dark: One Way Ukraine Matters, The Last Karen On The Island Has Yet To Walk Out Of The Jungle, and Let Them Eat Beans
The Political Hat: Euthanasia Madness – Suicide Pods, Mandatory Vaccinations, & Suicide Begets Suicide
This Ain’t Hell: New Army AFCT Set In Stone. Again, Navy Vet Scams Government For Over $1 Million, and Bad Day For The Russian Navy
Transterrestrial Musings: Space Assembly, The Russian Offensive, and The Cratering Democrats
Victory Girls: Cory Booker Don’t Know Much About SCOTUS Confirmation History, also, Billions In COVID Relief Spent On Perks Instead
Volokh Conspiracy: “A Social Media Platform May Not Intentionally ‘Fact Check’ A User’s ‘Religious Or Political Speech'”
Watts Up With That: With The Ukraine War, The Green Chickens Have Come Home To Roost
Weasel Zippers: Ted Cruz – “Judge Jackson Had No Explanation For Why She Was Lenient In Sentencing Pedophiles”, Biden Lies Again, Claims Sanctions Weren’t Meant To Deter Putin, and Rapper Ice T Robbed In New Jersey
The Federalist: Democrats Aren’t Just Extreme Any More – They’re Weird & Gross, Sen. Johnson Blasts CDC & FDA For Not Complying With Senate Oversight On COVID Treatments, and Trump Sues Hillary & Other Collusion Hoaxers 
Mark Steyn: The Great Unmasking, also, Starkey On Slavery

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 03.24.22 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | March 24, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 03.24.22 (Afternoon Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.
OVER THE TRANSOM
Ninety Miles From Tyranny: The 90 Miles Mystery Box, Episode #1665
357 Magnum: What’s The Difference Between These “Intelligence Experts” And The Stasi? 
EBL: Black Crab, also, Lust
Twitchy: Prog “Pastor” John Pavlovitz’ Attempt To Shame Conservative Women For Their Beliefs Goes REALLY Wrong
Louder With Crowder: Kid Rock Has Opinions About Joy Behar, Other The View Harpies
Vox Popoli: Life Imitates Stonetoss, The Ticket Is No Guarantee, and Mailvox – Woman Trouble
Granite Grok: The Danger Of Knowledge

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: No Hope For Millennials 
American Greatness: The Coming Disaster, also, Oklahoma House Overwhelmingly Passes Ban On Most Abortions
American Power: How Russia & Right-Wing Americans Converged On The Ukraine War, also, How Russia’s Revamped Military Fumbled The Invasion Of Ukraine
American Thinker: Children Of The Corn & The Fraud Of Renewable Energy, also, Obama’s Third Term & The Destruction Of The American Polity
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Hump Day News
Babalu Blog: No Fuel For Cubans, But Plenty For Apartheid Tourists, also, Venezuelan Dictator’s Second In Command Suggests Invading Colombia
BattleSwarm: Russian Tanks In Ukraine Roundup
Behind The Black: Starlink Raises Its Prices, Ingenuity Completes 22nd Flight, and Today’s Blacklisted Americans – Conservatives & Religious Blackballed At Disney
Cafe Hayek: A False God
CDR Salamander: A Friend’s Frigate Benchmark
Da Tech Guy: Worst President Ever, also,  If You Don’t Start With The Presumption That Judge Jackson Is Dishonest And Dishonorable You’re A Fool
Don Surber: Affirmative Action’s Idiocracy, also, Salty Tears From Butthurt NYC Prosecutors
First Street Journal: 15-Year-Old Arrested In Philly For Shooting Two Teenage Girls
Gates Of Vienna: Putin’s War Speech Exposes Agenda 2030 In Russia, Another Somali Success Story In Germany, and Scientific Insanity
The Geller Report: Military Doctor Blows Whistle On Coverup Of Disturbing Vax Data, also, Suburbs Switch To Trump – He Leads Biden 45%-42% 
Hogewash: M9, Don’t Know Much Biology, and Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day
Hollywood In Toto: Arrested Development Star David Cross Claims No Comedian Has Been Cancelled, also, Meet Jeffy – The YouTube Sensation Who Breaks All The Woke Rules
The Lid: Don’t Leave a Tip, It’s Racist
Legal Insurrection: Stormy Daniels Loses Appeal, Owes Trump Almost $300K In Legal Fees, Federal Judges Avoid Hiring Clerks From Yale Law After Shout Down Incident, and Scientific American Criticizes NASA For Ending Pronoun Project
Nebraska Energy Observer: Humanity
Outkick: Amazon Got Kirk Herbstreit & Al Michaels, But Can They Convert Viewers Into Streamers?, Has-Been Shock Jock Upset Mask Mandates Are Being Lifted, and Redskins Radio Station Ends Partnership
Power Line: Shut Up & Shave, Democrats Condone Child Porn? and Loose Ends
Shark Tank: DeSantis Mandates Financial Literacy Class For High-Schoolers
Shot In The Dark: Security For She, Not For We, also, No Terrorists Here, Nosirreebob
STUMP: Dead Is Dead – Increased Alcohol-Related Deaths In The U.S., 2020-2021 
The Political Hat: School Transparency In Arizona, also, Hair Color Equity
This Ain’t Hell: Ukrainian Tries To Cpl. Klinger His Way Out Of War, Disgraced AF Major Spends Years Working The Stolen Valor Con, and UA For 40 Years, Caught By The Jab
Transterrestrial Musings: The Great Reset, Conjoined Twins, and The Coming Bloodbath
Victory Girls: Dick Durbin Thinks Judge Jackson Can’t Handle Hearings
Volokh Conspiracy: Judge Jackson Says She’ll Recuse From Harvard Admissions Case If Confirmed
Watts Up With That: Climate Change Is About Control, Stupid, Not The Environment
Weasel Zippers: Judge Jackson Says She Was Lenient On Pedo Because Of His “Diplomas & Certificates”, also, Newt Gingrich Says Kamala Is Dumbest Person Ever To Serve As VP
The Federalist: Twitter Censoring Federalist Reporting As “Violent Content”, Why Does Ukraine’s Border Crisis Matter More To The Elites Than Ours? and Bloomberg – To Solve Inflation, Let Your Dog Die
Mark Steyn: Shots In The Dark

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Category: Linkagery

Russians Surrounded in ‘Bucha Pocket’?

Posted on | March 24, 2022 | Comments Off on Russians Surrounded in ‘Bucha Pocket’?

Let me begin by saying we must be cautious in speculating about the tactical situation in Ukraine, as even the best-informed experts are uncertain and many of the reports we get can be discounted as wartime propaganda. Nevertheless, as I commented Tuesday, the report of a Ukrainian victory at Makariv was of strategic significance, showing that Ukraine has seized the initiative with a counterattack which — if the latest reports can be believed — subsequently exposed the right flank of the Russian forces in the nearer suburbs of Kyiv. If, after taking back Marakiv, the Ukrainians then pushed north to Borodyanka, the Russian forces around Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin would indeed be imperiled.

This is what local officials in Bucha claimed on Wednesday:

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have taken the towns of Irpin and Bucha and the settlement of Hostomel near Kyiv, while at the same time Russian forces continue to constantly shell Makarov, Bucha, Irpin and Dmyrovka.
According to the Town Council: “The inhabitants of Makarivska, Buchanska, Irpin, and Dmyrovka remain under constant enemy fire, and in Dmitrovka there is movement by Russian forces and shelling in surrounding villages. Shpytki was shelled at night, resulting in a fire. Constant fighting is taking place on the Zhytomyr road. Irpin, Bucha, and Hostomel have been encircled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.

Again, let me emphasize we must be cautious about this. However, there are estimates that about 15,000 Russian troops are in the “pocket” around Bucha, and these troops must receive tons of food, ammunition and other supplies every day in order to survive. If Ukrainian forces are able to threaten the Russian supply line, this could compel a Russian retreat from the suburbs of Kyiv or, otherwise, the “Falaise pocket” metaphor could become reality, and these Russians would find themselves surrounded and blasted into oblivion:

To the west of Kyiv, Ukrainian forces have launched counterattacks to regain territory occupied by Russian troops. They are reported to have retaken the small town of Makariv and encircled Russian troops in the suburbs of Irpin and Bucha about 25km (15 miles) from the city centre.
Russian advances had previously stalled in these suburbs as Ukrainian forces prevented them from crossing the Irpin River.
Justin Bronk from the UK defence and security think tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), says these new Ukrainian counter-attacks to the west of Kyiv could hamper Moscow’s plans to capture the capital.
“Essentially, what they are trying to do is cut off an entire side of the attempted encirclement of Kyiv, which would force the Russian forces to either try to break north and abandon those positions, or for Russia to reroute significant combat power all the way around Ukraine and back in from the north-west, to try to break through and release their own forces there.”

Given the uncertain nature of the information, this kind of analysis must be categorized as speculative. However, it appears fairly clear Ukrainian forces now have the initiative, and if their counter-offensive continues to make gains, the Russian threat to Kyiv could be eliminated, with thousands of Russian troops killed or captured as a result.

If that smoke is burning diesel fuel, whose fuel is it? Perhaps the Ukrainians hit Russian tanker trucks, destroying the supply of fuel for Russian vehicles, but as with so much going on in this war, we simply don’t know, and only time will tell the full story. Meanwhile, there are other reports that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has made substantial headway on the east side of Kyiv, with the Russians pushed back several miles from Brovary, scene of a major battle last week.




 

Category: Military, Russia, Ukraine
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