Putin may not be all-powerful, but don't underestimate his influence. He fans the flames of conflict by funding both the far right and far left and by taking advantage of legitimate protest movements. Anything that increases polarization works to his benefit. Divide-and-conquer is a powerful weapon.
While I could not possibly be less inclined to read anything in your own newsletter, I never have to wonder who the first person to read one of my own pieces will be, as I know it will be you. Thank you for your loyalty and support, Kit.
Nonetheless, I am genuinely interested in your references to Russia's "first" invasion of Ukraine in 2014. After all, in October 2015, Vasyl Hrytsak, then-director of the Ukrainian Security Service, admitted just 56 Russian fighters had been documented there. Three years later, Alexander Hug, deputy head of the OSCE’s observer mission in Ukraine, when asked by Foreign Policy magazine for his agency’s “official stance on Russia’s involvement,” he said they had seen “no direct evidence” of this whatsoever.
His denials of direct Russian involvement are entirely in keeping with the findings of a 2019 report published by the Soros-funded International Crisis Group (ICG), Rebels Without A Cause. In conclusion, ICG declared the situation in Donbas “ought not to be narrowly defined as a matter of Russian occupation,” and criticized Kiev’s “tendency to conflate” the Kremlin and the rebels. It expressed hope newly-elected President Volodymyr Zelensky could “peacefully reunify with the rebel-held territories,” and “[engage] the alienated east."
"just 56 Russian fighters had been documented" in the Donbas? Or both the Donbas and Crimea? Surely not the latter, since even Putin has admitted the thousands of "little green men" in Crimea were actually Russians.
So only Luhansk & Donetsk, then? So, in addition to unit commanders like Igor Girkin, Givi, Motorola, Dremov, Mozgovoi, & high-ranking officials like Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) GRU head Sergey Dubinsky, DNR GRU 2nd Dept head Oleg Pulatov, etc... only a few dozen Russians fought in Donbas?
According to Alexander Borodai, the first DNR Prime Minister (and a Russian), 30,000-50,000 Russians fought in the 2014 war. https://tass.com/russia/816955
According to Igor Girkin, the DNR's first Defense Minister, Russia supplied the insurgents with weapons and money... and got absolute obedience from DNR/LNR leaders.
Not to mention the miraculous turnaround on the battlefield in August 2014 when Girkin’s failed “rebellion” was defeated, only to be saved by observed Russian units crossing into Ukraine.
Yeah, Kit could've made a defensible case. Kit could've argued that over half of Donetsk/Luhansk voted for Yanukovytch and supported closer ties w/Russia in 2014... and opposed the Maidan Revolution.
Kit could've argued that many Ukrainians took up arms for the DNR/LNR (ignoring that most of them were drafted or forced to because there were no jobs). Even the Tankie-est of Kit's Tankie audience knows that Putin supplied almost all of the DNR/LNR's arms & funding since 2014, so Kit could've hand-waved away the tens of thousands of Russian troops who fought in 2014 as just a slightly earlier example of Russian government support for a supposedly organic, home-grown ethnic-Russian revolt that was being crushed by a Kyiv regime.
Instead he went with the easily disproved "just 56 Russians" fought in 2014.
I guess Kit's gotten lazy. No matter how unbelievable the lies, the paychecks keep rolling in from The Grayzone. Who funds The Grayzone? We'll never know. As Aaron Mate says, our "higher donors have the right to privacy."
Of course, as Aaron, Kit, & Mick Wallace say "always check to see who pays them. Who pays the piper calls the tune."
Yep. For a guy who could have done anything with his life only to choose the absolute-laziest option available—being a Tankie, that is—he even sucks at *that*. Which is impressive, in a way.
Maybe Kit didn’t know all that. Maybe he didn’t know that figures like Gubarev and Girkin had previously admitted to strong Russian government involvement, and that Borodai estimated up to 50,000 Russian troops. Maybe if, in a similar scenario, a C.I.A officer and a bunch of Americans were to occupy government buildings in Mexico with the aim to split territory from an unfriendly administration, Kit would accept America’s claims to not be involved in the “organic” rebellion.
Putin may not be all-powerful, but don't underestimate his influence. He fans the flames of conflict by funding both the far right and far left and by taking advantage of legitimate protest movements. Anything that increases polarization works to his benefit. Divide-and-conquer is a powerful weapon.
Man... You know what happened, you can only be provoking at this point. It's a bit sad.
"As readers"
There's just one of me
While I could not possibly be less inclined to read anything in your own newsletter, I never have to wonder who the first person to read one of my own pieces will be, as I know it will be you. Thank you for your loyalty and support, Kit.
Pity, you might actually learn something for once in your sad life
Nonetheless, I am genuinely interested in your references to Russia's "first" invasion of Ukraine in 2014. After all, in October 2015, Vasyl Hrytsak, then-director of the Ukrainian Security Service, admitted just 56 Russian fighters had been documented there. Three years later, Alexander Hug, deputy head of the OSCE’s observer mission in Ukraine, when asked by Foreign Policy magazine for his agency’s “official stance on Russia’s involvement,” he said they had seen “no direct evidence” of this whatsoever.
His denials of direct Russian involvement are entirely in keeping with the findings of a 2019 report published by the Soros-funded International Crisis Group (ICG), Rebels Without A Cause. In conclusion, ICG declared the situation in Donbas “ought not to be narrowly defined as a matter of Russian occupation,” and criticized Kiev’s “tendency to conflate” the Kremlin and the rebels. It expressed hope newly-elected President Volodymyr Zelensky could “peacefully reunify with the rebel-held territories,” and “[engage] the alienated east."
En guarde!
"just 56 Russian fighters had been documented" in the Donbas? Or both the Donbas and Crimea? Surely not the latter, since even Putin has admitted the thousands of "little green men" in Crimea were actually Russians.
So only Luhansk & Donetsk, then? So, in addition to unit commanders like Igor Girkin, Givi, Motorola, Dremov, Mozgovoi, & high-ranking officials like Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) GRU head Sergey Dubinsky, DNR GRU 2nd Dept head Oleg Pulatov, etc... only a few dozen Russians fought in Donbas?
According to Alexander Borodai, the first DNR Prime Minister (and a Russian), 30,000-50,000 Russians fought in the 2014 war. https://tass.com/russia/816955
According to Igor Girkin, the DNR's first Defense Minister, Russia supplied the insurgents with weapons and money... and got absolute obedience from DNR/LNR leaders.
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/payback-russia-gets-hacked-revealing-putin-aide-s-secrets-n673956
Any leaders who didn't obey Russian orders were assassinated (Tolstykh (Givi), Pavlov (Motorola), Dremov, Zakharchenko, Mozgovoi, etc)
Not to mention the miraculous turnaround on the battlefield in August 2014 when Girkin’s failed “rebellion” was defeated, only to be saved by observed Russian units crossing into Ukraine.
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_112193.htm
Yeah, Kit could've made a defensible case. Kit could've argued that over half of Donetsk/Luhansk voted for Yanukovytch and supported closer ties w/Russia in 2014... and opposed the Maidan Revolution.
Kit could've argued that many Ukrainians took up arms for the DNR/LNR (ignoring that most of them were drafted or forced to because there were no jobs). Even the Tankie-est of Kit's Tankie audience knows that Putin supplied almost all of the DNR/LNR's arms & funding since 2014, so Kit could've hand-waved away the tens of thousands of Russian troops who fought in 2014 as just a slightly earlier example of Russian government support for a supposedly organic, home-grown ethnic-Russian revolt that was being crushed by a Kyiv regime.
Instead he went with the easily disproved "just 56 Russians" fought in 2014.
I guess Kit's gotten lazy. No matter how unbelievable the lies, the paychecks keep rolling in from The Grayzone. Who funds The Grayzone? We'll never know. As Aaron Mate says, our "higher donors have the right to privacy."
Of course, as Aaron, Kit, & Mick Wallace say "always check to see who pays them. Who pays the piper calls the tune."
Yep. For a guy who could have done anything with his life only to choose the absolute-laziest option available—being a Tankie, that is—he even sucks at *that*. Which is impressive, in a way.
Maybe Kit didn’t know all that. Maybe he didn’t know that figures like Gubarev and Girkin had previously admitted to strong Russian government involvement, and that Borodai estimated up to 50,000 Russian troops. Maybe if, in a similar scenario, a C.I.A officer and a bunch of Americans were to occupy government buildings in Mexico with the aim to split territory from an unfriendly administration, Kit would accept America’s claims to not be involved in the “organic” rebellion.
Maybe Kit’s just a really bad journalist. 🤷♂️