A voice of reason (seeking negotiations with Russia) now comes from the Pentagon, of all places, from Joe Biden's top military adviser, General Mark Milley.
The latter made the above suggestion to the administration and probably got a rebuff - then he broke the silence ban and went public, via the New York Times. Although risking his career, he was reluctant to let things take their course to the point where NATO's only choice would be to swallow a toad or escalate to nuclear.
More than the Russians, he apparently fears the incompetence and hubris of the Bidens, Blinkens, Nulands, Selenskis and Baerbocks of this world. In an interview with U.S. journalist Aaron Maté, former Pentagon adviser Colonel Doug Macgregor tries to sharpen our senses to military reality.
Aaron Maté (AM): Welcome to Pushback, I'm Aaron Maté. Joining me is Doug Macgregor, retired U.S. Army colonel and former Pentagon advisor. Doug, thanks for being back on the air with us.
Doug Macgregor (DMG): You're welcome.
Aaron Maté (AM): What's your reaction to the new development late last week? Out of nowhere, the top officer of the U.S. military, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), suddenly appears and advocates negotiations with Russia.
This comes just a few weeks after progressive members of Congress were forced to withdraw their call for the same thing, to talk to Russia about ending this war. And now the highest ranking officer in the country, General Milley, in apparent disagreement with representatives of the Biden administration, is calling for talks with Russia.
What is your assessment of the significance of this, and why, of all people, is it General Milley who is pushing for talks with Russia?
Doug Macgregor (DMG): Well, first of all, Milley is known for only doing things whose outcome he has assessed and judged to be favorable to himself. He revealed things from conversations with Trump that were supposed to benefit him.
We had no idea whether they were true or not. Now he's doing the same thing with the New York Times (NYT).
In essence, I think he said the Ukrainians had done all that could reasonably be expected, and it was now time to negotiate. Pretty much that's what he said and most likely addressed to President Biden.
Of course, Biden, Sullivan, Blinken, and the others would have none of that. So there are two very interesting aspects to this, the second of which concerns the ''talking out of school''.
General Milley is the President's principal military advisor. Frankly, everything he says is confidential and should be treated with silence.
He can think and believe what he wants, but once he shares any of it with the President - quite frankly, Aaron, that's where it stops.
During World War II, Admiral Leahy was in the White House about what the chairman of the JCS is today, plus there was Ernest King of the National Forces and George Marshall of the ground forces and the Air Force.
They did not go public and leak anything that they had ever discussed with the President, even after the President died. Okay, so we were pretty strict about that.
There are a couple of exceptions where somebody has leaked out, and if that happens to a senior general, they're usually removed. Because that is not his job, he is supposed to advise, he is not an opinion maker, he is not a political strategist. So then third, what is Milley up to?
Well, I can assure you that Milley is scared, and for good reason.
He has no combat experience of his own, but he knows the simple, hard facts: We don't have enough ammunition, enough fuel, enough spare parts, enough soldiers ready to engage in a confrontation with Russia.
But he also knows that under certain circumstances, it comes down to a confrontation with Russia. Well, a couple of weeks ago, General Petraeus was here, who has a lot in common with Milley's self-reliant nature, and he blurted out the idea of a multinational task force, a "coalition of the willing," predominantly composed of forces from the United States, Poland, and Romania, 90,000 strong in all, that would show up in western Ukraine at some point, and that would lead to a peaceful outcome.
Now, Milley is not stupid, he knows that this would not end peacefully. The Russians have said quite clearly that they will treat any interference with their operation as a hostile act. He also realizes that we are not going to be able to sustain ourselves for long.
The Ukrainians have so far fired about 7,000 artillery shells a day. We have just agreed with the Koreans on the delivery of 100,000 155-millimeter shells. We bought them for the Ukrainians. Now, the problem is, that's just enough to supply the artillery for 14 days.
For the Russians, it would be enough for five days. What I'm saying is, we can't confront them because we don't have the supplies in depth. And Milley knows more: he knows what's coming.
He has seen the Russians completely change their approach. When they invaded Ukraine, it was like they had one hand tied behind their back. They never used more than 20 percent of their ground forces, with an initial 110,000 troops in Ukraine.
By August, they shifted entirely to the defensive. And that's where it's stayed: consolidating the position, pulling in the horns, because the generals had told Putin that the only way to end this is militarily.
If we want to end this militarily, that means massive offensives, more soldiers, more material. That takes time, and that's why the Russians said, fine, we'll trade land gains for time, consolidate our positions, minimize our losses, and let the Ukrainians spend themselves.
continued in comments.
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