Western MSM Propaganda & Rhetoric to Blame for Ryan Routh Radicalization, Kursk Fool's Crusade Blame Game Begins, Munitions & Manpower Assessment, more...

Mark Sleboda's Radio Interviews and Podcasts

1×

0:00

-24:14

Western MSM Propaganda & Rhetoric to Blame for Ryan Routh Radicalization, Kursk Fool's Crusade Blame Game Begins, Munitions & Manpower Assessment, more...

Radio Interview on Political Misfits 17/09/24

Mark Sleboda

Sep 17, 2024

Transcript

Topics:

Welcome back to Political Misfits on Radio Sputnik, where we bring you news, politics and culture - without the red and blue treatment. I am John Kiriakou here with Michelle Witte.

International affairs and security analyst Mark Sleboda

OK. Let’s start with Ryan Routh and Ukraine. We talked about this yesterday, but there’s more to explore, I think, with regard to this delusional person’s obsession with Ukraine, and with the fact that he was taken at least somewhat seriously by a number of mainstream media outlets - the NYT, Semafor, Newsweek (OK, Newsweek Romania). He met with the staff of at least a few members of the House of Representatives, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that he actually met with members of Congress. Some of these outlets took Routh seriously - I’ll give the NYT some credit, though - their interview with him was for a story called “The U.S. Volunteers in Ukraine Who Lie, Waste and Bicker/People who would not be allowed anywhere near the battlefield in a U.S.-led war are active on the Ukrainian front, with ready access to American weapons.” Others took him seriously as someone who was recruiting foreign fighters for Ukraine, who had contacts in Ukraine, who had raised money for weapons there, who had spent time there, etc. A writer for Semafor took him very seriously, for example. And while the NYT tars him and media figure Malcolm Nance with the same brush, Nance is someone who is taken very seriously elsewhere - on MSNBC for example. And so … it’s nothing new for any war to attract crazies. But what’s interesting about this war is that insanity in the name of supporting Ukraine is given such a huge pass. It’s how we get people like Nance and Routh taken seriously at all. It’s how fantasies like the Ghost of Kiev or the Snake Island, “eff off, Russian warship” thing reported as truth. And so you can’t expect journalists to never be misled or make a mistake - but it does seem like in this case a lot of them have not even been trying to see through any convenient or cute delusions, and we have in the case of Ryan Routh a perfect example of it. What do Routh’s Ukraine connections say to you?

Speaking of Ukraine, Politico EU today has a story on the origins of Ukraine’s strange, bold, costly and probably pointless Kursk incursion, and Politico’s sources say this was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s idea. The article even suggests that, in their words, “the highly respected Emil Ishkulov, commander of Ukraine's 80th Air Assault Brigade,” was dismissed in July because of his objections to the planned offensive, and that former Ukrainian Commander in Chief Valery Zaluzhny also opposed it, because Zelensky could give him no step two after breaching the Russian border. None of these figures commented for the story, but Zelensky has recently argued that the offensive in Kursk is slowing Russia down in the Donbas. Why do you think Politico’s sources want to pin the invasion on Zelensky, and is the Kursk move actually beginning to benefit Ukraine in the Donbas?

CNN today is reporting on something that we’ve talked about before - the US’ inability to keep up with the demand in Ukraine for munitions. It reports that “US military aid packages for Ukraine have been smaller in recent months, as the stockpiles of weapons and equipment that the Pentagon is willing to send Kyiv from its own inventory have dwindled. The shift comes amid concerns about US military readiness being impacted as US arms manufacturers play catchup to the huge demand created by the war against Russia.” In April, Congress gave the Biden administration an additional $13.4 billion to use specifically to send Ukraine weapons and equipment drawn from US stockpiles. But the Defense Department hasn’t been able to use it all because of a lack of corresponding supply that it is willing to part with without risking the US’ own readiness, according to CNN’s sources. So the Pentagon is asking for more time to spend the money, because it doesn’t want its own stockpiles to get too low. And of course, the US is supposedly in the process of ramping up production of key weapons and equipment, but this is a years-long process. Russia is also obviously tearing through munitions as well. How quickly will the US be able to resupply, and how much can Ukraine hold in in the meantime?

What about Russia’s stockpiles? How much of an edge does Russia have, really?

The WSJ has a very sad story out today claiming that the number of Ukrainians and Russians killed or wounded in the 2½-year war in Ukraine has reached roughly one million. It also notes that this loss is occurring in a context of already shrinking populations before the war. The WSJ notes that it’s hard to pin down the exact number of dead and wounded because neither side in this conflict has been transparent about that. It’s estimates are 80,000 dead Ukrainian troops and 400,000 wounded, and up to 200,000 dead Russian troops and another 400,000 wounded. Those are pretty lopsided figures. What are your estimates at this point, and do they add up to about a million?

I see that the Russian president has ordered the size of the standing army to be increased to 1.5 million active service members, an addition of 180,000 troops. How are both sides managing the issue of manpower?

What is this going to mean for both societies and economies in the future? I mean, Ukraine’s economy is a basket case already. But I can’t imagine that these kinds of losses won’t affect Russia at all. And to zoom out a bit, it does seem like populations are declining around the world, so … it’s not like these two countries are alone in this experience, but it will be particularly acute for them, it looks like.

You’d think a story like this might inspire more efforts to find an end to the war, or at least less screaming at people advocating for it. Donald Trump Jr and RFK Jr put out an op ed today, for example, saying “Opinion: Negotiate with Moscow to end the Ukraine war and prevent nuclear devastation.” They’re not my two favorite people, but I appreciate this endeavor. Will reporting on the war’s losses make the reaction to their effort any less shrill?