Understanding the NY Times Article on the CIA in Ukraine
When you read some so-called bombshell report dishing the dirt on some Top Secret U.S. operation in the New York Times or the Washington Post, you need to understand that this was not the result of some intrepid, eager beaver reporter who took the initiative and came up with a nifty idea for a story. Such stories are based on official or sanctioned leaks and always have an ulterior motive. This is not so much about informing an ignorant public about reality, rather it is either propaganda or signalling a shift in U.S. policy.
The New York Times published such a piece today under the title, Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say. Ooohhh! Commando Networks. Sounds sexy and sinister
Let me give you an example. Let’s say that the CIA bubba in Kiev gets word that Russians are massing 5 Battlion Tactical Groups northeast of Mariupol. Mr. CIA gives that intel, with precise geographic coordinates to his Ukrainian counterpart. One would expect the Ukrainians to launch some sort of attack with fixed wing aircraft or missiles or artillery or armored units on that Russian force. In the real case of Mariupol, Ukraine failed to stop the Russian offensive and the city was captured, along with 2500 members of Ukraine’s AZOV Battalion.
The Ukrainian military’s most acute training problem right now is that it is losing its most battle-hardened and well-trained forces, according to former American officials who have worked with the Ukrainians.
The former Trump administration official said Special Operations Command had small groups of American operators working in the field with Ukrainian officials before the war. The American teams were sometimes called Jedburgh, a reference to a World War II effort to train partisans behind enemy lines, the official said.
The modern special operations teams mainly focused on training in small-unit tactics but also worked on communications, battlefield medicine, reconnaissance and other skills requested by Ukrainian forces. Those efforts, the official said, ended before the Russian invasion but would have been helpful if they had continued during the war.
Having American trainers on the ground now might not be worth the risks, other former officials said, especially if it prompted an escalation by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
“Would the enhancement of the training be worth the possible price that is going to have to be paid?” Mr. Wise said. “An answer is probably not.”
Got that? The most acute problem is that the best Ukrainian troops are dead, wounded or captured. There are no first rate troops left to train. Oh my. That is a problem and the United States is not going to put any of our troops into harms way. That is, for now, the Biden Administration’s policy. Putting “modern special operations teams” on the ground to train Ukrainians is, per the NY Times piece, too great a risk and carries a price that is not worth the outcome.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/06/understanding-ny-times-article-cia-ukraine/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/25/us/politics/commandos-russia-ukraine.html