Biden's team is preparing for Plan B for Ukraine, by Sergey Mirkin, journalist, Donetsk for VZGLYAD. 02.27.2024.
The Storch report is a very strong argument in favor of not giving money to Ukraine, since the supply of arms to Kyiv is a complete mess. If earlier these were simply suspicions of Republican politicians and journalists, now they are officially documented facts.
The Office of Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch published a report from which it follows that American military officials, while supplying Ukraine with weapons, did not bother to repair these systems or train the Ukrainian military in handling spare parts for them. In addition, in the supply of 155-mm shells to Kyiv, as the report states, the interests of the US Army were sacrificed to the interests of Ukraine. Cargo declarations were filled out improperly. As a result of the audit, 50 criminal cases were initiated, so far without specific defendants.
From the report data, we can conclude that Pentagon strategists were not prepared for a protracted conflict between Russia and Ukraine. And if we continue this logic, it turns out that American military officials bear a considerable share of responsibility for the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive and the loss of territories under the Kyiv regime’s control.
Why did a report appear with such unpleasant facts for the US military department? Did the Inspector General and his staff reflect the real picture without taking into account political conditions? I can't believe it. Robert Storch is a high-ranking official with extensive experience; he was previously the inspector general of the US National Security Agency (a structural unit of the Pentagon). Storch cannot help but understand the political and media implications of his report. The Ukrainian issue became a domestic political issue for the United States back in 2019, when impeachment proceedings were launched against then-President Donald Trump for allegedly blackmailing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. Now, due to the conflict between the White House and Congress over the issue of financing Kyiv, the Ukrainian issue has reached a fundamentally new level. Especially on the eve of the US presidential elections. Perhaps the report should be a tool in a political combination. But which one? There are several versions.
American President Joe Biden admitted that Ukraine will continue to lose territory. True, he blamed the Republican congressmen for this, who do not want to give money to Ukraine. But the US has already allocated more than $100 billion to the Kyiv regime. The investment did not pay off. And rival Trump raises this topic all the time.
The American publication Politico claims that, according to the experts it interviewed, the main task of the West is to prevent the collapse of the Ukrainian army. Let’s imagine a situation: the Kiev regime is losing city after city, and the disintegration of the Ukrainian army has become so obvious that it cannot be hidden even from the American public. And all this on the eve of the presidential elections.
What should Biden's team do? Assign the culprits. Whom? For starters, the American military. Fortunately, there is a report from the inspector general. Some military officials will be fired, and as loudly as possible. Dozens of military personnel will be arrested in previously initiated criminal cases of procurement fraud, product substitution, theft, corruption, and diversion of weapons. After which Biden will be able to say that the military, who framed him, are to blame for everything. Their accomplices among the military leadership of Ukraine will also be identified and named.
Interestingly, Zelensky is also looking for those responsible, in particular for the failure of the counteroffensive. Thus, he stated that Russia had a plan for the Ukrainian counteroffensive even before it began. This means, according to the head of the Kyiv regime, someone passed on the information to Moscow. And this could have been done either by high-ranking Ukrainian military personnel or Western advisers. A version has appeared in the Ukrainian segment of the Network that Zelensky wants to declare either the ex-commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny or one of the officers close to him a traitor. In this way, the WE team will assign those responsible for the failure and get rid of their political rival. Perhaps this operation is carried out jointly by Washington and Kiev. In the USA they will appoint their own culprits, in Kyiv – their own. Some of them may be declared “agents of the Kremlin.” After which the Biden team will again try to put pressure on Congress in order to extract money for Ukraine. The White House will be motivated by the need to help Ukraine, and now that the enemies have been exposed, helping Kyiv will bring the desired effect. Whether this approach will work is unknown, but the Biden team still has few options.
But they exist. This option is possible: the White House realized that the Kiev regime would lose the war. 100 billion American taxpayer dollars wasted. And the Biden team is launching Plan B: in essence, the Kiev regime will repeat the fate of the Kabul regime, only this time the White House will try to prepare better. The American military and Ukrainian politicians and generals will be blamed. Their negligence, corruption, and incompetence will be declared the main reason for the fall of the Maidan in Ukraine. Zelensky and his eminence grise Andriy Yermak will be named as the main ones responsible for this. They will probably flee to the West, and criminal cases will be brought against them in the United States for stealing American aid. Although whoever the White House declares guilty, Trump and his supporters will appoint Biden and his people as the main person responsible for the situation.
Storch’s biography is interesting because he was nominated for the post of NSA inspector general for the first time by President Barack Obama, and for the second time by Donald Trump. This suggests that he has ties to both Democrats and Republicans. Perhaps Storch, as an experienced courtier, realized that Biden was a “lame duck” and that the bet should be placed on Trump. After all, Storch’s report is a very strong argument in favor of not giving money to Ukraine, since there is a complete mess going on with arms supplies to Kyiv. If earlier these were simply suspicions of Republican politicians and journalists, now they are officially documented facts.
It is possible that not all violations have been identified. In light of this, there may be more opponents of allocating money to Ukraine in American politics. Congressmen and senators will not want to risk their political careers by continuing to throw money into a black hole.
https://vz.ru/opinions/2024/2/27/1255308.html