In Washington, signs of getting fed up with Ukraine
PARIS — It looks like Washington is starting to lay the groundwork for an exit ramp from Ukraine — by throwing down some Ukrainian officials as speed bumps.
Over just the past few days, the Washington Post — one of the go-to media outlets for the U.S. intelligence community and Washington establishment — has run two bombshell stories that effectively pin the blame on Ukraine for events that have caused major friction between the West and Russia.
A piece published on Oct. 23, citing unnamed officials, reveals that covert assassinations against Russian citizens inside Russia were carried out by Ukrainian intelligence — notably the targeted killing of Russian political scientist, journalist, and activist, Daria Dugina, who died when a bomb blew up the car she was driving just outside of Moscow last year. The piece also cites drone strikes on residential buildings in Moscow, also attributed to Ukraine. It takes great pains to underscore that the CIA’S only interest has been to train Ukrainians to gather intelligence against Russia, solely for defensive purposes. To that end, since 2014, it has “provided Ukraine with advanced surveillance systems, trained recruits at sites in Ukraine as well as the United States, built new headquarters for departments in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, and shared intelligence,” according to the Post.
It’s pretty clear that whatever training wheels the CIA may have put on Ukraine have come flying off. And now we’re supposed to conveniently believe that the CIA is suddenly clutching its pearls.
On Nov. 11, the Post ran yet another piece that attributed the Nord Stream pipeline attack to a Ukrainian intelligence officer who took orders from other, more senior, Ukrainian intelligence officials. The officer in question told the Washington Post, as they looked into his rumored involvement, that the allegations were“Russian propaganda.” But Russian President Vladimir Putin himself has repeatedly blamed Washington for the sabotage of Europe’s industrial lifeline of gas from Russia, calling the notion of Ukrainian responsibility “complete nonsense.”
“An explosion of this kind, of this power, at this depth can only be carried out by specialists, and supported by the full power of the state, which has certain technologies,” Putin said earlier this year. After all, U.S. President Joe Biden did say, even before the conflict started, that if Russia moved into Ukraine, then they’d “bring an end” to the pipeline whose destruction has caused Germany’s economy to sink ever since, and its industry to bail out to countries with more favorable energy supply — like the U.S.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh reported back in February that the pipeline attacks were the result of a covert intelligence operation orchestrated at the highest levels in Washington.
So if Ukrainian officials, like the one now being fingered for blowing up Nord Stream, are looking to blame anyone for these rumors, they may want to look westward. Because it sure seems like there’s an emerging trend to suddenly frame America’s involvement with Ukraine as well-meaning and strictly defensive — and to suggest that if Ukraine chewed through its harness, then Washington can hardly be held responsible.
So why might all of this be coming out now? The obvious explanation is that Ukraine has turned out to be more trouble than it’s worth to Washington, particularly amid renewed conflict in the Middle East. The West has used Ukraine as little more than a battering ram against Russia for as long as it possibly can. By contrast, events in the Middle East between Gaza and Israel have already blown back onto the U.S., lighting destabilizing fires of protest, resistance, and violence within the U.S. and other Western nations. Overwhelmed and with public patience waning for bottomless spending on foreign wars that have nothing to do with actual U.S. national security, tolerance is starting to wear thin for high-maintenance Zelensky. Which would explain NBC News’ report earlier this month that senior U.S. officials have broached the idea with Ukraine of it giving up territory to Russia to wrap up the conflict.
Zelensky himself denies any such U.S. pressure, but it’s not hard to see why the West would want to wrap things up in Ukraine. The underwhelming Ukrainian “counteroffensive” is likely to result in a frozen conflict right on Europe’s doorstep. European countries are increasingly coming out against endless billions for Ukraine. And anti-russian sanctions have failed as a result of most of the world ignoring them and European companies circumventing them.
The leaked information suggests that the average American has been manipulated into supporting Washington’s ongoing involvement in the conflict with lies and half-truths. They’re about as likely to respond positively to these revelations as news of a cheating spouse. One would think that the leakers would be aware of this. Which begs the question of whether the whole intent is to prepare hearts and minds for an imminent divorce.