The Economist dug the black hole of Ukraine-related bullshit a little deeper this week.
Officials close to Mr Zelensky are quick to point out that General Zaluzhny has not visited the front line. That, say the general’s defenders, is because the same officials have barred him from doing so. Some in the president’s circle would like to replace him with General Oleksandr Syrsky, who commands Ukraine’s land forces, over whose head General Zaluzhny was promoted last year.1
Officials? Advisors to officials? Operators? Maybe whoever wrote this bullshit doesn’t understand the difference.
The passage reminds of when one-time welfare recipient Diane Francis foamed for the Kyiv Post about Andrey Illarionov’s imagined Kremlin/Washington disinformation campaign to create a full-blown propagandized invasion threat one month before the blitzkrieg.2
This brings me back to the main conclusion of yesterday’s post3:
Non-permissive environment specialists have told me that it’s okay to carouse with the greasy clowns at Tootsie Club, but a very bad idea to regurgitate their bullshit in print, much less take it seriously. Leave that to Diane.
In other news, Christmas trees have gone on sale at dozens of locations in the capital. Unfortunately, tree stands are in short supply, so this year we might have to resort to a big bucket and sand from the banks of the mighty Dnipro.
Ukraine’s top soldier runs a different kind of army from Russia’s. Valery Zaluzhny wants to encourage initiative and devolve authority. The Economist (December 15, 2022)
Vlad’s Bluff. Kyiv Post. (January 11, 2022)