Seymour Hersh put out a report today that made a few interesting points.
First, he says that, according to several sources in the Democratic Party apparatus, big donors and other officials in the party are worried about Biden’s chances in the November election against Trump. There is discussion of replacing him at the convention if his upcoming debate performance against Trump is disastrous.
He also says that according to one US official he spoke to, there have been ongoing backchannel discussions still occurring between Russia and the west and that one such discussion occurred just prior to Putin’s announcement last week of the terms of a possible ceasefire and peace negotiations:
One well-informed American official told me that there has been, as always, some informal communications about concessions between Moscow and the West that both sides could accept. For example, he said, there is Russia’s ambition to attack and seize Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, twenty miles south of the Russian border. Now under siege amid heavy fighting on its outskirts, the historic city could be saved from massive destruction if both sides agree to consider it an independent free territory as was Trieste, a disputed city bordering Italy and Yugoslavia, for seven years after World War II. I was also told that Putin’s speech came after a series of highly secret backchannel communications between some in the West and Russians whose aim was to spare the pending Russian attack on Kharkiv, which is also a major transportation hub.
The official said that the likelihood of significant Ukrainian battlefield success remains low, given Russia’s vast supply of troops and materiel. Despite Ukrainian and American reports of successes near Kharkiv, he added, last Sunday 300 members of one of Ukraine’s most elite units, the 92nd Assault Brigade, which was established twenty-five years ago, was surrounded and captured by Russian troops, with 150 deaths and little word in the Western press.
“Biden just declared war on Russia and nobody cares,” the official said of the president’s recent decision to escalate the reach of American missiles supplied to Ukraine. “It is a theatrical performance.”
Thank you.
I have long lost faith in any such reports.
It´s not about them being untrue. I don´t doubt the statements.
But just like with front reporting: By picking one particular area you could always spin it into a peer battle or some AFU win. Buth then that tiny piece became the entire war totally misrepresented.
So they may play their alleged diplomacy game. But I don´t believe for a second this is serious Putin-level talk. Lavrov has been way too pessimistic for such a serious backchannel operation going on.
Besides: Replace Biden? By whom? Three months before the election? RFK? DNC would turn into the globe´s laughing stock. Especially since the leftist electorate is about Gaza, if foreign policy matters at all. Not Ukraine. And re: Gaza there is no new candidate who could bring home those who have turned away from Biden for Gaza.
What I would like to ask Hersh: How does he judge the likelihood of NATO escalation after July as has been warned by Orban and Vucic. (However Vucic has been doing this for 2 years now.)
What happens if 300.000 troops without official NATO-mandate move into Ukraine in the fall. So that may overshadow the entire election and Trump´s antics.
That doesn´t mean they have to fight yet. Just be stationed there to put on a show. The massacre may begin after Biden won.
So selling it as a show of force for the time being.
May be waiting until Pacific forces are ready to start both wars at the same time. Wouldn´t that be fun.
Sick, sick, sick, unintelligent people there.
I’ve lost a lot of faith in Hersh too. He’s shown himself to be too dependent on CIA/Deep State “source(s)” and it seems he goes back to the same well even after being played. From his behavior I guess he’s reached that stage of aging where he thinks there can never be enough money (and maybe he’s right about money if he thinks that, but I’m sure it’s for the wrong reasons).
To be fair: being loyal to your sources is fundamental in this line of work. Readers often are unaware of the difficulties. After all members of government are giving away info and they do so voluntarily. Why should they? And why Hersh and not someone else. They have to trust him, too. And Hersh had some difficult times facing the CIA. Don´t you believe they didn´t threaten him in the past. If you mess with power you must find a way to contend with that – and arrange with it, if you wish to keep on doing your job – and eventually Hersh is perhaps an addict, an idealist too, very much like the cliché of an artist, and with that a very professional upright person. How many readers have been confronted with the CIA? I might not agree with everyone of his reports – but how many has he published?! And many stories have to be duds, it´s part of investigative reporting. He has my utmost respect, as many of his lesser known colleagues too.
Loyalty to your sources does not mean taking everything at face value, it means doing your best not to leak their identity.
(In the old days, Hersh’s days, critical news had to come from two independent sources. That decayed to two sources run by the CIA, and now it seems that one source, no matter how many times they have lied and (ab)used a reporter, if it’s the CIA or FBI, then the reporter should do their duty to the dollar.)
https://vz.ru/news/2024/6/24/1274692.html
Translation: The Russian side is not conducting any “underground negotiations” with anyone on the topic of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference following a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Aleynik. Lavrov stressed that the West refuses to organize negotiations on a fair basis, TASS reports. Negotiations are also impossible, since Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has forbidden the country’s leadership to conduct a dialogue with Moscow, the minister added. Earlier, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh said that Moscow and Washington allegedly held private negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.
For example, he said, there is Russia’s ambition to attack and seize Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, twenty miles south of the Russian border. Now under siege amid heavy fighting on its outskirts, the historic city could be saved from massive destruction if both sides agree to consider it an independent free territory
This would see to indicate that Hersh’s informant has as firm a grasp of Russian strategy now as they did on Day 1 of the SMO .