DISPATCHES FROM THE EUROPEAN FRONT

by G. Murphy Donovan

“Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.” ― Vladimir Putin

I received an email from the son of an old and dear friend the other day. Alexander Philip Alexiev is the Gen Y edition of one of Bulgaria’s most prominent political families. Alexiev’s grandfather was executed by Cold War Communists. Young Alexiev is also the namesake of Phillip Dimitrov, Bulgaria’s first democratically elected prime minister.

From Sofia, Bulgaria to me:

How are you? I came across an interesting article about the Ukraine/Russian conflict, specifically concerning the seemingly imminent fall of Avdeeka and its consequences on the broader war and geopolitical implications in the West. I’m curious to get your thoughts on it.

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/avdeevka-defenses-continue-to-crumble

I am starting to detest Zelenskyy almost as much as our own clowns in DC acting as politicians a la Chuck Schumer, who openly admits that this is “our” war, that “we” stand to lose unless we continue to hand over America tax dollars by the billions for what seems to me to be a completely unwinnable war. It is simply baffling to me how our politicians can say things like this while our borders are wide open, our cities filthy and largely unrecognizable, rampant crime that largely goes unpunished, and the overall degeneration of American society as a whole.

I understand the historical slant, but it’s not the Cold War anymore, and the implication that this is remotely our problem and that American boys may need to go die for it in the future, while we have so many actual problems at home almost amounts to treason, in my opinion. It’s a good thing I’m not in charge because a lot of people would need to be put up against a wall, for lack of a better phrase. I cannot imagine that Zelenskyy and the war machine in the US actually believe they can win the war and take back Zaparozhie and the other oblasts, let alone Crimea, so what is the end goal here? “Killing Russians without losing American lives” as Lindsey Graham says doesn’t sound like a great justification, to me.

Anyway, these are just the musings of an expat “keyboard warrior”, so I’d love to hear the thoughts of a military man on the topic.

My response to Alex Alexiev in Sofia:

I believe the imminent loss of Avdeevka and the Ukraine leadership vacuum may just be symptoms of the much larger problems in Ukraine and in the US all of which we seem all too willing to ignore, as you so eloquently enumerate.

Excellent contrarian analysis; you are your father’s son.

To your thoughts, I would only add two observations. As you imply with Schumer, I too believe the shit show in Ukraine is as much about the impending election here in the US as it is about EU security. I also think that the US and EU are exploiting Ukraine by unloading all that military hardware into what is clearly a corrupt dumpster, a testing ground, and a smoldering fire that will haunt Eastern Europe for generations.

You are spot on. Zelensky can’t win and Putin can’t lose. 

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 Murphy Donovan writes about the politics of Intelligence and national security. Posting daily on X (neeTwitter).

https://twitter.com/GMurphyDonovan1