Very soon there will be widespread incomprehension and disbelief combined as the situation in Ukraine proves to have a very different face to it than western audiences have been told.
A general ‘war mode’ mentality has prevailed in the West for many years now, in fact for almost two entire decades and the object of the obscuration which war mode always entails has been Russia and its president.
This war mode mentality was running at a relatively low level during this time by comparison with what we have seen across the western world since Russia began its operation in Ukraine on the 24th of February. Since then it has been all-consuming.
Those who continued to take it for granted that their mainstream news services were giving them a factual account of events in Ukraine are those who will experience the maximum disbelief and incomprehension within the next few weeks.
War mode, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, requires of all elites within a country at war, and indeed from most members of the public also (though this is not as possible now as in the past) a dedication to communicating only positive news about the nation or its allies and only negativity or no comment at all concerning the actions of the enemy.
Thus it has appeared that plucky little Ukraine with magnificently brave soldiers, courageously and charismaticaly led by a noble and selfless president has been winning out against the Russian ogre.
Some of the above may have some substance to it here and there, though extremely little in my view. The more important point I wish to make however is that this leaves out an enormous part of the picture of events in Ukraine and also delivers a hugely false picture of present realities and future likelihoods.
The situation in Ukraine is in fact not good at all for the forces that Kiev commands. Things are not going well and have not been going well since the start apart from a few minor and isolated incidents which have played little role at the time or in the final outcome.
The remaining cities to be taken by Russia in the Donbass are not nearly as defensible as was Mariupol, a city as said above that resisted only for a matter of two weeks before falling leaving only a contingent trapped under the Azovstal steel works.
There are rumors of great discontent regarding a number of factors within the Ukrainian high command which if true appear certain to grow. More elderly men are being marshaled into the Ukrainian military and sent to the front lines as cannon fodder. Desperation appears to be growing as the interference of Zelensky and those around him with military affairs is rumored to be disturbing their military commanders and indeed causing losses through inept and incompetent decisions.
Meanwhile, instead of telling western audiences about any of this and most importantly the likely fall of the entire Donbass region its mass media falls largely silent. This is at least better that the previous war mode policy which to be frank about it was little more than baseless propaganda and wishful thinking.
It appears, though this is only rumored currently, that the advice on tactics being given by the USA and UK to the Ukrainian military command, has been extremely poor with flawed understanding of the Russian tactics of war. A disastrous attempt to take the infamous Snake Island off the coast of Odessa and a failed offensive in the Kharkov region are apparently being attributed to their badly thought out and incompetent leadership.
Rather than plucky Ukraine going from victory to victory as portrayed in every mainstream rifle and TV network across the West it has gone from one loss to another in recent months and is now facing total defeat, partially as a result of Russian military professionalism and partly through the gross incompetence of its leadership and allies.