ut Contact/Sudmission {tim not inetuding the actual tweet because it contains readable images of the entre | attcle | am abour to example, which | think goes beyond fair use, but here is a link ‘to the tweet, whichis sadly notin the Intemet Archive.) A Marine’s assessment of Russia’s Military “Operation” in Ukraine (a “profound appreciation of all three realms in which wars are waged”) Originally published: Naked Capitalism @ on August 14, 2022 by Lambert Strether (more by Naked Capitalism) w (Posted Aug 18, 2022) 7 Europe, Russia, Ukraine i News We — il use the royal "we" here — at NC have long been aware that analysis and coverage of Russia's tactics and strategy in Ukraine that is not dictated by organs of state security here in the United States is an inverted pyramid resting on a very small point: A small group of dissidents willing to go on the record with their views. These dissidents — Mercouris, Military Summary, Martynov, Moon of Alabama, Lira, New Atlas, and Ritter, among others — are all variously monetized and have been marginalized in one way or another, and their analysis rests in turn on an even narrower point: Telegram accounts ‘and Russian/Ukrainian sources that are not available to us. But now we have evidence that the dissidents are nat alone, and analysis parallel to their own has been taking place. twas with a sense of relief and amazement that | noticed the following outraged Tweet occur on my timeline: Browse» Monthly Review Essays Monthly Review Essays A Unity of Opposites: The Dengist and the Red Guard Douglas E. Greene What would Losurde and Bagiou say about each others views on Mao? Losurde would likely consider Badiou tobe infected with Western Marxist ‘abstractions and anarchism in his celebration of mass rebelion and disregard for the needs of Lost & Found Russia and che Ukraine crisis: The Eurasian Project in conflict with the triad... ‘Samir Amin We wanted to draw readers attention to ths piece by Samir ‘Amin, which was written at the time of the Maidan Coup in 2014, Eds, 1. The current global stage is dominates by the atempt of historical centers of imperialism the US, Western and Central Europe, Japar—hereatter called the Triad") to maintain their. Trending, QJames @GravitysRatnbow The Marine Corps can no longer be trusted with academic journals. | am depriving Marine officers of their privileges to write anything else about military affairs. You have failed as an institution, and | am personally folding you back into the Navy. EIeSre ro aif. 7208 PM » Aug 11, 2022. Twitter Web App (rm not including the actual tweet because It contains readable images of the entire article | am about to example, which I think goes beyond fair use, but here is a link to the tweet, which is sadly not in the Internet Archive.) Hmm, I said. “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine." In a thing called “Marine Corps Gazette" (MCG). 'd better go find it, thought. First, l encountered the MCG paywall. A search on the author, “Marinus," yielded nothing useful. Next, | searched for the subhead: Newanre China forgives 28 loans for 17 Afican countries, expands ‘winwin’ trace and infrastructure projects PS ic gM Sonctons ard the cece of the dolar Commer ‘Wy seventy years ‘and the departed GOR U.S, taunts Russia ‘to escalate in Ukraine What co the New York Times, Kiev Independent, Euromaidan Press, ‘Twitter, Facebook, ww Reciit, and TikTok allhave in ‘common? renew India’s Prabhat Patnaik: Fascism is ‘rooted inthe crisis ‘of neoliberalism ((nterview) Europe dries up enone Who is Mick Lynch? Popular (ast 30 days) cenmeniay Nanufacturing cconsent: How the United States has penetrated South Atican media Newaate What the US, government and ‘The New York Times have quietlyGoogle tims tapernn 2 a8 {2 Images for “Manewverist Paper No, 22": sow: FPO 5-1 HRN SEZ | ARES KOSTA, ‘Avovanah werowon- LiveJournal $e! Oprans Livevoua Ss lopeion nexorai CUA W crane ekoero"Mapina™ Four hits, one in Japanese, three in Russian, Not very promising! So Lwent another hop out to the article in Aftershock{fourth on the results lst), @ Russian-language aggregator, and read the comments thread, where | found ‘a quotation from the article in English, which gave me a string to search on (The most important of these resulted from the avoidance of collateral damage’), giving me some hope that | could find a full ext version of the article, Here are the results: Google “Ta mostinparantt nase reuse tinh iste telat damage” XQ. Images for “The most important of these resuited from LUA pov: Marine Corps Gazette publchos an ody positive alr Mopexoi nexors! CLIA cram Hoxooro "Mapweyeat agreed nct to tll you about Ukraine China forgives 28 loans for 17 Aftican countries, expands “winwin’ trace and infrastructure projects Nevo Can we please have ‘an adult ‘conversation about China? erty evens AUnity of Opposites: The Dengist and the Red Guard ‘AMatine's assessment of Russia's Military “Operation” in Urcaine (@ “profound spptecation of all ‘hee realms in which wars are waged’) erty From Commodity Felishism to Teleclogical Pesiting: Lukécs's Concept of Labor and Its Relevance Call for solidarity after FBI raids ‘Atican People’s Socialist Party and ‘Uhuru movementTwo from Reddit (August 12), and the known article at Aftershock (August 9). The Reddit article does not include a full text version, but does include an eBook-like reader where you can click through each of the four pages, along with a not very illuminating discussion So, let's back up and ask ourselves what the Marine Corps Gazette is. Fram ‘Small Wars Journal: G6 Marine Corps Gazette is a professional journal for U.S. Marines founded in 1916 at Marine Corps Base Quantico for members of the United Srates Marine Corps. Begun by then Col John A. Lejeune as the vehicle to launch the Marine Corps Association (MCA), the journal is known as “The Professional Jounal of U.S. Marines”. Today the MCA continues to publish the Gazette ‘And the Marine Corps Association (MCAY: G6 The Marine Corps Association (often abbreviated MCA) is the professional organization for members of the United States Marine Corps and friends of the Corps. ‘The Marine Corps Association, the Marine Corps University Foundation, and the Marine Corps Historical Foundation, however, are unique in that they were organized and exist for the primary purpose of supporting ongoing programs of the active Marine Corps. To effectively serve their purposes, their activities must support and be carried out with the guidance and cooperation of the active Marine Corps leadership. In 2015, the Marine Corps Association had 66,000 members and spent over $1,000,000 in support of Marines. The Marine Corps Association gives out a number of professional writing awards annually to serving Marines. So the MCG is not a negligible publication, and the MCA is not a neglible Institution (albeit a literal NGO). This is August 14. "Marinus"s article in the August issue of MCG has been available since July 29 at the latest, the first hit at the Japanese source. The second hit appears on August 9, in @ Russian-language aggregator. The third appears August 12, on Reddit. 's been two weeks, and the media, collectively, have a ravenous news hole. So where Is the coverage the Times? Where is the Washington Post? Where is Foreign Policy? Where is Foreign Affairs? Where is The Atlantic? Where is the Council on Foreign Relations? Where isthe Institute for the Study of War? Where, further afield, is Defense (One? The Drive? They are all silent. And yet what we have, as the quote in the headline to this post alone shows, is a significant break from orthodoxy on Ukraine and Russian capabilities generally in the professional magazine of the United States Marine Corps. Odd, very odd! The rest of this post will be very simple, 'm going to falr-use slabs of the text as graphics, and not necessarily in order. (An enthusiastic reader, not me, has done a lot of highlighting.) Most, if not all, of the points made by "Marinus" will be familiar to readers, whether fram Yves" posts or fram comments, !'m not going to give any hat tips, for reasons that | assume are obvious from the current climate of opinion. People may, of course, choose to do their own happy dances in comments (ideally with links). | also encourage readers to comment on the substance of the piece!Solet’s start. First, the avoidance of collateral damag Ive always been a litte non-plussed with all the claims of Russian brutality — beyond the brutality of war itself — when the trains are still running, the electrical power grid is still on, the Internet functions, and there's potable water. Very different from, say, Fallujah. (Granted, the Russians want to Integrate the Zaporizhzhia power plant into their own grid, but that’s consistent with their policy of making outcomes more stringent the longer the war goes on) Third, artillery really is “the king of battles"[1}:"Marinus" concludes:John Boyd2}, eh? Vikes. Just the kind of ally we need against China, Ah well, nevertheless... wonder who "Marinus" is, Probably another Colonel or Lieutenant-Colonel who couldn't, or couldn't bear to, climb the greasy pole to become one of the loser Generals (Iraq, Afghanistan) at the Pentagon. | encourage you to read the whole piece, which you can do either at the original tweet or on Reddit It contains a more sophisticated argument on Russian doctrine than Ihave been able to include here. NOTES: [1] Take that, fyboys. [2] More on John Bayd from, sorry, Wikipedia, . «Chas struggle or degrowth? Lawfare as an imperialist weapon: the case ofthe Venezuelan plane > MR Press News Climate & Capitalism Monthly ReviewNEW! 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