The Kremlin has responded to widespread reports from Ukraine that Kiev has received its first deliveries of American M1 Abrams battle tanks. Ukrainian officials have hailed that the tanks will help their forces punch through stalemated front lines.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “they too will burn” – in reference to prior instances of Western tanks being taken out, such as German Leopards and UK Challenger 2 tanks.

“All this can in no way affect the essence of the special military operation, its outcome,” Peskov explained. “There is no panacea, no single weapon that can change the balance of power on the battlefield.”

Beginning this year, Washington had pledged 31 Abrams tanks to the Ukrainians. It’s believed the first ten were transferred to Ukrainian forces as of Saturday. More are expected this fall.

According to more from Peskov, via Reuters:

“Abrams tanks are serious weapons, but remember what the president said about other tanks made in another country,” Peskov said, referring to other Western tanks supplied to Kyiv, which include German-made Leopards and British Challengers.

The White House has also this month for the first time announced it will supply a “limited” amount of long-range ATACMS missile systems, with a range of up to 190 miles.

In early September, The Guardian wrote, “A battlefield video circulating on social media overnight appears to show the destruction of a British Challenger 2 in Ukraine, which would be the first time one of the tanks has been destroyed in combat,.”

UK media subsequently made it clear that up to that point no Challenger 2 tank had ever been lost in battle due to enemy forces since it entered production and was first deployed in 1994 (the exception was a friendly fire incident in Iraq in 2003).

Destroyed Ukrainian Challenger 2 outside of Robotyne, most likely from the 82nd Air Assault Brigade. pic.twitter.com/KInjnmfs4F

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) September 5, 2023

Very controversially, the UK has been sending depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds to Kiev, in order to fire them from the Challenger II tanks. The UK Defense Ministry last spring admitted that it “does not monitor the locations from where DU rounds are fired by the AFU in Ukraine.”

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), known for his efforts to force the Biden Administration to declassify information related to covid’s possible lab origins at Wuhan, exited a classified briefing this week on the situation in Ukraine and expressed a feeling of shock.

“If there is some path to victory in Ukraine, I didn’t hear it today. I also heard that there’s going to be no end to the funding requests…”

Hawley went on to indicate that Americans will be asked to spend hundreds of billions more dollars in the region with an indefinite blank check in place to protect “US standing” on the world stage.  Zelensky asked Biden and Congress for another $24 billion during his latest visit, stating that if Ukraine doesn’t get the aid, they will lose the war.  The information at hand suggests that Ukraine is going to lose the war anyway.

Hawley also revealed that the public is being lied to about the war footing in the region and that Ukraine is definitely ‘not winning.’  This information confirms what many Americans already suspected, with 55% of the public now in opposition to more aid according to recent polls. 

The corporate media blitzkrieg bombarding the populace with tales of imminent Ukrainian victory against Russian forces has lost its momentum and reality is starting to set in.  Though, this did not stop journalists from trying to insert their list of debunked talking points into the interview as they seemed to debate Hawley more than ask him questions.

These debate points have long been a part of the media’s narrative but none of them have held water so far.  Assertions of an inevitable “domino effect” leading to a Russian invasion of Europe should Ukraine fall are reminiscent of the same false claims made during the Vietnam War.  There is no evidence to indicate Russia has plans to attack Poland or any other NATO member, with Putin obviously aware of the danger of nuclear conflict.  As Hawley points out, the warhawks can’t have it both ways – They can’t claim that arming Ukraine has led to the degradation of Russian forces “on the cheap”, and at the same time claim that Russia is strong enough to then overrun Europe should Ukraine lose.

Another disturbing takeaway from this argument is the notion that Ukrainian citizens need to be used as cost effective human shields to prevent a wider war between Russia and NATO.  It is the same claim that Zelensky has been making for the past year in order to frighten the western populace into throwing billions more dollars into Ukrainian coffers – “$100 billion and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian lives will buy you the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Russians.  A proxy war is lot cheaper than engaging in a direct war with them…”

But why entertain a war with Russia at all?  A false choice has been presented – Either Americans support a proxy war against Russia, or be forced to fight a direct war.    

So far, there has been no quantifiable benefits for the western public.  It is clear, however, that there are elements of the establishment that desire an ongoing conflict with Russia.  The anti-Russian rhetoric began in 2016 well before the war in Ukraine.  Propaganda surrounding Donald Trump and “Russiagate” has been thoroughly debunked. Most of the “evidence” presented to prove that the 2016 election was manipulated by Russia was in fact fabricated by groups under the watch of Democrat operatives and some Neo-cons. Of course, the aftermath of the propaganda convinced a large portion of the public (most of them on the political left) that Russia was a predator lurking at their door waiting to strike.

Hawley also notes that while public attentions have been directed at Russia, China is a much more viable threat and any effort to prevent them from invading Taiwan would at this stage be futile.  The truth is, neither war is a winnable prospect for the US or NATO given the economic instability at play; a conflagration between East and West would be disastrous for both sides, but western populations have the furthest to fall.  Clearly there are people within our government that see this as a good thing as they continue to press geopolitical tensions closer and closer to WWIII.        

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

Senator Rand Paul doubled down on his staunch opposition to further funding for the war in Ukraine Thursday, blasting the visiting President Zelensky as a leader of a corrupt regime “begging for more money.”

“It’s not even just going to armaments. You realize we’re funding the pension of their government workers and we complain about bloated government here. They’ve got bloated government and they’ve got corruption. And the American taxpayer, people are struggling in our country, are asked to fund it. I think it’s wrong. And I think most of the American people, frankly, are with me,” Paul said during a Fox Business interview.

Paul also noted that Zelensky has cancelled Democracy in the country.

“They’ve cancelled the elections. What kind of democracy has no election?” he noted, adding “next year, Zelensky said he’s not going to have an election because it would be inconvenient during the war and would be expensive.”

He continued, “if you don’t have elections, who in the world will be supporting a country that’s not a democracy? They’ve banned the political parties, they’ve invaded churches, they’ve arrested priests. So, no, it isn’t a democracy. It’s a corrupt regime.”

“The Russians are worse,” Paul noted, adding “But at the same time, we don’t always have to pick some side to be on. But the ultimate reason I’m against this is we don’t have the money. And when we borrow more money, it leads to more inflation, leads to more likelihood of recession in our country. And so we just can’t keep doing it.”

“We are about $1.5 trillion dollars in debt for this year. Over the last three months we’ve accumulated almost a trillion dollars in three months. The total is $33 trillion, so we don’t have like an extra rainy day fund or a surplus we can send them,” Paul further urged.

The Senator added, “We have to borrow the money from China to send to Ukraine, so no matter what your sympathies are in the war, and I am sympathetic to Ukraine fighting off the Russian aggressors, but at the same time I think it’s irresponsible to think about their country before I think about my country.”

Watch:

Earlier this week in the Senate, Paul said that he will hold up any spending bill to fund the government beyond September 30 to avert a shutdown if it includes aid to Ukraine, asking “When will the aid requests end? When will the war end? Can someone explain what victory looks like?” 

Several Biden officials provided answers to Paul’s questions Thursday, basically saying the funding will go on “as long as it takes.”

"One of the points that @JDVance1 raises is that it's not clear what the exit strategy is — so can you speak to that?"

JOHN KIRBY: "We don't have American troops in Ukraine"

"We are providing them military aid and obviously financial aid…"

KIRBY: "As long as it takes" pic.twitter.com/MQ0fJHTgHf

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 21, 2023

"What are you telling congressional leaders about how much more aid is needed [for Ukraine]?"

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan: "War is inherently unpredictable, of course, so I can't look you in the eye … and predict exactly what’s going to happen" pic.twitter.com/XI9RISY7T9

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 21, 2023

Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says he's "not gonna stand here and give a precise figure" on exactly how much taxpayer funding has been spent on aid to Ukraine pic.twitter.com/1TNWSmogIb

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 21, 2023

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on U.S. funding for Ukraine: "There's not a single dollar dollar amount that is necessary for all time. We need funding to keep going" pic.twitter.com/zTKumrtY9i

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 21, 2023

REPORTER: "President Zelenskyy, are you confident that Congress is gonna support your efforts to get this supplemental aid? Did you get any assurances?"

BIDEN: "There's no alternative" pic.twitter.com/8oy3pte600

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 21, 2023

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