larry johnson compares the empire's estimates with reality in the ukraine;

The Commander of US forces in Europe (aka USEUCOM), General Chris Cavoli, was on Capitol Hill today testifying before the Senate Armed Services committee. His opening statement is a remarkable mix of candor, fantasy and pure unadulterated male bovine excrement (MBE). It highlights my past contention that senior US defense officials will shade the truth (a euphemism for “lie“) in order to keep an existing policy intact, even if that policy is failing. We saw that in the Vietnam War and, more recently, the parade of generals who repeatedly told Congress that we were winning in Afghanistan.

I will excerpt a few paragraphs from his statement that illustrate what I mean. Cavoli grudgingly admits, early on in his remarks, that Russia is not on the ropes militarily:

Russian Reconstitution
Despite extensive battlefield losses in Ukraine, the Russian military is reconstituting and growing at a faster rate than most analysts had anticipated. In fact, the Russian army, which has borne the brunt of combat, is today larger than it was at the beginning of the war—despite suffering an estimated 790,000 casualties. In December 2024, Moscow ordered the military to increase its strength to 1.5 million active service members and is recruiting approximately 30,000 troops per month. Russian forces on the frontlines of Ukraine are now at over 600,000, the highest level over the course of the war and almost double the size of the initial invasion force.........more.........