Just follow the leaders – they know everything, so we don’t have to!

 

 

I thought I couldn’t become more jaundiced, more cynical when perusing the produce concocted in the offices of our propaganda outlets, let loose on us in articles concocted by ‘experts’ and ‘editors’. Instead, it’s getting worse. Moreover, I’m succumbing to ‘headline-itis’, i.e. just checking headlines because they tell us more about what we plebs are told to think than the following reports. 

Today’s prime example is one created by Autie Beeb’s staff writer, responsible for the compilation of this morning’s print editions’ front pages: “Newspaper headlines: ‘Berlin to send tanks’ and ‘Hunt rules out tax cuts’” (link). When you scroll all the way down, past the last front page, you’ll find the interpretation by yon staff writer, a.k.a. ‘summary’. Well, who needs to buy, never mind read, papers when the BBC does it for them, nicely prepared for a quick scan on one’s smartphone! 

Still, I felt this morning’s leader in the DT needed a closer look. I wonder if the editors are actually aware that they write unmitigated nonsense:

“Hammer blow for Vladimir Putin as Ukraine to get 200 tanks from West – Kyiv to become the ‘real punching fist of democracy’ after breakthrough donations from Germany and US that could turn tide of war” (paywalled link)

Omigawd: 200 tanks! Is nobody in those sacred newsrooms capable of taking a quick glance at wiki, to check out the history of WWII? In yon days Germany alone used over 3,000 tanks. We, or at least some of us do remember how that ended.  Some might even recall the huge ‘tank battles’ on the plains of what is now the Ukraine … Now see the numbers constituting yon ‘hammer blow’ (this and other emphases are mine):

“Germany itself was reportedly preparing to send 14 tanks, with Olaf Scholz, the country’s chancellor, expected to make an announcement as soon as Wednesday. “Today, the chancellor made a decision that no one took lightly,” said Christian Duerr, parliamentary leader of the co-governing Free Democrats. “The fact that Germany will support Ukraine with the Leopard tank is a strong sign of solidarity.” US officials suggested their plans were being finalised, with options to send up to 50 Abrams. An announcement is expected later this week. It brought the total number of tanks Kyiv can expect to have at its disposal to nearly 200, with potential for more.” (paywalled link)

Gawd – 14 tanks, in addition to the 14 tanks Ben Wallace handed over, and a ‘potential’ 50 U tanks: what a ‘hammer blow’! Excuse me if I’m wrong, but this looks like gesture politics of the finest. There are no tanks as of yet, they can only be ‘expected’ and plans aren’t even finalised. But never mind: it’s now in the international MSM, so Putin will surely ponder a quick retreat in the face of ‘expected’ 200 tanks.

I’ll not even talk about this ‘punching fist of democracy’ – did someone in the DT newsroom read some trashy novels while WFH? But fear not – our retired Chief of Staff clearly has read such novels as well. Lord Dannatt wrote for the DM:

“The Leopards will be particularly advantageous on the battlefront in Kharkiv, where the Ukrainians have the best chance of winning. If they can smash the morale of the Russian conscripts here and break the back of the Russian army, the current fights in Soledar and Bakhmut — which are geographically challenging areas — may become easier. And though the Russians have vast numbers of conscripts at their disposal, this doesn’t guarantee success. For an army to lose, it does not necessarily have to suffer huge losses of men and equipment. Rather, it needs the individual soldier to believe that he or she has lost. When poorly led like the Russians, soldiers will vote with their feet and save their own skins.” (link)

Words fail me! Does Lord Dannatt really believe that 14 Leos and our 14 Challengers will ‘break the back of the Russian Army’? Because those Russian soldiers are ‘poorly led’ and will run? Is he confusing Ukrainian soldiers with Russians, perchance? 

And right on point, especially when seen on the background of the ‘demands’ in other papers, that Hunt please lower taxes, there’s Tobias Ellwood MP and a co-author, with this outcry:

“Britain needs new tanks to defeat Putin – Russia’s invasion has exposed vulnerabilities in Western defence, not least in the aging [sic!] weaponry the UK has at its deposal [sic!]” (paywalled link).

Alright – I won’t mock the subeditor responsible for proofreading, he/she/it probably has switched off their spellchecker. Now look at the following paragraphs where Mr Ellwood, even though wearing rose-tinted spectacles, contradicts both Lord Dannatt and the rah-rah authors of the ‘hammer blow’ article. First, the rose-tinted assessment:

“We can now say with confidence that Western tanks are vastly superior to the old Soviet ones. Their ability to punch through enemy defences, seize and hold ground, fight at night and fire accurately on the move is potentially war winning. This shock action is as relevant today as it was in achieving victory in 1918.” (paywalled link)

Ahem. Where’s the evidence for this, especially as shown in the Ukraine? Does Putin’s Army not have modern, non-Soviet tanks? Do our esteemed MPs like Mr Elwood not have access to Russian sources – or do they simply discard them as ‘propaganda’? Next:

“Whilst the UK has done well to push the envelope in the quality and quantity of military support sent by a timid West, we can now clearly see that a squadron of Challenger II tanks alone is not enough to change the course of this war. Indeed, our land warfare capability including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and reconnaissance vehicles is in a sorry state of affairs.” (paywalled link)

So yon 14 Challenger tanks, even together with the German Leopards, aren’t sufficient to make Putin give up? Who knew! Still, his description of the dire state of our Armed Forces is to the point:

“In short: our tanks are over 20 years old, soon to be reduced to 148 from 900 decades ago. Our Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicles are over 26 years old. Worse still, the Warrior is being replaced by the German-made Boxer; a wheeled, not tracked, vehicle that has no turret. Our Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle is over 50 years old. It should have been replaced by the Ajax three years ago, but a litany of procurement problems means it’s unclear if this will go ahead. If tanks are the answer to defeat our most dangerous adversary, we need a lot more state of the art armour to make the British Army a viable fighting force in future, […]”(paywalled link)

And that’s just the Army … The real question is: how are “we” going to pay for all that? Hunt isn’t supposed to raise taxes, the economy is on its knees, the NHS needs ‘moar money’, the social benefits budget is growing thanks to dingy arrivals – where are the numbers? Irrelevant?

Moreover, given Net Zero, how and where are “we” going to manufacture said tanks? Given ‘sanctions’, where are the materials going to come from? And finally: who on earth is going to build those things when people are no longer prepared to work, when “we” must have ‘work-life-balance’, when the engineers and experienced workers – all those old white males  have long retired? Where are the numbers?

Speaking of numbers, do have a quick look at a report in the DM published yesterday evening, detailing how much (not!) people ‘earned’ by switching off their appliances. Oh dear … 

That’s all I have for today. The jingoist propaganda produced by the Westminster MSM is sickening, the more so since there’s not a shred of evidence that their reports are based on facts, on actual numbers. And still the sheep follow their lead … Have a good day.



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