By Eric Zuesse
Though the U.S. Government spends about $1.5 trillion annually for the military — around half of that being spent in the Department of ‘Defense’ — and Russia spends annually less than 5% as much on its total military costs, America’s ‘news’-media blame Russia’s alleged corruption for Russia’s alleged military failures, but do not blame America’s actual military failures upon America’s actual corruption. Here is how that happens:
The neoconservative Democrat Pierre Omidyar, who was one of the main private funders of America’s 2014 coup in Ukraine, subsequently founded The Intercept website in order to serve as a way-station to career-oblivion for progressive investigative-reporting stars such as Glenn Greenwald and Mark Ames (both of whom were then soon forced out), and now the neoconservative former New York Times reporter, James Risen, who hasn’t lost his job there, is reporting, on October 5th, that “THE CIA THOUGHT PUTIN WOULD QUICKLY CONQUER UKRAINE. WHY DID THEY GET IT SO WRONG? High-tech surveillance may have blinded the U.S. to how corruption has weakened the Russian military.”:
When Putin invaded in February, U.S. intelligence officials told the White House that Russia would win in a matter of days by quickly overwhelming the Ukrainian army, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, who asked not to be named to discuss sensitive information. …
The U.S. intelligence community’s stunning failure at the beginning of the war to recognize the fundamental weaknesses in the Russian system mirrors its blindness to the military and economic weaknesses of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, when Washington failed to predict the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. …
U.S. intelligence did not recognize the significance of rampant corruption and incompetence in the Putin regime, particularly in both the Russian army and Moscow’s defense industries, the current and former intelligence officials said. U.S. intelligence missed the impact of corrupt insider dealing and deceit among Putin loyalists in Moscow’s defense establishment, which has left the Russian army a brittle and hollow shell.
“There was no reporting on the corruption in the Russian system,” said the former senior intelligence official. “They missed it, and ignored any evidence of it.”
No evidence was provided in Risen’s ‘news’-report, except those allegations by those “current and former U.S. intelligence officials, who asked not to be named.”
If Risen’s report is news, then it is news that rhymes with five-month-old news from Yahoo News, whose finance columnist Rick Newman headlined on 1 April 2022, “Why Russia’s military is so shabby”, and he did name sources:
Western analysts obviously failed to notice many fundamental problems with Russia’s military, with many estimating before the invasion that overwhelming firepower and a deep kit of military tools would help Russia steamroll Ukraine. They had reason to believe that, however. For the last decade, Russia has increased defense spending and embarked on an aggressive modernization program, … One thing that’s extremely difficult to diagnose from a distance, though, is the cancer of corruption and inefficiency. Russia has adopted some market reforms since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, but it has also become a kleptocracy with endemic graft and plodding state agencies that make America’s federal bureaucracy look like a whiz-bang startup. In Ukraine, those shortcomings may have metastasized into disaster.
“Corruption is part of the political and economic system in Russia, and what we are seeing in Ukraine is part of the explanation,” Katarzyna Zysk, a professor at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies in Oslo, tells Yahoo Finance. “The problem is there’s no accountability. We assume this continues to be part of the problem in the Russian military.”
Russia’s annual defense budget is around $62 billion — less than one-tenth what the United States spends. Even then, secret bidding for military contracts and an overcomplicated military bureaucracy leave ample room for graft. In a couple of rare admissions, Russian military leaders have estimated that 20% to 40% of Russia’s military budget is stolen. Former Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev, who now lives in the United States, said on Twitter on March 6, “the Kremlin spent the last 20 years trying to modernize its military. Much of that budget was stolen and spent on mega-yachts in Cyprus.” …
Putin himself is responsible for those problems. As Russia’s leader or de facto leader for 22 years, he has fashioned the entire economy according to his liking, and probably purloined more of the nation’s wealth for himself than anyone else.
“Putin is the corrupter-in-chief,” Barry Pavel, director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, tells Yahoo Finance. “In autocratic systems like Russia, China or North Korea, it’s much easier to skim a lot of money off the top. The same thing is happening in the military. Each branch of the military gets a certain budget, and it seems to me there are chunks off the top that go for the aggrandizement of those leaders.”
Dude, I stole your army
U.S. intelligence officials have deduced that Putin’s deputies are reluctant or afraid to tell him the truth about Russia’s shoddy military and its halting war in Ukraine. That might be because those are the same people who plundered the military budget in the first place, leaving poorly equipped troops to deal with the deadly consequences on foreign turf against a determined defender. Nobody wants to tell Putin, dude, I stole your army.
If Russia is spending annually a total of “around $62 billion” on defense, then ten times that would be $.62 trillion, and 20 times it would be $1.24 trillion, which would be a bit less than America spends on it each year. So, if Russia’s military is “no accountability” and “there are chunks off the top that go for the aggrandizement of those leaders,” and “Nobody wants to tell Putin, dude, I stole your army,” then how corrupt is America’s military?
Are we to believe that the best the U.S. intelligence community can do in order to explain their long and amazing record of false ‘intelligence’ is for U.S. intelligence officials to blame it on the corruptness of Russia’s military? How stupid do they think we are? Or: ARE ‘we’, that stupid?
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s new book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.
They really are changing things up by telling the truth so much lately.
Propaganda Wars… the West will push to Russia is very corrupt and we all known that USA Military fund is hidden for accountability so nobody can take a look in USA Military budget which is bigger than all other countries together…. years ago I realize that modern USA is just like the Ethernal Rome concept in the western culture…. a True military ruler and hegemon on top but surrounded by civil and commercial world disguised as Free Liberty Democracy World in the lower…. we all live in Lalala World (fairy tales land world) while the true world is the Military Might
Many of the so-called independent news outlets just turn out to be just another arm of the corporate nightmare, the intercept is one of them.
What a joke. They are becoming more and more hysterical.
Translation: “CIA tries to cope for why it got its military intel so disastrously wrong”
The Ukraine was willing to negotiate peace with Russia on Russia’s terms in Istanbul at the start of the war. The CIA never accounted for this fact and spent months desperately convincing Ukraine not to take the offer thereby extending the war.
That’s the real reason for why it took Russia longer than expected.
Russia winning a war against Europe’s largest country equipped with state of the art Western weaponry – Budget: 62 Billion
America getting its ass handed to them by goat herders in Afghanistan with rocks and cowshit – Budget: 1,5 Trillion
This fact alone should tell you where the real corruption is. As usual the Western agencies project their own problems and evil deeds onto Russia.
Just like they accuse Putin of wanting to nuke everyone when he hasn’t even used the word nuke, yet Zelensky is out there begging for a nuclear first strike on Russia.
Is anyone still falling for this obvious CIA tactic?
A poll in the UK found that housewives are more likely to predict Wimbledon champtions than are tennis trainers. Similarly arrmchair generals usually see better strategies than actual generals fighting the wars. One step further, commenters on most alternate websites see what’s going on better than the CIA, FBI and NSA, who have to hire think tanks to conclude the obvious. No Russia’s army is not more corrupt than that of the US. We may spend 10 times as much on defense, but if you’ve ever worked at a place like Raytheon, you know most engineers sit around and gab all day.
At this point I’m wondering how much truth is in what they are saying. I expected much better from Russia. Months of arguing with people at work etc trying to defend Russias Military Operation and explain how US troops would get their asses handed to them in Ukraine. But now looking at the situation I’m baffled at the lack of organization on the front lines. Uncoordinated defense lines etc. At this point the globalists are winning. Why? Because Russia should have went in full force and ended this shit months ago. There is no way to tip toe to victory in a war. When the US invaded Iraq they went in like they actually wanted to win. They blew bridges, knocked out power grids etc on day 1 before 1 boot was on the ground. Russia went in Ukraine with 1 foot in and 1 foot out. Suddenly all of the US Senators who were once afraid to fight Russia are BEGGING to fight Russia. They think Russia is weak. I’ve run out of excuses when arguing to try to defend the Russian Military. At this point Putin needs to put up or shut up.
The intercept is trash, especially the named writer in the article and Jeremy Scahill who ran away from that nun from Syria when she had evidence that the ‘bad dictator Assad’ did not murdered his people but instead it was US backed militants that did it, moving the bodies from place to place for photo ops. Awful people at the Intercept, probably CIA assets. As for the article, more like the Russians played the trick on the US and Europe. The US and gang thought to bleed the Russians but the Russians ended up bleeding them, lol. Slowly and surely.
By now, if you’re still reading US based media/news, then there’s no hope for you.
Russian military more corrupt than the US’s whose generals and high officers are nothing but paid whores for the US MIC, just like the current Affirmative Action Sec. of Defense???? This Zeusse character I think is Zelensky’s sperm dealer!!
Russia, only in the last couple of years, has helped kick the Americunt US military out of Mali, Afghanistan, Yemen, reduced their presence in Syria drastically, foiled any attempt by the Pentagoon to put their hands on Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua with limited military resources and supposedly the stooges in Washington are more capable in their operations?????? I won’t even bother mentioning how the Iranians bitch slap the Americunts around the Persian Gulf and the ME!! Lying delusional son of hoe!!!
What’s wrong with their report? Russian military is corrupt as hell. You don’t need any evidence for that. Just see the results.
US claimed to have spent 300 million $ per day in Afghanistan (plus the money from drugs etc.) and got the result we all know so I wonder if there is an actual contest of corruption between states.”Corruption is the essence of the political and economic system in USA, and they are exporting it big time”, I might add.
Hitler’s posthumous victory?????!!!!!????!!!
This guy is an total moron.
If AH won then why the hell do we have for example:
mass migrations into our western lands.
feemasonry
lgbtqxyz
jews running owning and everything
ridiculous amount of crimes perpetrated
war on our own people
Russia spends less than $62 billion, old figures. They have been decreasing their defence budget, over the last few years, whilst the US and UK increase theirs.
What does the US get for $730 billion, spent on defence, compared to Russia, who spends around $48 billion on defence?
By the way, did anybody know, that according to the UN Charter, Russia has the right to take out Nazis in 2022? Plus, what were the European Parliament saying about it all, back in 2014?
…………….
‘…RUSSIA HAS THE RIGHT TO PUNISH NANZIs anywhere, according to UN Charter.
The Nuremberg Tribunal held all who fought against the United Nations and committed genocide criminally responsible.
The greatest genocide was committed against the Soviet Union people.
UN Charter, Articles 106 and 107 gives the victors of WWII – USSR, UK, US and China, the right to take action against countries that fought, and against them, to prevent measures aimed at revising the results of WWII.
In particular the use of military force, against these coutries, is allowed. To do this they only need to NOTIFY the other winning countries, but, not seek their consent. Russia, as the legal successor to the USSR can also use force against countries want to overtake the Yalta-Potsdam system in Europe. Russia can stop attempts to revive Nazism in Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Austria, Finland, Croatia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic, which was a protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, during the war.
I don’t understand why this pepper counts our money, and does not follow his corrupt government? Let’s figure it out! The military budget of Russia is 60 billion, and the United States is over a trillion. Ukraine helps with weapons and America and Europe, And their stocks are running out. Russia uses 65,000 munitions a day, among them the latest weapons, which Ukraine does not have. And Russia does not whine that stocks are running out. enough for a long time. America has been whining for a long time! Russia has a lot of the latest technology superior to America. With such a budget, America doesn’t even have something close to a dagger, Sarmatian, Yars and so on. So who is corrupt you or us? Author moron!
Who in the media see the “eyes only” files of the CIA when almost no one in the CIA see them. Someone has been sucked in by their talking point and sown their seed.
Another Russophobic report to discredit Russia, the SMO went slow to avoid slavic civillian casualties, and infrastructure destruction, and remember the Nazi had 8 yrs to dig in!!
“US intel brought to you by Fat Leonard & Co.”
Go woke go broke! Ya, some truth in that. How about DeepState? These pedophiles are going to start eating themselves with bowl full sickness and paranoia.
US intelligence and especially war/political commentators and “ANALists “ are so full of BS , as they were accusing themselves that their CIA agents are white Anglo Saxons living in million dollar houses in Lorton VA, and they know it best ??? Get out of town
Corruption in Russia can’t compare with the incredible corruption that trillions of dollars and printing money from nothing can do. Unfortunately corruption exists in all countries and human nature is difficult to if not impossible to change. Russia is fighting the equipment of 30 powerful militaries who have no qualms about funding people that kill civilians and children and worship Nazis. As Theodore Roosevelt once said: “It is not the critic that counts…”
Over 5500 tanks lost by ukraine to the Russian army, over 350 war jets, 170 helicopters and the list goes on. Ukraine lost more than what the Germans had at the beginning of WWII and they keep getting more, I doubt any army could accomplish what the Russian army did, yet they had a hand tied behind their back, as president Putin insisted not to harm civilians.