Ukraine: Counter-view in US says Putin 'has already won'

Washington [US], March 28 : Unknown to the world, at least 200 British and American soldiers have died and many injured in Ukraine while fighting the advancing Russian forces, according to two well-known American security analysts.
They lend credence to Russian claims blacked out as 'propaganda' by the Western media, representing a narrative that is emerging in the United States. It counters the US/NATO projections that show Ukraine holding out and Russia bogged down in the conflict.
It foresees Russian leader Putin securing Ukraine's partition, rendering it largely agricultural and landlocked and posing no threat to Russia "anytime soon." That would "effect a divorce with the West."
Larry C. Johnson, a veteran of the US' CIA and the State Department's Office of Counter-Terrorism, noted: "The Ukrainian Army has (already) been defeated. What's Left Is Mop-Up".
In an interview by Mike Whitney, posted on UNZ.com (March 21, 2022), Johnson says Russia can survive the sanctions imposed by the US and its allies and could inflict economic misery on them. It is a 'miscalculation' to think that economic sanctions on Russia would "bring them to their knees. The opposite is true," Johnson avers.
"Russia is self-sufficient and is not dependent on imports. However, its exports are critical to the economic well-being of the West. If they withhold wheat, potash, gas, oil, palladium, finished nickel and other key minerals from the West, the European and U.S. economies will be impacted. And this attempt to coerce Russia with sanctions has now made it very likely that the U.S. dollar's role as the international reserve currency will show up in the dustbin of history," Johnson says.
He further viewed that a thoroughly weakened Ukraine could be "dominated by fascists from Galicia which would then become a major problem for the European Union."
Johnson agrees with fellow American, Colonel Douglas MacGregor, who opines that "the war is really over for the Ukrainians. They have been ground into bits, there is no question about that despite what we hear from our mainstream media.
"Are we going to stop using Ukraine as a battering ram against Moscow, which is effectively what we've done," MacGregor asked. Following Putin's "special military operations" beginning February 24, Johnson claims: "Within the first 24 hours of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, all Ukrainian Ground Radar Intercept capabilities were wiped out. Without those radars, the Ukrainian Air Force lost its ability to do air-to-air intercepts.
"In the intervening three weeks, Russia has established a de facto No Fly Zone over Ukraine. While still vulnerable to shoulder-fired Surface to Air Missiles supplied by the U.S. and NATO to the Ukrainians, there is no evidence that Russia has had to curtail Combat Air Operations."
Johnson is among the few American experts who believe that "Putin's demands were quite reasonable. The problem is that 99 per cent of Americans have no idea of the kind of military provocation that NATO and the U.S. have carried out over the last 7 years. The public was always told the military exercises were defensive. That simply is not true."
"Now we have news that DTRA was funding Biolabs in Ukraine. I guess Putin could agree to allow U.S. nuclear missile systems in Poland and Romania if Biden agrees to allow comparable Russian systems to be deployed in Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico. When we look at it in those terms we can begin to understand that Putin's demands are not crazy nor unreasonable."
Johnson says the world has not known of the civilian casualties caused by US/NATO operations. This is because the Russian claims have been blacked out as 'propaganda' by the West.
Russian military strikes in Western Ukraine during the past week have shocked and alarmed NATO officials. The first blow came on Sunday, March 13 at Yavoriv, Ukraine. Russia hit the base with several missiles, some reportedly hypersonic. Over 200 personnel were killed, which included American and British military and intelligence personnel, and hundreds more wounded. Many suffered catastrophic wounds, such as amputations, and are in hospital.
Yet, NATO and the western media have shown little interest in reporting on this disaster. On the diplomatic front, Johnson says the US/NATO efforts to pressurize countries including China, India and Saudi Arabia to toe their line are not going to work.
"There is an air of desperation in Washington. Besides trying to ban all things Russian, the Biden Administration is trying to bully China, India and Saudi Arabia. I do not see any of those countries falling into line. I believe the Biden crew made a fatal mistake by trying to demonize all things and all people Russian. If anything, this is uniting the Russian people behind Putin and they are ready to dig in for a long struggle," Johnson says.