ArcaMax

MOSCOW — Western media has been sounding the alarm on the desperate shortage of Ukrainian manpower to fight Russia. Sounds like it’s time for those who keep insisting on continued war over negotiated peace to head over there themselves — starting with our own Western establishment warmongers, who have been pratfalling toward even more direct war with Russia.

We keep hearing that if the West doesn’t roll up its shirtsleeves and punch out Russia’s lights in the Ukrainian parking lot between the two, then Russia will come kick down NATO’s door next. “If I don’t go shoot my neighbor in the face right now, then he might use his gun on me someday,” is the “logic” at play here. No one in their right mind is buying it. Or wants to do anything about it beyond posting Ukrainian flag emojis on social media.

Here’s someone who either didn't get the memo or is being deliberately obtuse. “There is no consensus at this stage ... to send troops on the ground," French President Emmanuel Macron said recently. “Nothing should be excluded. We will do everything that we must so that Russia does not win.”

The following day, Macron’s prime minister, Gabriel Attal, doubled down, saying that “you can't rule anything out in a war.”

Yeah, actually you can rule it out. We’re not talking about sampling a new hors d’œuvre, but sending French citizens into a war that France hasn’t actually declared, nor does it touch a single inch of French territory. So if these two young keeners want to go fight a war on Ukraine’s side, then they should be able to do so, just as the loophole in France’s anti-mercenary law allows in cases where French citizens want to fight for the recognized army of another country. Please, take your whole party with you, and anyone else publicly fantasizing about smoking Russians. They can follow in the footsteps of the dozens of French mercenaries who were blown up by a Russian missile in Ukraine back in January while fighting to preserve democracy and freedom in a country that routinely bottoms out on both while topping the global corruption index.

Meanwhile, over in Germany, military brass have just been busted talking about blowing up the Kerch bridge, which links the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland, by helping Ukrainians to direct the missiles – all without German Chancellor Olaf Scholz getting his hands dirty. That’s the take-home message of an alleged conversation between Germany’s Air Force chief and his colleagues, intercepted by Russia and leaked online. “According to our assessment, a conversation in the Air Force division was intercepted. We are currently unable to say for certain whether changes were made to the recorded or transcribed version,” the German defense ministry said. The German military brass heard in the audio leak “spoke about ways German officers could supply Ukrainians with targeting information without appearing to be directly involved in the conflict with Russia,” according to Germany’s state-owned Deutsche Welle.

Talk in Berlin has now turned to figuring out how it leaked and whether there might be more intercepts to follow. Instead, the buzz should really be about whether each of these guys involved can personally ride these Tauruses like rodeo clowns into Russia, if that’s how they really feel.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz keeps publicly saying that he won’t send Tauruses — whose 500 kilometer range can strike deep inside Russia from Ukraine, unlike their British Storm Shadow and French SCALP counterparts which top out around 250 kilometers. The leaked conversation apparently addressed the notion of maintaining plausible deniability for Scholz. Kind of like when, in February, Scholz’s party explicitly voted down an opposition resolution to specifically send Tauruses to Kyiv, but then later approved another government motion that simply referred to unspecified long-range weapons, omitting any mention of Tauruses. When asked if the legislation also included them, defense minister Boris Pistorius said that he didn’t know because he didn’t write it. How convenient that neither he nor Scholz explicitly excluded the use of Tauruses. Two more saddles, please! No? Then the bulls stay in the barn.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Ukraine aid-blocking Republican majority of the House Armed Services Committee hearing last week that “if Putin is successful [in Ukraine], he will not stop.” Not buying it? Well, then how about the notion that “other leaders around the world, other autocrats, will look at this and they’ll be encouraged,” he said.

As if they didn't already notice the errors in Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, or all over Africa.

The Western establishment is rife with spoiled brats who didn’t get what they wanted. They were stupid or arrogant enough to believe at the outset that a conventional war against Moscow in the backyard of the Russian army, using Ukrainians, was winnable. And now, as losses pile up, their taxpayers are starting to put their foot down on funding the losing bet. Their solution? To ramp things up. You first, Rambos.