How The Pentagon Uses A Secretive Program To Wage Proxy Wars

Nick Turse, Alice Speri, The Intercept, Jul 1 2022

Small teams of US SOF are involved in a low-profile proxy war program on a far greater scale than previously known, according to exclusive documents and interviews with more than a dozen current and former government officials. While The Intercept and other outlets have previously reported on the Pentagon’s use of the secretive 127e authority in multiple African countries, a new document obtained through the FoIA offers the first official confirmation that at least 14 127e programs were also active in the greater Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region as recently as 2020. In total, between 2017 and 2020, US commandos conducted at least 23 separate 127e programs across the world. Separately, Joseph Votel, a retired four-star Army general who headed both SOCOM & CENTCOM, which oversees US military efforts in the Middle East, confirmed the existence of previously unrevealed 127e “counter-terrorism” efforts in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.

How The Pentagon Uses A Secretive Program To Wage Proxy Wars

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America Is Quietly Expanding Its War in Tunisia

Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say

Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say

As Russian troops press ahead with a grinding campaign to seize eastern Ukraine, the nation’s ability to resist the onslaught depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies — including a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training, according to U.S. and European officials.

Much of this work happens outside Ukraine, at bases in Germany, France and Britain, for example. But even as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.

At the same time, a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine. The United States withdrew its own 150 military instructors before the war began in February, but commandos from these allies either remained or have gone in and out of the country since then, training and advising Ukrainian troops and providing an on-the-ground conduit for weapons and other aid, three U.S. officials said.

But the agency’s [CIA] expertise in training is in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations*, former intelligence officials say. What Ukrainians need right now is classic military training in how to use rocket artillery, like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and other sophisticated weaponry, said Douglas H. Wise, a former deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and retired senior C.I.A. officer.

H/T: Western Officials Admit Ukraine Is Crawling With CIA Personnel

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Ukraine Bits: No Ammo, More Casualties, Thin Lines, Propaganda And Passing The Buck

The real state of the war in Ukraine, which I had described some two months ago, has now reached the main stream media. The Zelensky regime in Ukraine is using it to beg the ‘west’ for more guns and ammunition.

Ukraine Bits: No Ammo, More Casualties, Thin Lines, Propaganda And Passing The Buck

Related:

Biden Throws Zelensky Under The Bus: Ukraine Leader ‘Brushed Off’ Invasion Warnings

West’s Media U-Turn in Ukraine as Reality Sets In

The Western media is now preparing their audiences for the disappointing reality of Ukraine’s loss on the battlefield. In order to do so, they are shifting the blame onto Ukraine and their apparent ability to conceal the truth from Western intelligence agencies, Western politicians, and the Western media itself.

West’s Media U-Turn in Ukraine as Reality Sets In

References:

Ukraine’s position has ‘worsened’ in fight for Severodonetsk

High-tech Western Weapons Pose Challenge for Untrained Ukrainian Soldiers

U.S. Lacks a Clear Picture of Ukraine’s War Strategy, Officials Say

US, China on Collision Course Over Taiwan

https://youtu.be/AbaOiqC0xBE

Scott Ritter

Chinese officials have made it clear that their “One China” policy regarding Taiwan is founded on a constitutionally mandated principle of so-called “peaceful reunification.” War, Chinese officials say, is a measure of last resort, only to be employed to prevent the fact of Taiwan’s secession from China, or when possibilities for peaceful reunification have been completely exhausted. But current US policies on Taiwan appear designed to push China to the brink, raising the prospect of armed conflict.

US, China on Collision Course Over Taiwan

Biden: U.S. will provide precision rockets to Ukraine

Biden: U.S. will provide precision rockets to Ukraine

The U.S. will provide Ukraine with more advanced rocket systems and precision-guided munitions that will give them an edge on the battlefield, President Joe Biden wrote in an opinion article in the New York Times published Tuesday.

But Kyiv has given the United States assurances that the new weapons will be used in Ukraine and not against targets in Russia, senior administration officials told reporters after Biden’s op-ed was published.

The HIMARS and its munitions are part of a new $700 million aid package for Ukraine, which will be announced on Wednesday, the officials said. The package also includes counterfire radars, a number of air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-armor weapons, additional artillery rounds, helicopters, additional tactical vehicles and spare parts, the second official said.

Related:

Kremlin does not trust Zelensky’s promises not to attack Russia with US-made rockets

Russia warns West against providing Ukraine long-range weaponry

May update: a war to the last Ukrainian

By Dmitriy Kovalevich, New Cold War, 5/27/22

In this month’s update, New Cold War’s regular contributor and analyst Dmitriy Kovalevich describes what has been happening on the ground in Ukraine throughout May. In his comprehensive account, based on reports including those from the Ukrainian media, Kovalevich clearly demonstrates how the western establishment’s narrative differs strikingly from the reality and why Zelensky is now saying that, despite bellicose statements from countries like Great Britain and Canada, the conflict can only end through diplomacy.

Dmitriy Kovalevich: May update: a war to the last Ukrainian