There are wishful thinkers who still try to deny it. But Seymour Hersh’s explosive April 12th revelations (see below), coming atop the leaks of secret US Joint Staff briefing slides which first hit the press on April 7th, both stem from courageous acts by patriotic high-level officials in the US National Security state, who are fighting to somehow reverse the pell-mell rush into war with Russia and China led by an incompetent Biden Administration and yahoo neocons in the Republican Party and Washington’s foreign policy establishment.

At precisely the same moment, President Trump appeared on April 12th in a foreign policy interview by Tucker Carlson, and proved himself a moderate and level-headed leader with both the knowledge and the rapport with foreign leaders to steer the boat away from the waterfall. He was completely the opposite of the fake-press portrayal of an impulsive and unbalanced political opportunist. First and foremost, he is concerned with the looming danger of nuclear war. He said that he knows the incredible destructive power of the US and Russian nuclear arsenals—most people have no idea. He said, once again, that we are closer to nuclear war than at any time in recent years because the Biden Administration is completely and dangerously incompetent. His assessment is shared by Seymour Hersh’s sources and the Joint Staff leaker(s).

Judge Andrew Napolitano is right to call the Joint Staff leaks “the Pentagon Papers again,” because now, once more, high-level officials are taking it upon themselves to leak classified papers to the press, in a last-ditch effort to stop a disastrous war, as Daniel Ellsberg did with his original “Pentagon Papers” in 1971. One might object that Ellsberg risked decades of imprisonment by coming out in his own name—whereas today’s Joint Staff leakers are anonymous. But a huge, all-points investigation has been launched to find and arrest them. The White House and Pentagon are furious—not because the leaks damaged national security, which has not been shown, but rather because these courageous officials have enraged the lunatics with an example of opposition right in the inner sanctum of their own asylum. The leaked papers also demonstrate that the American people are being lied to about Ukrainian successes in a killing field of absolute destruction.

Hersh wrote April 12th that a knowledgeable intelligence official told him that the lack of leadership from Biden et al, has led to a “total breakdown” of trust between the White House and elements of the intelligence community. Secretary of State Blinken and National Security Adviser Sullivan “have no experience, judgment, and moral integrity. They just tell lies, make up stories.”

“A prominent retired American diplomat who strenuously opposes Biden’s foreign policy toward China and Russia depicted Blinken as little more than a ‘jumped-up congressional staffer’ and Sullivan as ‘a political campaign manager’ who suddenly find themselves front and center in the world of high-powered diplomacy ‘with no empathy for the opposition.’ ” Empathy, or accurately knowing and assessing your opposition is, of course, the key to both winning wars and winning peace.

Hersh continued:

“Destroying the Nord Stream pipelines was never discussed, or even known in advance, by the [intelligence] community,” the official told me. “And there is no strategy for ending the war. The US spent two years planning for the Normandy invasion in World War II. What are we going to do if China decides to invade Taiwan?” The official added that the National Intelligence Council has yet to order a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on defending Taiwan from China, which would provide national security and political guidance in case such does happen. There is no reason yet, despite repeated American political provocation from both Democrats and Republicans, the official said, to suspect that China has any intention of invading Taiwan….

Although it is little mentioned, a brigade each of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, totaling perhaps 20,000 troops, have been sent to Poland and Romania. The intelligence officials told Hersh that “there is no evidence that any senior official in the White House really knows what’s going on in the 82nd and 101st. Are they there as part of a NATO exercise, or to serve with NATO combat units if the West decides to engage Russian units inside Ukraine? Are they there to train, or to be a trigger? The rules of engagement say they can’t attack Russians unless our boys are getting attacked.”

“But the juniors are running the show here,” the official added. “There’s no NSC coordination and the US Army is getting ready to go to war. There’s no idea whether the White House knows what’s going on. Has the President gone to the American people with an informative broadcast about what is going on? The only briefings the press and the public get today are from White House spokespeople.”

Hersh concludes with his own thoughts: “If worse comes to worst for the undermanned and outgunned Ukraine army in the next few months, will the two American brigades join forces with NATO troops and face off with the Russian army inside Ukraine? Is this the plan, or hope, of the American President? Is this the fireside chat he wants to give? If Biden decides to share his thoughts with the American people, he might want to explain what two army brigades, fully staffed and supplied, are doing so close to the war zone.”

There is an exact parallel between the leaked Joint Staff briefing materials which began to appear in the press April 7th, and the Pentagon Papers leaked by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971. In both cases, the US military and the Presidency were lying to the American people by telling them that we were on the path to victory—but at the same time, in their own internal reports and studies, they outlined the magnitude of their defeat.

The leaked papers show that “the planned Ukrainian late Spring offensive could be a death trap for the US, NATO, and even America’s Asian allies,” according to one reviewer.

The new Pentagon Papers also tell us that Ukraine’s air defenses are very badly depleted, either destroyed by the Russians or lacking ammunition. Even interceptors for the US Patriot air defense system delivered to Ukraine are currently unavailable unless replacement missiles are yanked from US and European operational units.  

What this means is that the Russians have an advantage in air superiority which, in any offensive, they will use against the Ukrainian forces. The lack of ammunition is also a major problem to support the promised offensive, even to continue the war itself.

“Big Serge” provides a much fuller account. He recounts, for example, from the leaked reports that the Ukrainian Army was firing 1,000 155mm shells per 24 hours, as against 20,000 artillery shells coming in from the Russian side. Only about 10,000 remain in Ukraine, enough for one to two weeks of fighting. Under 2,000 were in shipment to Ukraine, while the US only manufactures 14,000 per month—half of what Ukraine consumes per month. The picture is similar with HIMARS missiles and across the board.

The best possible conclusion from the leaked reports, is that if Ukraine launches a Spring offensive, it may or may not make some temporary territorial gains. But that will be the end of it. After that offensive, nothing will remain. This is the “death trap” to which Stephen Bryen referred above. What then? Is the next step to send in the Poles and elements of the 82nd and 101^st Airborne to engage the Russians?

So, President Trump has stepped into the breach, along with some so-far anonymous, but courageous senior officials. Now the citizenry must engage. No longer can you claim you don’t understand the issues. They are clear—too clear. Most important is to “evangelize” for President Trump’s return to the Presidency, among people and groups which don’t yet support his return. We must create a fully universal movement--far, far beyond just Republicans—to return President Trump to the White House and enable him to govern effectively once there. But there is something else you can do—and you can do it even if you don’t support President Trump. Insist that your Representatives and Senators act to cut off the money spigot to Ukraine, and instead demand immediate peace negotiations. No one can stand aside in a moment like this.