The Beltway consensus is moving slowly to acknowledge that Russia is winning its war with Ukraine. From M. K. Bhadrakumar at indianpunchline.com:
President Vladimir Putin attending Christmas Mass, Annunciation Cathedral, Kremlin, Moscow, January 7, 2023
The bipartisan consensus in the Beltway on the United States being the ‘indispensable’ world power is usually attributed to the neocons who have been the driving force of the US foreign and security policy in successive administrations since the 1970s.
The op-end in the Washington Post on Saturday titled Time is not on Ukraine’s side, coauthored by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in George W. Bush presidency and Defence Secretary Robert Gates (who served under both Bush and Barack Obama), highlights this paradigm.
Rice and Gates are robust cold warriors who are enthusiastic about NATO’s war against Russia. But their grouse is that President Biden should ‘dramatically’ step up in Ukraine.
The op-ed harks back to the two world wars that marked the US’ ascendance as world power and warns that the US-led ‘rules-based order’ since 1990 — code word for US global hegemony — is in peril if Biden fails in Ukraine.
Rice and Gates indirectly acknowledge that Russia is on a winning streak, contrary to the western triumphalist narrative so far. Evidently, the expected Russian offensive ahead is rattling their nerves.
STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC 
After Chiquitastan FUSA and its rump vassals are bled dry regarding armaments then the really Big Show begins?
Meanwhile in Russia weapons factories are on a six day 24-7 schedule.
Read at aggregator that the classified documents found at the Brandon center all had to do with FUSA gov activities in the 404.
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