Zelensky’s fund-raising visit to Washington as seen by Russia
In my survey of Russian state television broadcasts yesterday, there were two outstanding program segments, one on Sixty Minutes and the other on Evening with Vladimir Solovyov which are worth bringing to the attention of Western audiences because they highlight the deformation of Western reporting, the cut-and-paste editorial direction of media that leaves the public utterly unprepared for what comes next in international affairs.
In effect, given that the behind-the-closed-doors talks between Zelensky and the President Biden and between Zelensky and Congressmen meant that there was little in open text for journalists to go on, the Russian state television coverage of the Zelensky visit to Washington placed primary emphasis on what Western media studiously ignore: body language.
More generally, in U.S. culture, it is considered bad taste to speak about the physiognomy or behavioral peculiarities of some one. In present times of political correctness and stultifying conformism, when the slightest deviation from official government policy spin over the past decade marked one as a ‘friend of Putin’ or today since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war as a ‘disseminator of pro-Palestinian propaganda,’ attention to what someone looks or sounds like is somewhat bizarrely considered off-limits ad hominem argumentation.
And this is not something entirely new. I remember how about eight years ago when I presented a draft of my essay entitled “The Twilight of the Gods” reporting on an appearance of George Soros at a forum he subsidized in Brussels, Professor Stephen Cohen, with whom I was in regular correspondence, chided me for suggesting that the aged billionaire was suffering from dementia judging by the memory lapses he showed in Q&A. Cohen insisted that it was not bon ton to say that directly, though you might hint at it.
Similarly no one ever said about Dick Cheney what should have been obvious to a five year old, namely that his ever present crooked, snide smile was a window on his criminally demented mind. Nor in Europe did anyone ever comment on the distorted facial expressions of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini which during her years in office revealed a stress-driven mental breakdown, a condition which dissipated only after her departure from Brussels.
Well, in Russian culture there were never rules against discussion of body language and physiognomy. If you have any doubts, just open any of Russia’s classic novels of the 19th century and note how the authors describe their main characters.
Last night’s Vladimir Solovyov show indulged in that kind of analysis to the full. In particular, this relates to the coverage of the joint press conference by Biden and Zelensky in which, quite exceptionally, they did not look at one another, they did not shake hands and appeared to be in a frosty relationship which, according to the Russian commentator, Valentin Bogdanov, Russian television’s bureau chief in New York, indicated that behind closed doors Zelensky had been called out on the carpet and told to freeze the conflict with Russia before the start of the U.S. presidential electoral season in January ‘or else.’
The Solovyov show’s interpretation of Zelensky’s visit is that he was ordered to come by the Biden administration so that he could see for himself the political realities of today, namely that there is little or no support in Congress for further military and financial aid to his country.
The ‘or else’ mentioned above is clear from footage of the pooled television feed that the Russians put on air but which has been systematically omitted by Western broadcasters. In this footage, Bogdanov called attention to the prominent presence at the meetings of Zelensky’s chief of the presidential administration Andrei Yermak, who should not have been there. And he showed us how Yermak was caught on video shadowing his boss when Zelensky and Biden exited from the press conference. His big, fat head was for some reason not put on the screen by CNN.
Per Bogdanov, Yermak is one of several Ukrainian politicians and military men that the United States is cultivating to replace Zelensky when they have truly had their fill of him and his only utility will be as scapegoat for the disaster of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. Another candidate said to be favored by Washington is, of course, the military commander Zaluzhny, whose public spat with Zelensky over the present situation on the battlefield has been widely reported in Western media on orders from ‘you know who.’ Then there is also candidate Aleksei Arestovich, a former Zelensky aide now living in the States and biding his time.
The conclusions made by Bogdanov last night and seconded by television host Solovyov are that this is likely Zelensky’s last trip to Washington before he is removed, one way or another. How this is done was explained on another Russian news show last night featuring Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Maduro said that the imperialists use one or another politician in countries they control and then dispose of them at their will, as happened to Washington’s choice of an anti-president for his country, Juan Guaido. The Americans finally spat out Guaido and he was allowed to settle in Miami. It remains to be seen whether Zelensky will be so lucky.
By the way, speaking of ad hominem remarks, Russian television has made extensive use of videos from the USA proving, as they say, that “Biden has outlived his brain.’ Their favorite in the past couple of days is a video showing Biden speaking to a small audience in which he says: “after October 7th my father went back to his kibbutz and found that his house had been destroyed.” As Solovyov remarked, no one around Biden seemed to care that he had just spoken an absurdity.
The Russians do care about presidents who have one foot in the grave. They had their fill of such detritus in power during the final years of Leonid Brezhnev and his two immediate successors, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. They know very well how a presidential entourage clings to a mummy for the sake of their own jobs and comfortable income while the country descends into the abyss. Meanwhile Americans seem to be indifferent to who is running their country today so long as it is not Trump.
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My second segment on Russian state television comes from Sixty Minutes. This was a ten minute interview in their Moscow studio with Apti Aronovich Alaudinov, bemedaled commander of the ‘Akhmat’ brigade that has been kept very busy on the front in Donbas.
Alaudinov is of mixed Chechen and Russian ancestry. He was born in the Stavropol krai of Russia in the family of a Soviet military officer. He made his career in the Chechen republic and the brigade he heads consists of 25% Chechens, 50% Russians from all over the RF, and the balance is foreign volunteers including from the West.
In his new, very attractively designed green military uniform with stylish green beret, Alaudinov makes a strong physical presence. But the man is brains as well as brawn. Wikipedia tells us that he holds a Ph.D. degree (university and discipline not disclosed).
Alaudinov has appeared every week or two on Sixty Minutes but always from some field command post in the Donbas. His answers to questions from television presenter Olga Skabeyeva were always evasive, cautious, to be sure not to violate military secrecy on air. Yesterday, in the studio, he obviously had more advance time to prepare his statements and they very interesting and maybe even important, though they run against what I and other Western commentators have been saying about the Russian war plans these last few weeks since Russia shifted to an ‘active defense’ posture that looks a lot like an offensive.
‘No,’ said Alaudinov, this is not the start of the massive Russian attack that so many have predicted. It is just action to straighten the front lines separating the warring parties, to capture as much high ground as possible in preparation for a real offensive which can come only in the spring. Per Alaudinov, the Russians are not yet ready to unleash a full scale attack. If they were to do that now, they would face the same horrific casualty rate as has bedeviled the Ukrainian attacks in the now ended ‘counter-offensive.’ From this we may take away that there is still some residual strength left in the Ukrainian army and that the Russian forces available at the front are still not so overwhelming as to crush the ‘Ukro-Nazis’ without cost to themselves.
As for the relative Russian and Ukrainian casualty rates to date, Alaudinov would give no numbers, but did say that the Ukrainians were losing many more soldiers on the battlefield than the Russians.
If that statement does not sound like much, you have to juxtapose it with the headline news in the United States yesterday, when the intelligence services ‘leaked’ information to the media contending that the Russians had lost 300,000 soldiers in their Special Military Operation so far, amounting to 80% of the army they fielded at the start of the SMO in February 2022. This ‘leak’ very conveniently took place exactly when Zelensky was in Washington begging for further financial and military assistance. The point that American intel services were making is that the assistance to Kiev has done a great job weakening the Russian armed forces, that it was ‘good value for the money,’ as the still unindicted war criminal Senator from North Carolina Lindsey Graham has been saying publicly for some time.
I have little doubt that Skabeyeva’s asking Alaudinov about the kill ratios was done precisely to respond to the U.S. intelligence ‘leak.’ Washington remains the focal point of Russian attention today, just as it was at the height of the Cold War.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2023