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Last week, the New York Times broke a story about allegedly leaked documents from Western sources circulating on the internet. Since late January, images of what looks like briefing documents have been turning up on various sites. In March, a trove of them turned up on Discord and then another batch soon after. These documents focus primarily on the Ukraine war, but cover other issues as well, like spying on various governments and plans for war with China.
This comes at a critical time, as the war in the Ukraine seems to be reaching an inflexion point militarily and politically. The Russians are about to crack the Zelensky line by taking Bakhmut. This will force the Ukrainians to move further west into the last defensive lines in the Donbas. Politically, patience is beginning to run out in Europe as the war drags far past the promised end date. Washington promised regime change in Moscow and instead it is happening in European capitals.
There is also the endless chatter from Washington about a spring offensive by Ukraine that promises to retake the Donbas. Every day someone from the administration or one of their proxies tells the media about the spring offensive. These documents seem to confirm that NATO has been planning an offensive for months. They list troop numbers for new battalions, as well as equipment deliveries. The most publicized military operation in history is now getting more publicity.
That is the first red flag with the document leak. These documents confirm many of the public statements made by various officials. It is as if they felt that no one believed them, so they leaked this stuff on-line. The fact that “sources” have rushed to their favorite regime-aligned media to confirm the authenticity also suggests this is a bit too convenient of a leak. Normally, there is no comment about these sorts of leaks, to avoid revealing additional information.
Of course, that brings up the second red flag. The four people “reporting” the story for the New York Times are well known conduits for regime propaganda. Gibbons-Neff is most likely an intelligence agent, given his resume. Schmitt has ties to the Kagan cult and has a long association with the State Department. Over the last year, every story from these four reads like a press release from the administration. Their job is to push regime narratives and disinformation campaigns.
Another red flag is the comingling of disparate information. Compartmentalization is the foundation of state security. This means segregating information into discrete domains, which is the basis for a need-to-know information flow. Some people need to know about battlefield data, for example, while other people need to know about the political situation, but not necessarily the battlefield information. Only senior people will need to know both data sets.
Now, it is possible that these documents are from a range of briefing books, but that would mean they are from a senior official. Think about the sort of people who need data on Ukraine, the looming war in Asia, the current war in the Middle East and the current state of spying on friendly governments. Unless the leaker is General Milley, the breadth of subjects in these documents suggests they may be part of a disinformation campaign of some sort.
That brings up another red flag. If you want to trick someone into believing your story, you seed the story with facts that they can confirm. When presented with confirmed information and unconfirmed information in support of a narrative, humans are likely to accept the narrative. If the confirmed information is not generally available, then the bias in favor of the narrative is stronger. In other words, you put your poison fruit in a basket of wholesome and pleasing fruit.
You see that in this document leak. Mixed in with plans for taking the Crimea is data about casualties and supplies that you do not see in the media. This is the sort of stuff the Russians could confirm, as they surely know the condition of the Ukrainian army and their casualty numbers. The intel on Ukrainian air defenses is another bit of truth that makes the leak story look plausible. This data gives away nothing but adds authenticity to the other data in the documents.
Now, Hanlon’s razor applies here. It is not as if the people running Ukraine policy for the regime are the best and the brightest. All these red flags could be explained away as incompetence by the regime. In fact, the leaker could simply be trying to get this reality out into the open. There are plenty of skeptics on the military side of the regime who could be leaking this to embarrass the neocons. It is impossible to know, but skepticism is always the prudent course.
The question behind this is why would the regime do a limited hangout like this on the eve of the big spring offensive? Surely, they know the Russians have their own intelligence operations. That means they know what Ukraine is planning. The Russians have satellites too, so they can see where Ukraine is mustering forces. In other words, this sort of operation is not going to trick the Russians. If this operation is not aimed at the Russians, then who is the target?
The logical answer is European politicians. The bits of tasty fruit in these documents stroke the European ego. It makes their American masters look crude and amateurish, not like the suave and sophisticated Europeans. By playing to their vanity this way, they are more likely to buy the narrative of a great Ukrainian offensive. These documents tell them that they need to wait just a little while longer and they will be rewarded with a smashing success on the battlefield.
Alternatively, this may be prep work for the political fallout that will surely come when the Ukraine war turns ugly later this year. Sending Marco Rubio out to trash French President Emmanuel Macron could be the start of a campaign to shift blame for the failures of Ukraine to the Europeans. Conservatives can then focus their ire on the French, rather than the neocons. You see? Those duplicitous French have undermined our Ukraine policies. Freedom fries are back!
Since the key to regime power is control of information, we are left to guess as to why these allegedly secret documents are on the internet. Stupidity is always a good option, but that cuts in many ways. Stupid people do not lack agency. They do things for a reason, but their reasons are stupid. That may be the case here. It could also be part of some larger narrative developing for later this year. After all, these people are also evil and evil people think this way.
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“That means they know what Ukraine is planning. The Russians have satellites too, so they can see where Ukraine is mustering forces. ” Russians have grand total of two radar and one optical recon satellites. Those also have substantially worse resolution than Western ones so yes, Russians are frequently in the dark about Ukrainian forces. In contrast literally dozens of recon satellites work for Ukraine and they’re also much better than Russia. So Ukraine has a huge recon advantage. For example Western radar satellite track movement of Russian vehicles. It’s not difficult to establish locations of supply depots from this… Read more »
Right and they are fighting naked in the snow, using only shovels and their dongs to crush the Polish mercenaries pretending to be Ukrainians.
The leak has plenty of errors. It’s half true, half inaccurate. For instance, the section on Ukraine air defense is rather poor, though not outright false. Poland has never had S-300 systems and Slovakia has never had Su-27s. The biggest errors are in evaluating casualties. While it’s true Ukraine’s army is not up to standards of NATO, it has a good supreme commander and it’s training is adequate. Ish. In contrast Russian army is led atrociously and it’s training is also atrocious. They bang their heads again and again against well-fortified Ukrainian forces and in process they suffer horrifying casualties.… Read more »
Dear Comrade Putin:
Please launch the hypersonic missiles on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday because I work from home those days and have better chance of survival.
Disinformation or real leak? The simple answer is, it’s both. It’s a real leak of the BS the regime feeds itself. Somebody stole the diary of a delusional, solipsistic coper.
A thought I just had: maybe all this doubt is the point. Yet again the population is flooded woth contradictory ideas, and, again, we flail about coming to terms woth what the revelation means. Maybe this is just another brick in the wall of the alchemical processing of the populace. We are all spun about and disoriented and try to figure out a conclusion. Maybe the point is it is just another injection of stimulus into the system to agitate. Just like the bud light. Just like the Trump charges. Just like Daniel Perry. Just like Iraq wmd. Just like… Read more »
The Greeks at The Doran knock it out of the park on this one.
https://theduran.locals.com/post/3830731/zelensky-in-a-box-offensive-success-in-doubt-neocon-plan-b-push-poland-into-conflict
per Gab (Spoopy Anon):
The Pentagon leaks are probably intentional so they can go “see, we need the Restrict Act to stem the spread of sensitive info because National Security.”
Considering all the stuff on Ukraine is so bullshitty that no one can tell what’s really going on here’s something useful: Freedom Beets: 1 lb. leftover beef roast, cubed leftover beef gravy or meat juice from crock pot, can sub beef boullion 1 onion diced 1 potato grated 3 medium beets grated 1 carrot grated 1 14oz can diced tomatoes 2 sticks celery chopped ~1 cup mushrooms chopped ~3 cups chopped cabbage 1 cup red wine 1/2 stick butter, don’t need if meat juice/gravy is fatty enough 3 bay leaves salt/pepper/thyme to taste put stuff in pot with enough water… Read more »
a real Ukrainian would put a big glob of mayo on that instead of sour cream
Sounds kind of like Liberty Bigos, which is the national dish o’ Poland. No beets, thouugh.
It’s not especially authentic, I modified it quite a bit from the recipe I got originally and borscht recipes I’ve seen online look more like beet puree than this dish which is really a stew.
I have a terrific genuine borscht recipe, which I will share when I get around to unpacking my recipe files. It’s a mix of Russian and Ukrainian. The borscht I ate when I lived in Russia was a rich beef and vegetable stew including but not overpowered by beets and cabbage. Nothing like what most American iterations are like.
Oh, please do share this when the opportunity presents.
I’m a fan of shchi, which, as you may know, is a cabbage stew with a good bit of beef in it. Only made it once, though, because it was such a chore. Really delicious, though.
Never heard of borsht with mushrooms. Thanks for the tip.
😂 Scott Adams may be on a blacklist, so to speak but he he has found his niche. Bravo, well done sir!
Here’s Big Serge’s analysis:
https://bigserge.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Why should anything in the “leak” be taken at face value or assumed to be anywhere close to the truth? Thus what is the point of parsing its contents? The NYT touting it as genuine is about all any dissident should need to know.
I’m with you. The purpose of the leak is pretty obvious from Serge’s analysis: to claim lack of intelligence led to the upcoming rout. Not that questions would be asked where tens of billions went, but just in case. There is absolutely no reason to believe the documents are authentic but the content likely is just true enough to offer an excuse for what is happening and what is coming.
Here’s a snipped of what Big Serge published yesterday: ” […] Now, the obvious question is whether the documents are real. There’s probably at least some rational basis to suspect a misinformation operation. All militaries engage in a range of intermingling intelligence (seeing what the enemy is doing), counterintelligence (hiding what you are doing), and misinformation (lying about what you are doing). Perhaps, one may muse, these documents were not leaked at all, but indelibly planted on the internet to mislead. “I was originally rather agnostic about the documents’ authenticity, but I have come to the view that they are… Read more »
My first thought was that it smacks of getting your excuses in early:
See, We told you it wouldn’t work.
one suspects they would have actually circulated them, rather than dropping them in an obscure corner of the information space and leaving them to languish.
1. There are not many obscure corners of the internet; and
2. left to languish or be discovered? What better way to boost the cred than let some 4Chan geek “discover” them?
I’ve found it useful not to get too far down into the weeds while trying to make sense of a world of lies and misdirection. Stick to the big irrefutable truths (or lies), take in the view from 30,000 feet etc. To wit: The NYT et al are amplifying this because the regime wants it amplified. We have seen and are well aware that they are perfectly capable of ignoring what they want to ignore. Biden braving the air raid sirens of Kiev is not the sort of thing one does as a prelude to de-escalation or withdrawal. The NATO… Read more »
JZ: “The NYT et al are amplifying this because the regime wants it amplified.”
I strongly strongly strongly urge you to ponder an inversion of that sentence:
The regime is amplifying this because (((the NYT et al))) want it amplified.
The “regime” is simply doing what (((et al))) instruct it to do.
Not even Dr Jill herself has the gonads necessary to buck (((et al))) when it comes to determining the future of Khazaria.
I’m not operating from a view of Joe and Jill being the regime, although they are part of it, employed by it, given some leeway within it. The NYT however, is wholly owned and operated by the regime, lock stock and barrel, thus it is not possible for the NYT to go against the regime.
The NYT is the mouthpiece of (((the regime))).
NOTHING but nothing but nothing gets printed at the NYT until it has passed through the finely tooth’ed comb which marks the approval of the Council of the Sanhedrin.
Every little word, every little phrase, every little sentence has to be approved by the Sanhedrin before it can be printed & distributed for goyische consumption.
Still does not explain how/why the Russians are being fooled by any of these revelations? I tend to agree with Z-man, the Russian intelligence is as good as the USA wrt the present conflict. There is no Calais and phantom army in these days of satellite and communication eavesdropping.
Whether or not the Russians are fooled is beside the point
The only thing I have to add is that all the propaganda generated is targeted to domestic (and I include Western Europe) populaces. Whether this leak is real or not, I do not know. But I know any target has to be domestic. Maybe in their minds, TPTB do believe that they are winning the hearts and minds of the Russian populace by telling them how they are about to lose (lulz), but, ultimately, the target is domestic, feeding the echo chamber.
Again, I have no idea if the leak is real or not.
Ah, that solves the mystery. Domestic consumption, rather than military advantage. Could be. Points to the group here, where such disinformation has little to no chance of persuasion.
What I’m saying is that GAE leadership has demonstrated themselves to be stupid and arrogant enough to believe that the Russians might buy this. The fact that there is a war in Ukraine at all is ample evidence of this stupidity and arrogance.
There is also a dual purpose of prepping the ground for the RESTRICT act.
My personal view of the war in Ukraine vis-a-vis Regime thinking: It was a relatively cheep gamble with Uke lives to see if Russia could be knocked down several pegs. Problem is, like an addicted gambler digging a hole, the regime doesn’t know when to quit.
“ So put all that together and this “leak” is intended for the Russians. The 2023 version of Patton’s ghost army landing at Pas de Calais. The GAE no doubt does have big plans for Ukraine this summer.”
Jeff. You wrote this, right? If the leak is intended for the Russians, how is it beside the point whether or not it is persuasive/believed? The Intel community is putting out disinformation for the Russians a priori knowing that it will not be believed and a waste of time?
There’s a contradiction here.
Whether or not the Russians believe it has nothing to do with whether or not it was intended for them.
It may well be a ham handed attempt by an intelligence community run by retards. I refer you to the brilliant minds who thought it was a bright idea to risk everything by provoking a war on Russian’s doorstep.
Good point. Given the way large orgs work, no-one even has to believe in their hearts this will work. They just have to get an item on the PowerPoint stating ‘disinformation operation successfully deployed’ and everyone gets promoted. The Russians aren’t going to yell ‘gotcha’. They’re happy to sit back and watch more grifters move up the chain of command.
I check headlines at rt.com (formerly Russia Today) — surely the official news organ of the opposition. Of several articles about the “leak,” the consensus seems to be that Russia thinks it is disinformation. For us dissidents, of course, it’s all a guessing game. But I’d side with the old Soviet dissident’s rule of thumb: Never believe anything until it’s offically denied. Is the Pentagon “in a panic” as the NYT would have us believe? Perhaps. But isn’t that precisely what clever planters of disinformation would wish to happen? I’m sure the idea was not orignal to Nietzsche, but in… Read more »
Whenever anyone with any authority tells me anything, my only questions are “why do they want me to know this, and how do they expect me to react?”
Then, more often than not, I do the opposite.
“Freedom fries are back!”
A reminder of how naive and gullible the public really is.
Even then, when I was young and dumb, I thought the Freedom Fries thing was so so stupid. I remember seeing a couple dudes pouring red wine into a drain. I’m sure it wasn’t a $20 bottle of the real French stuff. But take that, Frenchie!
And remember the whole “cheese-eating surrender-monkeys” thing, that I think came from The Simpsons? God what a cringe period. Almost as much as now. America deserves to fail.
Yeah, remember how everyone sneered at Dominique de Villepin, the French foreign minister at the time of the Iraq invasion? Turns out he was right all along. Anyone who mocks the fighting ability of the French needs to perhaps bone up on the Napoleonic Wars (I’d recommend 1813 and 1814, or perhaps Eylau and Borodino) and Verdun. There’s not a single US general in the last 150 years fit to scrape the mud from Marshal Ney’s boots. (Grant, of course, in his usual semiliterate, stupid way once said that “Little Phil” Sheridan was as great a military mind as Bonaparte… Read more »
“cheese-eating surrender-monkeys”
Is a good quip, but really shameful. I believe the knock on the French came about from the quick and abrupt surrender to the NAZI’s in WWII. Look at the French KIA in those few short weeks and you’ll see that they put up a good fight. I believe their casualties were akin the ours in that war.
There just was no spirit left after WWI to fight to the last man.
The only difference between the Brits and French in 1940 was the French didn’t have a channel to flee across. Had the US been there with them at that time, they’d have been swimming too. The cheese eating monkey meme pretends not to know that. Actually, it isn’t pretending, it is just that ignorant.
The British actaully fought the Germans to a standstill at Arras. The Germans considered , in their divisional war diaries, the British to be tougher fighters than the French. I’ll go with their opinion over your hypothetical one. There is no equivalent of the British behaving like the French B divisions on the central front where troops fled the field. Troops more than 10 miles from the front ran to Paris because they cliamed they heard German tanks even though there were no German tanks within 10 miles of their position. England has beaten France in wars the majority of… Read more »
Hypothetical? I’m pretty sure Dunkirk happened.
“I believe the knock on the French came about from the quick and abrupt surrender to the NAZI’s in WWII. ” It is deeper than that. France’s reputation for losing wars comes from the medieval and early modern periods. They really should have dominated Europe given their potential. France’s population today is comparable in size to other European countries like Germany, UK, Spain, Italy. It wasn’t always so France was the China of Europe in the Medieval period (Russia didn’t become number one until late 1700s). England and Germany were both unpopulated backwaters by comparison. France failed to utilize its… Read more »
“There just was no spirit left after WWI … .”
There were very few MEN left after the Great War. Also, the Belgians had not completed their portion of the Maginot Line.
Agreed about the French soldiers, they were fierce fighters when well led and less so when they had clowns and idiots in charge. You can’t say anything bad about the common French soldier and field grade officer in Indochina and Algeria. Their generals were incompetent and stupid but the men fought long past when they could have surrendered. They also were failed by their politicians in both of those places. The problem with France and England was that they lost their best men in WW I, France more so. They and the UK are still feeling the effects of WW… Read more »
It’s chowdah! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you!
Shau-dere? Shau-dere? It’s “chowdah” Say it right!
What I cannot make heads or tails of in this leak is, Why are the KIA numbers what they are? The leak says Russia lost about 20k and Ukes 90k. Even five months ago, the Pentagon claimed that the Ukes had already lost over 100k (and I believe that was KIA, not casualties). Who knows…
The lack of accuracy even with common knowledge of the situation would also be an authenticating flag.
Milley stated publicly—recordings abound on YT—that so far the Russians have sustained over 200k casualties. That’s greater than the entire expeditionary force they started the conflict with! Gawd, I hate these toadies. Not so much that they lie blatantly to ones face, but by stating such absurdity, they insult one’s intelligence.
As Dalrymple once stated, “… the purpose of (communist) propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better.”
When I saw the casualties I thought maybe someone was trying to tell whoppers to the American brass. Or maybe you or Cornelius Rye pulling a fast one and setting yourselves up for a rude joke or a meme. There will be no counter attack, and possibly no Russian offensive in the spring. The Russians have achieved all their objectives: – The Russians now control 85% of the Kraine’s wealthiest regions and resources. – the Kraine has been demilitarized. Their dead number over 300,000 with countless more too injured or weak to return to duty. – with their entrenched air… Read more »
It has been truly amazing to watch. The Russians pulled the Muhammad Ali “Rope-a-Dope writ large. The Ukrainians fell right into it. As the Zman has said politics drove the Ukrainian tactics and not the situation on the battlefield.
Don’t the Russians want a natural obstacle between themselves and NATO? Taking everything East of the Dnieper River would give them a natural obstacle. This is what I’ve heard anyway. They don’t appear to be wrapping up operations from what little I know.
Throw in the northern coastline of the Black Sea to Odessa and beyond, and it would be mission accomplished.
A landlocked, rump state being all that is left of “Ukraine”, with millions of their former citizens never to return. The Khazarians left holding their limp dicks in their hands. NATO on the ropes, and western Europeans realizing how they were left rude, screwed, and tatooed by Amerika. What’s not to like?
Stupidity is to be expected. We are talking about people who thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with Russia right on its doorstep. Everything about this has to be viewed through that lens.
Agree.
And the Bronze Age Death Cult has stupid in Spades.
There’s gibbering about getting the Poles involved by giving them the Western half of Ukraine.
The Krauts will love that.
“It makes their American masters look crude and amateurish, not like the suave and sophisticated Europeans.” – I’m not sure about that. These are people who wake up every morning terrified that they will be “made the fool of” that day. The driving psychological impulse of nearly everyone who lives within 20 miles of the beltway is to avoid looking foolish. It’s an area of people who were viciously mocked for wearing penny loafers and carrying attaches to High School…in 1993…. I would go with the alternate theory. Also, the upper echelons of the intel apparatus are almost exclusively women… Read more »
This is the funniest theory and thus, it must be true.
Top points for the satire. But is it really satire? I did work in and around the Federal government much of my working career. At least back in the Cold War times, lower security clearance was no big deal. E.g. I recall being told in military to obtain “Secret” required no higher hurdle than to be a U.S. Citizen and not be a felon. The higher clearances were only granted after detailed, sometimes very lengthy investigations. Now even with these checks, some flaky people slip through. At least under the old regime, a clearance could be suspended (not necessarily revoked)… Read more »
Clearance application requirements seem to have tightened over the past couple decades.
The basic application form is now well over 100 pages. Interviews are now common for even basic Secret level clearances.
And remember, what/who you put down on that paper is pretty meaningless. I spoke with an investigator way long ago for a student who graduated and put me down as a reference. Long story short, he gave little positive credence to ref’s, but rather used them to obtain other ref’s—any and everybody—who the subject might have known and worked with. Something along the line of “6 degrees of freedom” to reach anybody who ever bumped into you—if they desire.
They do that because they know people are going to put their best foot forward and give refs that will speak well of them.
They want to know the characters people don’t volunteer, that may speak ill of the candidate or hold other compromising information.
Needless to say, the investigators are well trained at rolling up people’s personal networks.
Yeah, plus you are required to do something perverse on video so they have blackmail on you.
It’s bizarre how quickly the US intel community went from denying employment to homosexuals and leftist radicals, to making those qualities prerequisites for promotion.
The whipsaw from contempt of nuggras to transfiguring them tracks that phenomenon. It’s as if one country was replaced with another entirely alien one. And, in most senses, that is precisely what has happened.
True, but it was more defeat and occupation than replacement.
The State Dept is packed with the types you mention.
For people who ostensibly have a horror of appearing foolish, they certainly do so on a regular basis. Indeed, so frequent is their idiocy that I’d be more inclined to think they revel in it. Almost a sort of psychic masochism.
It is a weird flex – I am stupid and incompetent, and yet I still rule over you.
to me, this doc drop damages the western media more than any other group. if only to show they aren’t needed to get information out there. but more so to show they have been peddling regime lies so eagerly.
Is history repeating itself? Seems like the Biden administration looked back into the old US international war play-book for how to deal with a recession. Just a few changed names and dates and it all reads like a CNN report today – American entry into World War I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_entry_into_World_War_I J.P. Morgan issued loans to France including one in March 1915 and, following negotiations with the Anglo-French Financial Commission, another joint loan to Britain and France in October 1915, the latter amounting to US$500,000,000. Although the stance of the U.S. government was that stopping such financial assistance could hasten the end… Read more »
Well, sort of. Now our industrial capacity, and hence the centrality of that sector to national well being is negligible, and all the money is being conjured from thin air.
the best part about the leaks is that they reveal how Zion has been sending lethal weapons to ukraine, the chosen people presented themselves to the world as a neutral party, this will make it harder for them to jump ship once USA empire collapses.
russia is retaking khazaria, dollar is going down from dedollarisation, muslim world is uniting itself, iran is looking stronger than ever. No good, no good, goddamn goyim!
This is what makes me think the leak might be for real, at least in part. Israel was going to great lengths to publicly stay neutral. Now, obviously this wasn’t fooling the Russians, but it did help keep the Zionist angle from potentially complicating the propaganda narrative. This strikes me as the work of a State Department holdover from Obama’s first term, pre-Benghazi, when he was friendly with the Muslim Brotherhood and sending Netanyahu out of the White House with the trash. The long knives might be out for the neocons, most of whom were ex Bushies, anyway. Also because… Read more »
Meanwhile local Ukrainians attack the Orthodox churches for the sin of being affiliated with Moscow Orthodox faith.
In at least 3 cities they attempted to smash and steal everything inside with only parishioners protecting their church.
Yesterday an Orthodox priest was attacked on the street of Chernovtsy and laughed at when he tried to contact the local police.
Needless to say, praying in Russian is forbidden.
They are not doing it because the churches are affiliated with Moscow. That’s just a convenient excuse. They are doing it for the same reasons the ethnic Bolsheviks did.
You are replying to an “ethnic Bolshevist” just in case you aren’t aware and FYI, so good luck arguing that angle.
That doesn’t make it not true.
FWIW, the Bolsheviks, “ethnic” or otherwise, attacked the Russian Orthodox Church in order to loot its riches, which were then converted into currency to fund COMINTERN revolutionary activity in Europe. Concurrently, millions of Russians were dying of starvation.
Yeah I saw those videos, disgusting, there are religions in the World that I just don’t care for. however, I would never stand out side a place of worship and jeer people on their holy day
The average Russian, even if he never saw the inside of his local church, looks and video like that and burns with rage
“I would never stand out side a place of worship and jeer people on their holy day”
Well presumably you wouldnt demand someone be tortured to death for making lame men walk and blind men see…. but groups differ.
Nuland/Blinken/Zelensky rule in the Ukraine and not you or people like you.
Interesting take. Conversely, pro-Russian commentator Big Serge seems to think the leak is likely genuine:
https://bigserge.substack.com/p/russo-ukrainian-war-leak-biopsy?publication_id=1068853&post_id=113890420&isFreemail=true
I thinks is a real leak myself, but I admit the Zman makes a very good case A while back I predicted (on this comment section AFAIR) that some people working for the pentagon/CIA/NSA ect would start passing on information to Russia, during the cold war this also happened, but back then it was usually for money, today its because they have become so disgusted by the antics of the regime/ruling class/establishment. We saw the same thing with the Soviet Union, people were willing to risk death because they hated communism so much. any committed Christian with a brain in… Read more »
One of the best arguments that it’s disinformation is the nature of the alleged leaked documents. Perhaps I am just naive, but I fail to see much connection between detailed intelligence about Ukraine’s war planning, with the Mossad attempting to influence an election, or with sundry allied nations being pissed that Uncle Sam is spying on them. This latter “revelation” is not true; we heard about it just ten years ago (if not earlier) and that’s why Edward Snowden will probably live in Russia for the rest of his life.
Thanks for this. I was going to post that link myself but you beat me to it. Torn between the Z man and Big Serge’s respective analyses. I’m leaning more to the Z man simply because too much in the report is utterly stupid and I don’t believe US intelligence is that dumb (although maybe I won’t bet the farm on that…) For example, the casualty numbers in the report are copy pasted from the Ukrainian government and everyone with a IQ above room temperature knows they are BS. Anyhow, it’ll be interesting to see who’s proven correct: Big Serge… Read more »
As already noted in today’s comments, GAE regime media has no problem ignoring things that they want to ignore. Making the most ridiculous claims of russian disinformation etc. So the fact that they are amplifying this means the regime wants to amplify it.
The question is why. The leaked/”leaked” information itself probably isn’t important. It seems deliberately incoherent. What’s the *story* of the leak?
One thing it is is the reinsertion of the diabolical name “4chan” into the news—also prominent in this week’s FBI propaganda offensive re: “incel” terrorism.
The only copy of the leaked/”leaked” info I’ve seen on /pol/ is a link to a zero-follower Twitter account. Opsec or op?
The supposed TikTok ban is a whole-internet censorship law that would embarrass Woodrow Wilson, and commentary on it is starting to reflect that.
?
I get pretty annoyed at how many people in my life just accept the narrative on Ukraine, and think the Russians are being defeated or that their defeat is imminent. There are so many venues where you can get reasonably accurate information. It requires very little effort. Personally, I believe that the Russians are very content with the pacing of this conflict. They have been able to use PMC Wagner for the dirtiest parts of the fighting. The roles of the DPR and LPR militias are also misunderstood. From what I can gather, the majority of what the Russian regular… Read more »
The Wagner force seem to be very misunderstood, the media likes to paint it as just criminals fighting for Putin. there is clearly some truth to this, but its also made up of Russian special forces and former regular army troops. A question if you were in a Russian prison and Wagner turned up offering you a full pardon in return for six months fighting in the Ukraine. how long left inside for the deal to look good, its probable that its mainly very serious criminals that are doing the most dangerous fighting for Wagner, they send out the criminals… Read more »
Criminals fighting—with some exceptions—sounds pretty good to me. As Orwell is said to have pointed out, “…people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” I can think of no better repository for such folk than a Russian prison. 😉
That’s how I understand it as well. The base strategy seems to be reconnaissance by combat with a small force, then shelling the positions once they are revealed.
The Russians have also used Chechens for a good bit of their urban clearing like in Mariupol. It speaks well of Russians and the Chechens who fight for them that so soon after the bitter war that they fought they are fighting together against the Ukraine.
I get pretty annoyed at how many people in my life just accept the narrative on Ukraine.
So I’m talking to a cousin who’s kvetching about how mindbogglingly gullible people are for uncritically swallowing the narrative on mass immigration.
When I suggest that there are two sides to the Ukraine-Russia-thing, he gets visibly annoyed with my fucking conspiracy theories and tells me to STFU.
Yes, and it’s amusing to see the likes of Glenn Reynolds and the Instapundit clowns push the “evil Putin/Russia defeated” idea. What is somewhat interesting is an increasing number of commentators calling them out for their neocon bullshit. I don’t think this means that Normie Grillers are waking up, but they’re getting sick of the lies.
Well, speaking as a “Normie griller”, this war—and of course the insane/inept US political power in DC—*is* definitely screwing up my grilling. Joe Normie, especially of the Boomer generation, is feeling the heat and I’d posit sensing he is in a position for a precipitous decline in standard of living.
I’ll keep you all posted. 😉
“The logical answer is European politicians.” Yes, but the domestic politicians probably are the primary target. Much of the Regime’s current thuggery against Trump is aimed at preventing the Ukraine debacle from entering the upcoming political debate. Also, while we roll our eyes at RFKJr.’s entry into the Democratic primary, he is a peace advocate and will discuss this East European insanity if afforded the opportunity. Look for the Regime to drop some heavy dirt on him unless it cuts straight to how it traditionally deals with Kennedys who go off script. The message to the domestic whores and The… Read more »
Highly probable–>”This leak jackassery from Clown World might as well be known as OPERATION STOP BIDEN FROM BECOMING LBJ”.
Funny thing though: Biden himself would have no clue, and has no control as to whether he will, or won’t become LBJ. Likely at this point he doesn’t know who/what LBJ is.
Licorice, butter n’ jelly. Biden’s favorite sandwich.
Re RFKJr:https://mobile.twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1643053498483855361 I don’t normally click on Twitter links and never post one, but this is unavoidable. Take not that RFKJr. here refers to the “American empire,” something politicians always avoid, and takes apart Necons and the debacles in Iraq and Ukraine. To circle back to the earlier comment, this man is on dangerous ground, and this is something the Regime will not tolerate as part of any political discussion. This was at the RealClearPolitics website, by the way. Also take note that it appeared on Twitter rather than as an OpEd in a mainstream publication despite the high profile… Read more »
Maybe RFK Jr. is running a long con but I’m hoping he can make a difference. I’n not an optimistic but I surely intend to do a protest vote for him. It won’t do any good, I understand that but it’s my little quiet protest.
I’m in (ex-MAGA and Ron Paul). He’s an-ex junkie and crazy river rafter as well as talking GAE and suing the gubmint and pharma. What’s not to like? The best part of the Horowitz and Collier “Kennedys” book was when he took a group on some insane river trip in Africa with very little stores besides some trail mix and morphine.
Z, I’m curious to know exactly how you are using the word ‘evil’. I recently listened to Joe Rogan’s interview of Jocko Willink, in which Willink made the point that the ISIS terrorists he was fighting in Iraq were evil: skinning people alive and leaving a father’s severed head on their family’s doorstep. *I’m certainly not arguing with or questioning your description of these people as evil; just curious as to how you’d differentiate them from people whose views and actions are disastrously mistaken, but sincerely so.* I’ve always understood evil as describing people who were aware of, and intent… Read more »
ISIS was created by America. There is the answer.
Agreed. And then their presence gives neocons the excuse they need to intervene in the Middle East.
And publicizing the atrocities ISIS commits convinces large segments of the American people that doing so is not just a necessary aspect of our national interest, but also represents taking a stand for the Good in the Battle Between Good and Evil.
ISIS was created by America and Israel, I humbly proffer.
Everything you need to know about ISIS in Syria.
https://media.taringa.net/knn/fit:550/Z3M6Ly9rbjMvdGFyaW5nYS8yLzUvNi81LzkvMi80My9zbWl0dHlqYWdlcm1hbi9CNDguanBn
I know you directed this to Zman, but I would add a further condition to an evil act: willful ignorance. The person getting behind the wheel, absolutely hammered, who kills a family of four in another vehicle did not intend to wipe out that family. They did, however, manage to commit evil because they chose to act so recklessly that it manifests as evil. Whether you extend this to the person at large (i.e. this person is evil) is up to the interpreter.
Eloi,
I hear you.
And although their effects are often the same, I still think it’s helpful to distinguish those who *consciously intend* harm, from those who willfully ignore what they surely must know are the possible harmful repercussions of their decisions.
The person who gets behind the wheel while shitfaced and ploughs into a crowd— while fully worthy of our condemnation— is not the same as someone who deliberately and in full consciousness ploughs into that crowd *with the specific intention of killing as many people as possible.*
Sure – evil can have a spectrum. Hence, the whole point of Dante’s “circles” of hell.
I’m not familiar with the example you cite, nor the sad fact that in war or peace sometimes people commit atrocities. Today’s news reports that three teen women’s bodies, their throats slit, were just found in a shallow grave by a river in Ecuador. That said, I would like point out that the tale always grows with the telling, and to weave lurid tales of barbaric behavior of one’s enemy is a tradition as old as civilization.
Bill, the saying “Banality of Evil” comes to mind here. A quick Googled definition:
“The “banality of evil” is the idea that evil does not have the Satan-like, villainous appearance we might typically associate it with. Rather, evil is perpetuated when immoral principles become normalized over time by unthinking people. Evil becomes commonplace; it becomes the everyday.”
By Arendt’s lights then, AINO is indeed Evil Empire II.
Meh. Does anyone here think the Ukes can try to take Crimea? After all, it took one of the greatest generals in the last 100 years – Erich von Manstein with the Wehrmacht at the peak of its power – almost a year to do it in 1942 with the Russians on their back foot most of the time. So with Russian ISR, air parity (and likely superiority) and modern defensive weapons, this gives the Ukes today about zero chance. The Pentagon surely knows this. Maybe they can try to do something in Transnistria or some other weaker spot. Thus… Read more »
The target audience(s), American and European poilticians, are stupid enough to believe it. They are all that matters.
…and the buffoons in the media; keep them hopped up to carry H2O for the junta.
Capt Willard – “Does anyone here think the Ukes can try to take Crimea?” Good question. @ this point in the war it would seem very unlikely due to the reported losses suffered. They seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel now to fill out the ranks. Retaking Crimea would be one hell of an operation & I doubt the Ukies have the combined arms experience – or the materièl – to pull it off. If the Ukies tried that, you can bet NATO would be behind it & would most likely result in NATO personnel being directly… Read more »
Capt Willard –
“Does anyone here think the Ukes can try to take Crimea?“
Good question. @ this point in the war it would seem unlikely; seems they’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel for men to fill out the ranks. Moreover, do they have the combined arms experience – & materièl – to pull off an operation like that? If they tried something that ambitious you can bet NATO would be behind it with NATO personnel being directly involved.
That would be yet another dangerous escalation.
Sorry for the double post! Thought it vanished into cyberspace.
Ukrainians need a coup against Zelensky and the puppet regime, then begin negotiations with Putin.
If Crimea was seriously threatened, the Russians would declare war, take the other from behind their back, and really start fighting.
More like take the other nine fingers from behind their back. They really haven’t been trying much so far.
It’s all just strange. As Z notes, the Russians have their own intelligence. I mean, Ukraine is next door. I’d assume the Russians have intelligence agents throughout Ukraine as well as satellites and other methods. The Russians almost assuredly have a very good idea of Ukrainian troops strength, location, training and equipment.
So these leaked documents are not for the Russians, which makes the whole thing ridiculous. When you need to run counter-intelligence operations on your allies and political parties within your own country, you can be sure that the war is not going well.
Everything about Ukraine, and the new narrative about a rising threat from China, is intended as distraction (look squirrel!). The real story hiding in the weeds is that confidence in the US dollar is falling like a rock worldwide and its only a matter of time until those foreign-placed dollars start flooding back into the US economy. Which is a double-whammy. The sellers of US treasuries will have to take a huge haircut in order to dump them and the Fed will be forced to raise interest rates in order to stave off hyper-inflation. Then the interesting part occurs when… Read more »
People I really respect are on both sides of this question. Probably one of the most polarized predictions of the future I’ve seen on our side in a long time. I’m leaning towards steady inflation and government debt crisis within the next ten years. On the plus side financial manipulation to spread U.S. cultural hegemony will take a blow, the down side is we will be far poorer, and the feds will take their impotent rage domestically.
“feds will take their impotent rage domestically”
I share this concern.
The dollar is basically flat against the Euro and UK pound year/year. It’s up against the Yen.
That said, you may be correct ultimately. I think it will take a long time to play out. But who knows?
“Beans and squash are a good choice; easy to grow and hardy.” Hope you don’t mind me chiming in, this is squarely in my wheelhouse. Beans if you can only grow one thing. Dried beans keep. Green beans are a good source of fiber if you can can/freeze. Potatoes: easy to grow, and they keep. All starch and carbs— energy. Spread them in a cool, dark, dry place, and you can eat them until practically the next harvest. Beets: super easy to grow, super nutritious. Will keep like potatoes, but not as long. Freeze, or pickle and can (my favorite!).… Read more »
Yes-all root vegetables and cabbage (very nourishing), and some windowsill micro tomatoes that can get natural sunlight so when the power goes out you can still supplement your potatoes and beans with a tasty handful. What you don’t want is a big flourishing garden viewable from the road or an obvious greenhouse.
Oh yeah carrots. Duh! Easy/nutritious like beets. Good fresh eating to boot.
Since this comment thread is getting semi-serious, it’s a good idea to work with friendly neighbors to form a community gardening association. Ideally, everyone focuses on one or two crop vegetables (which is much easier to manage and maintain), and then participates in a post-harvest bartering exchange later in the year. Once established and functioning, others will join in offering various goods & services in the new bartering economy. Bazaars of this type are routine in communities the world over and will become vital when hyper-inflation rears it’s ugly head.
Hate to rain on your parade, but the dollar isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. There’s as much dollar-denominated debt outside the US as in the US. I think that dollar-denominated debt is ~60% (maybe a touch more) of the total amount of world debt. Eighty percent of trade is done in dollars. The world can’t walk away from the dollar for a long time. Doesn’t mean that it can’t start working on doing trade in other currencies and with other banking systems. They’re working on that now, but this will be a slow process. Btw, if businesses start using other… Read more »
On an associated note, look how the Fed daily levitates the S&P and its derivatives to rob shorts and put buyers.
This propaganda campaign is the most transparent, ridiculous, fake and GAE news drops of the past decade. You’re right to question the “why all the bother?” It’s not like the Zimmerman telegraph, Gulf of Tonkin, Remember the Maine levels of lies are needed to galvanize the public for, well, anything. They lie. We know they lie. They know we know they’re lying. They continue to lie. And Blinken continues to wag his finger at the press corp assuring everyone just how real this leak is and how bad it is if you look at it. (2 year olds lie better… Read more »
Could it be that their objective is to create an atmosphere in which no one knows what to believe, and respond by discounting *everything* they hear and read?
If you’re intent on ramming your agenda down peoples’ throats, creating a populace that’s skeptical about everything they hear— and thus *unable to judge the truth or falsehood of anything*— might be a good start.
Maybe. But to ram an agenda, you need totalitarian force or at least some people buying in. If no one believes anything, how do you get buy in? I guess that leaves option 1.
I just listened to a bit of the band Hiraeth you linked to and it’s definitely not synth-wave. Not even close. It has a bit of a 90’s sound. A bit like a sleepier Sheryl Crow or Tori Amos.
I was thinking about the WAC people. So yeah, forget what I said about this band. The WAC used to do weekend live streams and it was all electronic music.
John Kirby briefing the WH press this Monday afternoon on the leaked documents is unreal. This feels like a forced psyop with the way he continued to go on and on about how this information should not be out in the public. Almost as if he’s speaking to a different audience on how damaging this intel should be perceived. The documents pointing out ‘allies’ acting outside the acceptable GAE protocols on the Ukie-Rus conflict was a big tell at the geopolitical poker table. As Zman writes, nothing is matching up on this with regards to standard procedures when actual leaks… Read more »
The bad acting is really out of this world. Doesn’t help you can almost see the slime ooze out of Kirby’s pores.
In the cold war, it really was amazing how much better the Soviets were at disinformation and spying operations. The thought the Russians are going to fall for this nonsense is comical. The best strategy for these docs is to either ignore it or use it to rub in the face of our leaders. Only a fool would take it at face value.
The Russians have always excelled at human intelligence. America was always good at signal intelligence. That was the huge red flag for me. In one of the docs they claim to have infiltrated the Russian command structure with agents. That is something only a very stupid person would believe, like politicians.
Seymour Hersh’s “How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline” is the example of a REAL leak. Recently in Louisiana; big oil is spending MASSIVE amounts creating LNG facilities. Saw a mega-project that I couldn’t believe the US was capable of anymore. 26 foot tall reinforced steel sea walls over a mile square, LNG cooling and storage spheres that make nuclear reactor cooling towers look tiny by comparison, the whole bit. The feds approved all of this; it’s strategic energy policy on a epic scale. They don’t like to lose. So while you don’t get a gas pipeline for your… Read more »
For those who’d like to see the computer animation of the completed project, here’s the link. It’s well underway.
Remember this the next time you’re told that the US can’t have any more refineries for domestic use because of environmental impact.
http://venturegloballng.com/project-plaquemines/
The pipeline “leak” was quickly memoryholed. The intended audience likely was a rival faction. The quick and lowkey visit from Olaf Scholz likely was to instruct him on how to message the German subjects.
Thus the reason your gas stove is now “dangerous.” Most of the gas will be going to Europe.
When things get really bad they’ll just nationalize all petroleum resources for the government and military.
Maybe they’re acting this way because they’re running a real-time mole hunt in public?
The US government is still a pretty big dog, if not the biggest – for the time being. But the more countries that cut off diplomatic relations, the better – and the sooner the better. The psychos “running” this place need to be isolated off the world stage to the greatest extent possible.
The “big dog” is getting old and mangy…
The big dog is busy putting Commander Kenisha in charge of many of the Navy’s fighting ships. Same in the Army and Airforce I am sure.
India, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE – even Israel! – seem to be moving away from the DC regime diplomatically. I’ve never seen anything like it. I suspect much of it has to do with all the homo/trans stuff the US is promoting. They (correctly) think the country has lost its marbles.
That and they can literally see our empire imploding. The GAE’s are numbered and the smart players are trying to distance themselves.
Was thinking of Z-Man last night as Tucker played the video of the lady who runs Bud Lite. She is the epitome of the managerial class. She says all the right catch phrases in meetings, took all the right marketing classes, and could not care less about the customers. The guys drinking beer at a bar are utterly alien to her.
she also looks like a tranny. a chin like a boxer.
She is really in a no lose situation. After she damages the brand enough to get fired she will cry victimhood and get an even easier job in a NGO. Or they will shuffle her over to some other job in the company if they don’t want the heat for firing her. The dumbest part will be when the people boycotting Bud Light go buy it by the case when they do fire her.
A VP level employee does not create a rogue marketing campaign. I guarantee there were many meetings where this was discussed and approved from above. She is just the tranny propagandist they sent out to explain it.
Correct. Many layers of approval are involved in ad campaigns. Many. Lots of people at Bud were signing off on this.
BUD stock has massively under-performed the SP500 over the last 5 years. They are just YOLO’ing it now. Got nothing to lose, so why not a tranny now? I’m glad the Clydesdales and Spuds McKenzie didn’t live to see this lol…….
AB InBev is trading near the top of its 52-week range. They have 30% of the global beer market and 50% of the US market. They have nothing to fear from the market place.
Next year, the Super Bowl halftime show will be all trannies. What are you going to do? Watch a different Super Bowl?
Peak Tranny was the recent country music awards. Beyond parody, Part 1,318.
I have friends who play on those terrible award-winning albums, and even in the award-show band.
They avert their eyes at work, cash their fairly huge checks, spend them on divorce and booze and when drunk mock their homo masters, and believe in their deepest souls that independent/self-employed musicians are all losers.
The end.
Not only that, but I would bet Blackrock is one of their largest investors. So not only would normie have to figure out which of their dozens of beers to avoid, he would also have to watch which funds he is putting his 401k into.
Yup.
They could care less about the steamrolled cases of beer since they already have their cut.
The stock price has had a recent recovery, but the 5 year chart is terrible. It has never even come close to recovering from the initial shock crash when everything shut down in March 2020. It should have soared since people were boozing hard at home that spring and summer. Their dividend for a company that size is bad too. If an investor has been dollar cost averaging into BUD for the last five years, he has lost money.
If you are still watching the Super Bowl, you are a lost cause. Trannies are a “Johnnie come lately” to this poz.
I won’t be watching the Super Bowl or any NFL crap.
Maybe it is in poor taste for me to point this out, but she belongs to a group that has a history of trying to dispossess traditional whites. Her actions comport perfectly with this intention. “It’s almost as if most of the people in this one group are trying to destroy us…” “Don’t be so paranoid. I know a few of them who are on our side.” At what point, does a sequence of separate actions become an acknowledged pattern? As an aside, I saw some race blind conservatives say that she is doing this because she is a woke… Read more »
Maxda-
“The guys drinking beer at a bar are utterly alien to her.”
Bingo! InBev hates their customers same way the Feds hate the citizens of this country.
Being Tribe is a big plus too.
The Duran guys have voiced similar things. The Ukraine is being ordered to try this crazy offensive even as Zelensky runs around Europe begging for ammo because they’re almost out.
Maybe it’s an elaborate ruse. If they really fool the Russians, the attack might succeed for a couple days before it ends in slaughter for the poor dumb Uke army sent to die for the neo-con cause.
Politics is leaving the Ukrainians with no good choices. This is why the Zelensky regime is looking for ways to buy time in the hopes that some exit ramp emerges. In the end, the Zelensky regime ends up in the West enjoying their billions or in a cemetery. Remaining in charge of an independent Ukraine is not an option, so they keep buying time hoping for a way to escape to the West with the permission of the West.
It does feel as though this summer is the end of the line for the West’s support of Ukraine. The West is running out of ammunition and equipment. The Europeans are running out of patience. The U.S. military wants to pivot to China. The problem is that the Russians won’t play along. I continue to wonder if they’ll even have a major offensive in the summer. Allow the Ukrainians to waste their military in the spring offensive and then just continue to grind them down. I could see a Russian “offensive” as mostly just putting pressure up and down the… Read more »
I want Prigozhin to march into Paris and throw Macron to the mob. Is that too much to ask?
Well said. I’ve been following ‘Big Serge’ on Substack, and I’m disappointed he is taken in by this. Bottom line: if a ‘leak’ is trumpeted by the New York Times, then it’s not a leak. The New York Times is capable of ignoring a front page story in the ‘New York Post’. They’re not going to amplify an unattributed file on a Minecraft server unless it suits their purpose.
i read his post on this and didn’t see anything like you say. can you provide something he wrote, that makes you say this?
ok, i re-read his article; he takes the docs at face value. maybe he is treating them as a hypothetical?
Big Serge’s piece was pretty spot on imo, the key takeaways from the leaks being that Ukie air defenses have been shredded, they basically have no artillery shells, and most importantly the units they are mustering for the miracle offensive are all badly under strength and most only started training their press gang conscripts in March. That simply is not going to cut it for any sort of large scale offensive, especially against prepared defenses when the enemy knows you’re coming. That makes me think that the military types are running with the leaks or may have planted them to… Read more »
“Ukie air defenses have been shredded, ” They haven’t. Yesm there’s incoming shortage of S-300 missiles, but that goes for Russians too, and there are many new systems sent to Ukraine, like NASAMS and Aspide and Iris-T (which is incredibly lethal), or and even older systems like Stinger prove their worth. “They basically have no artillery shells,” That is not true either. The worst shortage is in Soviet-type 152mm, but 155mm shells are being delivered in some quantity and also older 105m systems are being sent to Ukraine for which is there’s plenty of ammo in storage. Remember it’s not… Read more »
” especially against prepared defenses when the enemy knows you’re coming.” Russians fortifications are crap. They mostly outsource building them to private companies who have no idea or experience how to build fortifications properly. After bribes they make trenches running in straight lines (even during WWI armies knew to make trenches zig-zagging for obvious reasons), anti-tank obstacles can’t withstand tank attack, prefabricated bunkers are dumped on the ground instead of being dug in, defenses do not account for terrain at all, defences are spread evenly instead of being grouped at vectors of attack that are most likely, etc. Yes, Ukraine… Read more »
BTW, Ukrainians have jerry-rigged AMRAAMs on their MiG-29 fighters (mod probably done by Poland since it has developed such capability in the past) and so unlike before Russian mil aircraft now suffer severe losses.
I think the easiest answer is the best: these people are evil AND stupid. They are, in fact, perfect bureaucrats. To take it one step further, they are sociopathic parasites.
Trying to make sense of these people is, at best, a fool’s errand.