I read the Hirsh piece and see what looks to me like a lot of disinformation. Could it be the author is, in fact, a useful idiot for our side? How else to interpret the risible contention that “America is stretched thin in Iraq”?

Old news is no longer ‘news’ and the fact that a major media reporter/commentator doesn’t recognize the fact seems suspicious. At least to me. To a Russian analyst, however, it might not be and may in fact seem only a necessary part of the info feed needed to justify risk and rash behaviour.

The reality I think is that our military is not “stretched thin in Iraq” but well-seasoned, stronger, smarter–in every essence more competent than ever. But if a reporter nominally for our side can’t see it, maybe he’s not alone. Maybe the other side doesn’t see it either.

Maybe we are actually ahead in the disinformation campaign. Perhaps we not only knew this latest chapter in the Caucauses was about to open but actually encouraged it–or at least did nothing to discourage it–by allowing the misinformative ‘common knowledge’ supplied by the likes of a Hirsch to hatch and multiply. But to what purpose?

Perhaps to reveal the truth. Despite all the effort being expended to mold perceptions, the new regime is now revealed as no different than the old. The KGB propaganda machine is working overtime, spinning so hard the smoke is everywhere. And yet a good many see through it more clearly than ever.