For a month now, the so-called Discord leaks have shown us a whole new dimension of the war in Ukraine — how Washington really feels about the much-anticipated Ukraine counter-offensive, how Zelensky has been trapped between hardliners and his Western patrons, and how not all of our partners and allies are on board equally in the US policy in Ukraine. This week we talk to Jacobin reporter and analyst Branko Marcetic on what he is reading between the lines, as well as the difficulty in covering the war with a persistent lack of clarity regarding battlefield numbers and data. He also discusses his recent article on the futility of economic sanctions on American "adversaries" — how they more often than not, don't work, and end up being a form of "collective punishment."
In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about those surprise high-level U.S. talks with China, Zelenksy's outburst against the Washington Post, Trump's Town Hall, and Washington accusing South Africa of sending weapons to Russia.
More from Marcetic:
Mainstream Media Doesn’t Care That the CIA May Have Helped Cause 9/11, Jacobin, 5/13
US Sanctions Are Brutal and Inhumane. And They Don’t Work. Jacobin, 5/9
Branko Marcetic on Ukraine pressure cooker: how leaks show the real state of war