On: Nearly half a million Russians killed in Ukraine war, UK spy chief says

The spy chief says half a million Russians are dead. I suppose that’s what they mean by a “special military operation.” It’s a special kind of operation where you send men to a foreign country to become a statistic, and the only thing that moves forward is the body count. They say the forces are “going backwards on the battlefield.” That’s a polite way of putting it. Going backwards usually implies you had somewhere to go in the first place. From the sound of it, they left that place about half a million casualties ago.

I read that and think about the committees that must have approved this. The meetings where they decided this was a splendid idea. The consensus, no doubt, was unanimous. The beauty of a unanimous vote is that no one is responsible. It’s a shared success, or in this case, a shared catastrophe. They probably celebrated the decision with a toast. To the motherland, they said. I wonder if the motherland toasts back, or if she just tallies the receipts.

It’s always the same. They dress up a disaster in the language of progress. “Going backwards” is a strategic repositioning. Half a million dead is a necessary adjustment. Next, they’ll form a subcommittee to study the positive morale benefits of perpetual retreat. The report will be confidential, of course. The findings are too valuable to share with the people who paid for them with their sons.

Outside of a war, this would be a tragedy. Inside of a war, it’s a briefing. The numbers are neat. The conclusions are tidy. The men are not. I’d say I refuse to join any army that would have me as a member, but looking at the recruitment standards, I’m not sure that’s the boast it used to be. They’ll take anyone these days. Especially if you’re willing to go backwards.