The previously unthinkable idea that the U.S. is at war with Russia has been gradually normalised, with the heat turned up so slowly that the frog doesnt notice its being boiled alive.

T__he New York Timesreportsthat Ukraine is crawling with special forces and spies from the U.S. and its allies, which would seem to contradictearlier reportsthat the U.S. intelligence cartel is having trouble getting intel about whats happening on the ground in Ukraine.

This would also, obviously, put the final nail in the coffin of the claim that this is not a U.S. proxy war.

In an article headlined Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say, anonymous Western officials inform us of the following through their stenographers at The New York Times:

As Russian troops press ahead with a grinding campaign to seize eastern Ukraine, the nations ability to resist the onslaught depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies including a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training, according to U.S. and European officials.

Much of this work happens outside Ukraine, at bases in Germany, France and Britain, for example. But even as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the massive amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.

At the same time, a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine.

The revelation that the C.I.A. and U.S. special forces are conducting military operations in Ukraine does indeed make a lie of the Biden administrationsinsistence at the start of the warthat there would be no American boots on the ground in Ukraine. And the admission that NATO powers are so involved in operations against a nuclear superpower means, we are closer to seeing a nuclear exchange thananyone should be comfortable with.

This news should surprise no one who knows anything about the usual behaviour of the U.S. intelligence cartel, but interestingly it contradicts something we were told by the same New York Times not three weeks ago.

American intelligence agencies have less information than they would like about Ukraines operations and possess a far better picture of Russias military, its planned operations and its successes and failures, The New York Timestold us earlier this month. U.S. officials said the Ukrainian government gave them few classified briefings or details about their operational plans, and Ukrainian officials acknowledged that they did not tell the Americans everything.

It seems a bit unlikely that U.S. intelligence agencies would have a hard time getting information about whats happening in a country where they themselves are physically located.Moon of Alabama theorised at the time that this ridiculous, We dont know whats happening in our own proxy war line was being pushed to give the U.S. plausible deniability about Ukraines failures on the battlefield, whichhave only gotten worse since then.

So why are they telling us all this now? Well, it could be that were being paced into accepting an increasingly direct role of the U.S. and its allies in Ukraine.

The other day _Antiwar_s Daniel Larisontweeted, Hawks in April: Dont call it a proxy war! Hawks in May: Of course its a proxy war! Hawks in June: Its not their war, its our war!

This is indeed exactly how it happened. Back in AprilPresident Joe Biden told the press the idea that this is a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia was not true and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin saidIts not, this is clearly Ukraines fight when asked if this is a proxy war. The mainstream media were stillframing this claimas merely an accusation by the Russian government and empire spinmeisters were regularlyadmonishinganyone whoused that termon the grounds that it deprives Ukrainians of their agency.

Then May rolled around and all of a sudden we had The New Yorkerunequivocally telling usthat the U.S. is in a full proxy war with Russia and hawks like U.S. Rep. Seth Moultonsayingthings like,

Were not just at war to support the Ukrainians. Were fundamentally at war, although somewhat through a proxy, with Russia, and its important that we win.

And now here in June weve got war hawks like Max Bootcoming right outandsayingthat this is actually Americas war, and it is therefore important for the U.S. to drastically escalate it in order to hand the Russians devastating losses.

So, the previously unthinkable idea that the U.S. is at war with Russia has been gradually normalised, with the heat turned up so slowly that the frog doesnt notice its being boiled alive. If that idea can be sufficiently normalised, public consent for greater escalations will likely be forthcoming, even if those escalations are extremely psychotic.

Back in Marchwhen I said the only agency Ukraine has in this conflict is the Central Intelligence one, empire loyalists jumped down my throat. They couldnt believe I was saying something so evil and wrong. Now theyve been told that the Central Intelligence Agency is indeed conducting operations and directing intelligence on the ground in Ukraine, but I somehow doubt that this will stir any self-reflection on their part.

This article was re-published with permission.

Caitlin Johnstone is a reader-supported independent journalist from Melbourne, Australia. She now lives in the US. Her political writings can be found on Medium and on her Facebook page,