Reporters had to correct State Department Spokesman David Miller twice at Monday’s press briefing, before he stopped referring to the war in Ukraine as “a strategic failure for Ukraine,” rather than for Russia. Some call it a “Freudian slip.” More insightful was Kim Dotcom’s comment that this “is what happens when you always hear behind closed doors how bad the US proxy war is going for Ukraine.” 30-second clips of the exchange are circulating widely. As recorded in the official briefing transcript:
QUESTION: My question is: 500 days of war…. would you call this the defeat for Russia, a superpower, and after their eject [sic] from Afghanistan? …
MR MILLER: … I will say with respect to your first question, we believe the war has been a strategic failure for Ukraine. The Secretary spoke to this in a speech he gave in Helsinki last month, I believe it was.
QUESTION: For Russia or — QUESTION: A strategic failure for Russia or for Ukraine?
MR MILLER: I’m sorry, a – excuse me, a strategic failure for Ukraine. Thank you for the correction. Which is —
QUESTION: No, (inaudible).
MR MILLER: Oh. I need more than one correction today. A strategic – this is the first time at the podium for a week; I’m a little – I’m apparently a little rusty…. A strategic failure for Russia…. “
https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-july-10-2023/
