Scott explains well what happened to Sy Hersh, a long time go to reporter for me. I could hardly believe my eyes when I read his article and wondered how he could write it. Thanks, Scott, for clearing this mishap up. It hurt, since Sy Hersh as been so great, right up to this.
I was sure that you would react! I was chocked yesterday reading it ! It’s serious because of his fame ! Hope your comments will be shared as wide as possible. I will share today in French !
I had the same exact reaction when I read Hersh's piece earlier today. There's no way that Gerasimov would say such a thing to an official from an adversarial government - even if it were true. I don't understand how Hersh could have been so credulous on that one.
Your article and his arrived in my inbox simultaneously. I read his first and was left perplexed by his seeming ignorance of the issues. It read like an intel agency memo cranked out for normies in northern Virginia. Then I opened your article and, like always you helped make sense of this highly confusing world of intelligence, media capture, and the geopolitical game of charades were all meant to elucidate in our slop-laden brains. This comment was a compliment, but it might not see that way seeing as how saying something positive in these days feels a bit like trying to breathe under water. Keep up the good work! The government may hate you but that’s exactly why we love you!!
A true friend could not ask for more from a friend, being told when he has dropped the ball, big time, akin, friends knowing a mates wife is playing and rather than upset him, look askance at each other in his company refusing to tell him, their supposed mate, who needs such mates, cowards, who rather than face cold hard truths, the worst kind to ever to confront would prefer silence or perhaps they are jealous, psychotic types literally getting off watching a mate fall…
You’ve done the right thing, any fallout from doing such is not on you, at least you can carry yourself shoulders back, ramrod straight, can look Hersh in the eye and tell him, your loyal… remain loyal and love him as a true friend, a true friend would reciprocate in kind and admit to failings… shit,it isn’t rocket science, no PhD or Masters needed to sort that out, rest easy … you’ve done the correct, right and noble thing… anyone gets twisted over it, it sure as shit ain’t on you … just saying
We truly live in a peak disinformation age in 2026. So much fog that even a great reporter like Sy can’t see through it. I just hope he was not blackmailed or threatened into signing off on this article. We can’t completely rule out that possibility. Thanks Scott.
I unsubscribed to him recently as his content was exactly as you describe Scott, at odds with myriad sources, reliant on what government sources had told him, not fact checked.
in hindsight: perhaps he was 'allowed' to research and publish his work on Nord Stream, so that he could slowly but certainly be plied (convinced) into believing planted sources and an anti-Russian narrative.
I believe that he was absolutely right about that one. I think perhaps he does best when drawing on US sources. (Actually, his remarks about Russia look as though they, too, were drawn from US sources).
I think so. It makes perfect sense. The ships and units were on the spot at the time. The US government had means, motive, and opportunity - and had telegraphed its intention.
I have read debunks of the official US Germany account about the drunken Ukrainian renting a yacht. That this yacht did not have the navigational ability to hover in one spot that the anchor chain necessary to hold it in place in the depth of water would had sunk the yacht itself that the time that it would had to stay in place so a diver could do the actual diving at the depth and how little time they would have at the bottom that it had to be a CIA planted story and they used the WSJ as their outlet. There is no MSM outlet we can trust.
Thank you for reaming out Sy Hersh! I was taken aback by his latest post, and told him to wake TF up! And coming from him, especially, swallowing propaganda whole. Propaganda that's too deep now to shovel on the manure pile!!!
Thank you for this analysis Scott, parsing Sy's words with your extensive military & international experience. I've been reading some of Sy Hersh's rather new, negative assessments on Russia recently. If as a true 'media' (Latin 'medium' = 'middle' as in presenting both-sides-of-any-issue') journalist, Sy is committed to public knowledge & truth, then why would he not take up Scott Ritter's challenge in a Both-sides-now, Equal-time, Recorded & Published Dialogue?
NARRATIVE SURVIVAL TOOLS: Dialogues always reveal more truth, particularly in the logics, facts, figures, tone, emotion & engagement, which each of its presenters provide between them, interactively. As in any court case, no one should adopt or commit to any opinion without having heard both sides of any issue interacting with each other in dialogue. We as humans, should in our minds, get far more used to having huge parts of the public media narrative put on hold, until we hear both sides at least engaged in dialogue. We should be proudly wearing the label of 'agnostic' (Greek agnostos "unknown, unknowable," from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + gnōstos "(to be) known" (from PIE root *gno- "to know") & 'uncertain'.
DIALECTIC LOGIC What is not revealed in the typical monologue, becomes apparent. Its a sad state how bankrupt western nations, subservient to big finance, have also compromised the minds of youth in false 'education' (Latin 'educare' = 'to-lead-forth-from-within'), false 'religion' (L. 'religio' = 'to-relate' i.e. 'not-to-indoctrinate' or 'dominate') to be completely reliant on monologues, rather than Dialectic or Dialogues as Academia's (Athens Garden of Academus) founder Socrates proposed 2500 years ago. Mohandas Gandhi realizing the importance of logic in truth revelation implemented 'Satyagraha' (Hindi 'truth-search'), which created immense unity among all of India's diverse religions, castes, political parties & races.
DIALECTICS IN HUMAN NEUROLOGY Both eyes for example see in 2-dimensions, but the images are joined in the Neural Cortex for their differences in-order-to construct a 3-D working model of the world we live & act in. All senses of Smell, Hearing & Kinetic body movement from our 2 arms, legs & sides add 'dialectic' ('both-sided') dimensions to the world we perceive. When people are recorded & held responsible for what they say, reputation is put out into the public & hence becomes more collaborative & engaging. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/1-both-sides-now-equal-time-recorded-dialogues
Reading the first lines it was clear to me this Hersh is a CIA asset. Now he has given himself away. So ridiculous. His so hyped reputation is gone forever.
Thanks for this, Scott. Glad to see I was not alone in noticing this in Sy's writing, I saw him slide towards that precisely around the time you say you did. Your intuitions are spot-on, as far as I can tell. As someone whose parents studied Slavic languages, speak and write Russian, my mother has been a Russian language teacher here in The Netherlands for a couple of decades (she died in 2015), and I myself having strong connections with american, dutch, french and british culture I tend to have somewhat of a helicopter overview on how the 'collective West', which I tend to call AUKUS NATO, handles Russia and its friendly nations or sources. It's really very sad that the language barrier is so apparent between the two. Even here in the NL politicians, reporters and journalists most often entirely fail to even read or listen to what Russia is saying, and repeat lazy and easy narratives on Ukraine and Russia. This always surfaces when I send them a link, a translate.google webpage link, straight from Russian or Serbian or Ukrainian government websites, which often say the complete opposite of what they're reporting as fact in the news here. It's truly embarrassing for me. I can barely face Russian friends of my parents anymore, ashamed of what our news media brings forth as factual. It's been a sigh of fresh air seeing you write your stuff. I'm not into war or weapons, I've been the opposite of that, refused to join the army back in the early 80s. It's fair to say I'm an anti-war, peace activist, but I can still see where you're coming from, and appreciate the insight from your backgrounds. Keep it up!
it's even worse. since the director of the Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism/NCTV (est.2005; comparable to the US' NCTC/National Counterterrorism Center) Dick Schoof served as prime minister (2024-2025). spooks at the head of government, what could go wrong...
Scott explains well what happened to Sy Hersh, a long time go to reporter for me. I could hardly believe my eyes when I read his article and wondered how he could write it. Thanks, Scott, for clearing this mishap up. It hurt, since Sy Hersh as been so great, right up to this.
I was sure that you would react! I was chocked yesterday reading it ! It’s serious because of his fame ! Hope your comments will be shared as wide as possible. I will share today in French !
MERCI BEAUCOUP.....
I had the same exact reaction when I read Hersh's piece earlier today. There's no way that Gerasimov would say such a thing to an official from an adversarial government - even if it were true. I don't understand how Hersh could have been so credulous on that one.
Scott, sir, is it possible to run a video interview with you and Sy some time? Would be awesome, imho
Your article and his arrived in my inbox simultaneously. I read his first and was left perplexed by his seeming ignorance of the issues. It read like an intel agency memo cranked out for normies in northern Virginia. Then I opened your article and, like always you helped make sense of this highly confusing world of intelligence, media capture, and the geopolitical game of charades were all meant to elucidate in our slop-laden brains. This comment was a compliment, but it might not see that way seeing as how saying something positive in these days feels a bit like trying to breathe under water. Keep up the good work! The government may hate you but that’s exactly why we love you!!
If you want my take from last year, I wrote a few thousand words on it. https://tommytrouble.substack.com/p/rode-hard-and-put-away-wet
Excellent Scott,
A true friend could not ask for more from a friend, being told when he has dropped the ball, big time, akin, friends knowing a mates wife is playing and rather than upset him, look askance at each other in his company refusing to tell him, their supposed mate, who needs such mates, cowards, who rather than face cold hard truths, the worst kind to ever to confront would prefer silence or perhaps they are jealous, psychotic types literally getting off watching a mate fall…
You’ve done the right thing, any fallout from doing such is not on you, at least you can carry yourself shoulders back, ramrod straight, can look Hersh in the eye and tell him, your loyal… remain loyal and love him as a true friend, a true friend would reciprocate in kind and admit to failings… shit,it isn’t rocket science, no PhD or Masters needed to sort that out, rest easy … you’ve done the correct, right and noble thing… anyone gets twisted over it, it sure as shit ain’t on you … just saying
Kia Kaha (Stay Strong) From New Zealand
We truly live in a peak disinformation age in 2026. So much fog that even a great reporter like Sy can’t see through it. I just hope he was not blackmailed or threatened into signing off on this article. We can’t completely rule out that possibility. Thanks Scott.
It's hilarous Obama sent that doofus Biden over there to undermine Russia. We're lucky the USA didn't become a Russian oblast.
Especially in view of Obama's reported comment, "Never underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up".
It was refreshing to hear Obama say something true, though.
THAT UNCLE TOM IS NO BETTER DOING HIS POLITICS ON THW WORLD STAGE....
SHAME ON HIM AND THE WAY HE MANIPULATED THE CRAP NOBLE PRIZE FOR PEACE AND THEN TURNED INTO A RABID WAR MONGER WITH NUKES....
ALL THE MORE STUPID MR NOBEL....
I don't think Russia would want to administer the United States lol,, they've already got TOO MANY scuzzbags to deal with in Ukraine…
I unsubscribed to him recently as his content was exactly as you describe Scott, at odds with myriad sources, reliant on what government sources had told him, not fact checked.
Great analysis, thank you. I hope many Russians will read it and Russia will navigate through all this evil manipulation.
They will, Sy seems to think that Russians are as blinkered/censored as we in the ROTW are(Rest Of The World), they're not.
Did Hersh get the story right on the Nord Stream destruction????
At large picture, yes. Ukrainian "version" is laughable beyond belief, they have no capabilities.
FRIEND....
JUST WHO THE FUCK CAN TRUST ANYTHING....
JUST ANY FUCKING THING THE US SAYS???
in hindsight: perhaps he was 'allowed' to research and publish his work on Nord Stream, so that he could slowly but certainly be plied (convinced) into believing planted sources and an anti-Russian narrative.
mental war indeed.
Probably because it's negative on the US of evil.
I believe that he was absolutely right about that one. I think perhaps he does best when drawing on US sources. (Actually, his remarks about Russia look as though they, too, were drawn from US sources).
I think so. It makes perfect sense. The ships and units were on the spot at the time. The US government had means, motive, and opportunity - and had telegraphed its intention.
I have read debunks of the official US Germany account about the drunken Ukrainian renting a yacht. That this yacht did not have the navigational ability to hover in one spot that the anchor chain necessary to hold it in place in the depth of water would had sunk the yacht itself that the time that it would had to stay in place so a diver could do the actual diving at the depth and how little time they would have at the bottom that it had to be a CIA planted story and they used the WSJ as their outlet. There is no MSM outlet we can trust.
You can't really believe anything coming from European governments or media, if they have an axe to grind. Apart from Hungary and some Italians.
There is no reason to doubt that it happened as Hersh told it. Biden had actually promised to destroy the pipelines.
Not just Biden; https://youtu.be/OCgACPYVedc?si=7Zhp2P3vT23I84G- #Nordstream
Totally agree, Scott. I was dismayed reading Sys latest article. What happened?
Thank you for reaming out Sy Hersh! I was taken aback by his latest post, and told him to wake TF up! And coming from him, especially, swallowing propaganda whole. Propaganda that's too deep now to shovel on the manure pile!!!
Thank you for this analysis Scott, parsing Sy's words with your extensive military & international experience. I've been reading some of Sy Hersh's rather new, negative assessments on Russia recently. If as a true 'media' (Latin 'medium' = 'middle' as in presenting both-sides-of-any-issue') journalist, Sy is committed to public knowledge & truth, then why would he not take up Scott Ritter's challenge in a Both-sides-now, Equal-time, Recorded & Published Dialogue?
NARRATIVE SURVIVAL TOOLS: Dialogues always reveal more truth, particularly in the logics, facts, figures, tone, emotion & engagement, which each of its presenters provide between them, interactively. As in any court case, no one should adopt or commit to any opinion without having heard both sides of any issue interacting with each other in dialogue. We as humans, should in our minds, get far more used to having huge parts of the public media narrative put on hold, until we hear both sides at least engaged in dialogue. We should be proudly wearing the label of 'agnostic' (Greek agnostos "unknown, unknowable," from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + gnōstos "(to be) known" (from PIE root *gno- "to know") & 'uncertain'.
DIALECTIC LOGIC What is not revealed in the typical monologue, becomes apparent. Its a sad state how bankrupt western nations, subservient to big finance, have also compromised the minds of youth in false 'education' (Latin 'educare' = 'to-lead-forth-from-within'), false 'religion' (L. 'religio' = 'to-relate' i.e. 'not-to-indoctrinate' or 'dominate') to be completely reliant on monologues, rather than Dialectic or Dialogues as Academia's (Athens Garden of Academus) founder Socrates proposed 2500 years ago. Mohandas Gandhi realizing the importance of logic in truth revelation implemented 'Satyagraha' (Hindi 'truth-search'), which created immense unity among all of India's diverse religions, castes, political parties & races.
DIALECTICS IN HUMAN NEUROLOGY Both eyes for example see in 2-dimensions, but the images are joined in the Neural Cortex for their differences in-order-to construct a 3-D working model of the world we live & act in. All senses of Smell, Hearing & Kinetic body movement from our 2 arms, legs & sides add 'dialectic' ('both-sided') dimensions to the world we perceive. When people are recorded & held responsible for what they say, reputation is put out into the public & hence becomes more collaborative & engaging. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/1-both-sides-now-equal-time-recorded-dialogues
TRANSFORMING SOCIAL 'MEDIA' FROM MONO TO DIALOGUE https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/1-communication-converting-social-media-from-mono-to-dialogue-libya
Wow! Didn't know any of that, thanks for sharing.
Hersh is getting played. Way too cozy with his US military/intel sources.
Reading the first lines it was clear to me this Hersh is a CIA asset. Now he has given himself away. So ridiculous. His so hyped reputation is gone forever.
Thanks for this, Scott. Glad to see I was not alone in noticing this in Sy's writing, I saw him slide towards that precisely around the time you say you did. Your intuitions are spot-on, as far as I can tell. As someone whose parents studied Slavic languages, speak and write Russian, my mother has been a Russian language teacher here in The Netherlands for a couple of decades (she died in 2015), and I myself having strong connections with american, dutch, french and british culture I tend to have somewhat of a helicopter overview on how the 'collective West', which I tend to call AUKUS NATO, handles Russia and its friendly nations or sources. It's really very sad that the language barrier is so apparent between the two. Even here in the NL politicians, reporters and journalists most often entirely fail to even read or listen to what Russia is saying, and repeat lazy and easy narratives on Ukraine and Russia. This always surfaces when I send them a link, a translate.google webpage link, straight from Russian or Serbian or Ukrainian government websites, which often say the complete opposite of what they're reporting as fact in the news here. It's truly embarrassing for me. I can barely face Russian friends of my parents anymore, ashamed of what our news media brings forth as factual. It's been a sigh of fresh air seeing you write your stuff. I'm not into war or weapons, I've been the opposite of that, refused to join the army back in the early 80s. It's fair to say I'm an anti-war, peace activist, but I can still see where you're coming from, and appreciate the insight from your backgrounds. Keep it up!
it's even worse. since the director of the Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism/NCTV (est.2005; comparable to the US' NCTC/National Counterterrorism Center) Dick Schoof served as prime minister (2024-2025). spooks at the head of government, what could go wrong...