It's somewhat strange that Alex refers to Prigozhin, the Wagner leader, stating that 5,000 of his men have fallen in the fight to take Bahkmut, when the BBC and almost the entire western media quote Prigozhin saying in one of his tiresome rants, that 20,000 of his men have been killed.
Usually Alex is a stickler for detail, but here he chooses to completely ignore the western media coverage and translation of Prigozhin's statement, why? It seems odd to me. If Prigozhin is wildly exaggerating or has been mistranslated by the western media, including the BBC, it seems funny that Alex chooses to ignore the bizarre difference between his version of Prigozhin's words and the BBC. Doesn't this, potentially, harm Alex's credibility?
To my mind, Al has chosen to ignore BBC's count based on Medusa source. It's possible. He considers Simlicus's figure as relatively reliable and he may consider BBC's figs as undercount, whilst Prigozhin probably exaggerates for his own political reasons. At the end of the day, Prirozhin's statements could be GRU disinfo. A possibility.
Re: Well ..
Posted by John Monro on May 28, 2023, 12:32 am, in reply to "Well .."
Mercouris has always made it plain that casualty figures from either side are unreliable. We know Ukraine's are always under-reported or not discussed at all, except in general terms. The BBC and western media are not and never have been that reliable. He's also a bit suspicious of anything that Prigozhin states. In this matter he's chose n what he thinks sounds about right, but he should repeat his doubts any time he discusses this matter. In this case, I believe 20,000 dead Russian soldiers may not be that far off the mark, in the intensity of fighting we've seen. If more information arrives, Mercouris willl be the first to correct himself, I'm sure.
Re: Well ..
Posted by t on May 28, 2023, 12:38 am, in reply to "Re: Well .."
The BBC and western media are not and never have been that reliable.
I thought that BBC relied on the data provided by Medusa (or whatever it is named these days). Medusa relied on the publicly available data about funerals carried out in the RF's newspapers and such. These figures, in RF, are *very low*.
on May 27, 2023, 6:59 pm