How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?

**panama hat** · 29-08-2022, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by sabang

flag waving monkeys

**harrybarracuda** · 02-09-2022, 09:23 AM

I see Puffy is not going to go to Gorbachev's funeral because he's too frightened.

**sabang** · 02-09-2022, 09:27 AM

I don't think he was a fan.

**harrybarracuda** · 02-09-2022, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by sabang

I don't think he was a fan.

Don't be silly, he's terrified one of those sanctioned oligarchs has organised a little welcoming committee.

That's why he sneaked in without telling anyone, the coward.

How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?-untitled-jpg

**thailazer** · 02-09-2022, 08:34 PM

Looks like Putin got another one as Maganov had been critical of the war. It seems that the cctv
cameras were not working as they were undergoing maintenance. How convenient. I think this makes 4 or 5 people critical of the war that have died mysteriously in the past few months.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/01/russian-oil-executive-dies-in-fall-from-moscow-hospital-window

How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?-screen-shot-2022-09-02-6-a

**OhOh** · 02-09-2022, 11:27 PM

The Goldman Sachs report:

Food, Fuel, and the cost of Living
Can be found here:

https://www.goldmansachs.com/insight...sis/report.pdf

**harrybarracuda** · 03-09-2022, 12:16 AM

A retarded youtube video from some bloke who cheers on the Proud Boys and bangs on about the "woke left".

Hoohoo thinks this is worth watching.

**harrybarracuda** · 03-09-2022, 11:40 AM

How dangerous is Vladimir Putin?-pxm220902-jpg

**malmomike77** · 03-09-2022, 01:19 PM

wtf happened to the Beeb article from today i posted about Putin not attending Gorby's funeral? Deleted because the Kraut nut job jumped all over it. If that's that case the Mods are going to f'n busy.

**hallelujah** · 03-09-2022, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by thailazer

Looks like Putin got another one as Maganov had been critical of the war. It seems that the cctv
cameras were not working as they were undergoing maintenance. How convenient. I think this makes 4 or 5 people critical of the war that have died mysteriously in the past few months.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/01/russian-oil-executive-dies-in-fall-from-moscow-hospital-window

"Falls" from hospital windows have been a particular favourite of late. During Covid there were a few doctors who spoke out about the response and - quite unfortunately of course - ended up "falling" from a dodgy window...

**panama hat** · 03-09-2022, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by malmomike77

wtf happened to the Beeb article from today i posted about Putin not attending Gorby's funeral?

YOu do tend to forget a lot in your drunken rages

Originally Posted by hallelujah

"Falls" from hospital windows have been a particular favourite of late. During Covid there were a few doctors who spoke out about the response and - quite unfortunately of course - ended up "falling" from a dodgy window...

In this case he said he succumbed to an illness . . . perhaps concrete is now classified as an illness?

**hallelujah** · 03-09-2022, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by panama hat

In this case he said he succumbed to an illness . . . perhaps concrete is now classified as an illness?

I see they've even kicked out Youtuber Bald and Bankrupt now. At least he didn't end up meeting concrete or get invited for one of Vlad's special cuppas.

**bsnub** · 03-09-2022, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by hallelujah

I see they've even kicked out Youtuber Bald and Bankrupt now.

I saw that. They really shot themselves in the foot with that. He actually helped their image, not the other way around.

**hallelujah** · 03-09-2022, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

I saw that. They really shot themselves in the foot with that. He actually helped their image, not the other way around.

Yes. He said pretty much the same thing at the end, didn't he (as well as saying not to judge a country by the behaviour of its government)?

I'll miss his Russian stuff.

Still, all this is perfectly normal and acceptable in the utopia of Russia and China for some members on here.

**bsnub** · 03-09-2022, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by hallelujah

Yes. He said pretty much the same thing at the end, didn't he

He did.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

I'll miss his Russian stuff.

Me too.

**harrybarracuda** · 03-09-2022, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by malmomike77

wtf happened to the Beeb article from today i posted about Putin not attending Gorby's funeral? Deleted because the Kraut nut job jumped all over it. If that's that case the Mods are going to f'n busy.

I already mentioned that he's too scared to go to the funeral in case one of his countrymen tries to off him.

**OhOh** · 04-09-2022, 02:54 PM

**russellsimpson** · 04-09-2022, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I already mentioned that he's too scared to go to the funeral in case one of his countrymen tries to off him.

Dream on arry.

**harrybarracuda** · 05-09-2022, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

Dream on arry.

I can understand you're the sort of idiot that would believe he's "too busy".

**OhOh** · 08-09-2022, 11:01 PM

A review of the Russian SMO and it's possible ending.

8 Sep, 2022 07:51

Home Russia & FSU

Dmitry Trenin: Six months into the conflict, what exactly does Russia hope to achieve in Ukraine?

Putin’s latest comments reveal that Moscow’s thinking has shifted and compromise is no longer on the agenda

Dmitry Trenin is a Research Professor at the Higher School of Economics and a Lead Research Fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. He is also a member of the Russian International Affairs Council.

"Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to Ukraine as an “anti-Russian enclave” which has to be removed. He also said that the Russian soldiers taking part in the military operation there were fighting for their “own country.” These statements carry important implications.Over the last six-plus months, the mantra of the Russian officialdom has been that all aims of the offensive will be reached. On purpose, however, the specific objectives, such as how far Moscow’s forces plan move into Ukraine, have never been spelled out. This cannot but raise speculation about what the Kremlin is actually hoping to achieve.

The only person who can authoritatively answer that question, however, is the President, and second-guessing him makes no sense. Yet, two things cannot escape close attention. One is the radicalization of Moscow’s position on Ukraine as a result of both Western policies and Kiev’s actions; two is the widening gap between the minimum result of the military campaign that Russia can be satisfied with, and the maximum amount of what the US and its allies can accept.

For about six years after the second Minsk Agreement was signed in 2015, the Kremlin tried hard to get that accord implemented. It would have ensured the autonomous status of Donbass within Ukraine and given the region influence on national politics and policies, including in the issue of the country’s geopolitical and geo-economic orientation. From the very start, however, Kiev was unwilling to cooperate on the deal’s implementation, seeing it as a win for Moscow. Washington, in pursuit of a policy to contain Russia, encouraged such an obstructionist stance, while Berlin and Paris, formally the guarantors of the agreement (alongside Russia), had no leverage in Kiev and ended up by embracing the Ukrainian position.

Vladimir Zelensky’s election to Ukraine’s presidency in 2019 initially appeared to be an opening for peace, and President Putin made a serious effort to get the Minsk agreement off the ground. Kiev, however, soon backtracked and took an even more hardline position than before. Nevertheless, until mid-2021 the Kremlin continued to see as its goals in Ukraine, a resolution of the Donbass issue essentially on the basis of Minsk, and the eventual de facto recognition of Crimea’s Russian status. In June of last year, Vladimir Putin, however, published a long article on Russian-Ukrainian relations which made it clear that he viewed the current situation as a major security, political, and identity issue for his country; recognized his personal responsibility; and was resolved to do something to strategically correct it. The article did not give away Putin’s game plan, but it laid out his basic thinking on Ukraine.

Last December, Moscow passed on to Washington a package of proposals which amounted to a list of security guarantees for Russia. These included Ukraine’s formal neutrality between Russia and NATO (“no Ukraine in NATO”); and no deployment of US and other NATO weapons and military bases in Ukraine, as well as a ban on military exercises on Ukrainian territory (“no NATO in Ukraine”). While the US agreed to discuss some military technical issues dealt with in the Russian paper it rejected Moscow’s key demands related to Ukraine and NATO. Putin had to take no for an answer.

Just before the launch of its military operation, Moscow recognized the two Donbass republics and told Kiev to vacate the parts of Donetsk and Lugansk then under Ukrainian control – or face the consequences. Kiev refused, and hostilities began. Russia’s official reason for unleashing force was defending the two newly recognized republics which had asked for military assistance.

Shortly after the start of hostilities Russia and Ukraine began peace talks. In late March 2022 at a meeting in Istanbul, Moscow demanded that Zelensky’s government recognize the sovereignty of the two Donbass republics within their constitutional borders as well as Russia’s own sovereignty over Crimea which was formally incorporated into the Russian Federation in 2014, plus accept a neutral and demilitarized status for territory controlled by Kiev. At that point, Moscow still recognized the current Ukrainian authorities and was prepared to deal with them directly. For its part, Kiev initially appeared ready to accept Moscow’s demands (which were criticized by many within Russia as overly concessionary to Ukraine), but then quickly reverted to a hardline stance. Moscow has always suspected that this U-turn, as on previous occasions, was the result of US behind-the-scenes influence, often aided by the British and other allies.

From the spring of 2022, as the fighting continued, Moscow expanded its aims. These now included the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine, meaning not only the removal of ultra-nationalist and anti-Russian elements from the Ukrainian government (increasingly characterized by Russian officials now as the “Kiev regime”), but the extirpation of their underlying ideology (based around the World War Two Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera) and its influence in society, including in education, the media, culture and other spheres.

Next to this, Moscow added something that Putin called, in his trademark caustic way, the “de-Communization” of Ukraine, meaning ridding that country, whose leadership was rejecting its Soviet past, of the Russian-populated or Russian-speaking territories that had been awarded to the Soviet Ukrainian republic of the USSR by the Communist leaders in Moscow, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev. These include, besides Donbass, the entire south-east of Ukraine, from Kharkov to Odessa.

This change of policy led to dropping the early signals about Russia honoring Ukraine’s statehood outside Donbass, and to establishing Russian military government bodies in the territory seized by the Russian forces. Immediately following that, a drive started to de facto integrate these territories with Moscow. By the early fall of 2022, all of Kherson, much of Zaporozhye and part of Kharkov oblasts were being drawn into the Russian economic system; started to use the Russian ruble; adopted the Russian education system; and their population was offered a fast-track way to Russian citizenship.

As the fighting in Ukraine quickly became a proxy war between Russia and the US-led West, Russia’s views on Ukraine’s future radicalized further. While a quick cessation of hostilities and a peace settlement on Russian terms last spring would have left Ukraine, minus Donbass, demilitarized and outside NATO, but otherwise under the present leadership with its virulently anti-Russian ideology and reliance on the West, the new thinking, as Putin’s remarks in Kaliningrad suggest, tends to regard any Ukrainian state that is not fully and securely cleansed of ultranationalist ideology and its agents as a clear and present danger; in fact, a ticking bomb right on Russia’s borders not far from its capital.

Under these circumstances, in view of all the losses and hardships sustained, it would not suffice that Russia wins control of what was once known as Novorossiya, the northern coast of the Black Sea all the way to Transnistria. This would mean that Ukraine would be completely cut off from the sea, and Russia would gain – via referenda, it is assumed – a large swathe of territory and millions of new citizens. To reach that objective, of course, the Russian forces still need to seize Nikolaev and Odessa in the south, as well as Kharkov in the east. A logical next step would be to expand Russian control to all of Ukraine east of the Dnieper River as well as the city of Kiev that lies mostly on the right bank. If this were to happen, the Ukrainian state would shrink to the central and western regions of the country.

Neither of these outcomes, however, deals with the fundamental problem that Putin has highlighted, that is to say, of Russia having to live side-by-side with a state that will constantly seek revenge and will be used by the United States, which arms and directs it, in its effort to threaten and weaken Russia. This is the main reason behind the argument for taking over the entire territory of Ukraine to the Polish border. However, integrating central and western Ukraine into Russia would be exceedingly difficult, while trying to build a Ukrainian buffer state controlled by Russia would be a major drain on resources as well as a constant headache. No wonder that some in Moscow would not mind if Poland were to absorb western Ukraine within some form of a common political entity which, Russia’s foreign intelligence claims, is being surreptitiously created.

Ukraine’s future will not be dictated, of course, by someone’s wishes, but by the actual developments on the battlefield. Fighting there will continue for some time, and the final outcome is not in sight. Even when the active phase of the conflict comes to an end, it is unlikely to be followed up by a peace settlement. For different reasons, each side regards the conflict as existential – and much wider than Ukraine. This means that what Russia aims for has to be won and then held firmly."

Dmitry Trenin: Six months into the conflict, what exactly does Russia hope to achieve in Ukraine? — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

**panama hat** · 09-09-2022, 07:11 AM

Originally Posted by OhOh

Six months into the conflict, what exactly does Russia hope to achieve in Ukraine?

They fucked themselves right royally and didn't think ahead far enough, convinced of their superiority by their own propaganda. Fuck 'em.

**misskit** · 12-09-2022, 07:24 PM

Moscow Officials Urge Putin to GTFO: ‘Everything Went Wrong’

More and more Russian officials are urging Vladimir Putin to get the hell out of the Kremlin as Moscow suffered another series of humiliating defeats in Ukraine this weekend.

Just one day after several municipal deputies in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg called on the State Duma to try the Russian leader for treason, their colleagues in Moscow joined in and demanded he step down because his views are “hopelessly outdated.”

The open letter to Putin from municipal deputies in the Russian capital’s Lomonosovsky district started out by seemingly trying to let him down gently, telling him he had “good reforms” in his first term and part of his second.

But then, “everything went wrong,” the deputies said.

“The rhetoric that you and your subordinates use has been riddled with intolerance and aggression for a long time, which in the end effectively threw our country back into the Cold War era. Russia has again begun to be feared and hated, we are once again threatening the whole world with nuclear weapons,” the letter read.

“We ask you to relieve yourself of your post due to the fact that your views and your governance model are hopelessly outdated and hinder the development of Russia and its human potential,” the deputies said in closing.

Though they made no mention of the war against Ukraine, their plea came as Putin’s deranged “special military operation” next door took a spectacular nosedive, with thousands of Russian forces fleeing as Ukraine’s military launched a series of surprise counter-offensives and reclaimed nearly 400 square miles of territory in a matter of days.

Even as Russian defense officials sought to play down the mass surrender as nothing more than a strategic maneuver, it was clearly not perceived that way even by many of Putin’s most loyal cronies.

The same Russian propagandists who’d spent the first six months of the war thumping their chests about a supposedly “inevitable victory” suddenly changed their tune. Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT who’d repeatedly called for Moscow to mercilessly obliterate Ukraine, suddenly posted a sentimental screed on Twitter calling for unity between the two nations.

“In this situation, the best picture of the future is the overall picture of the past. Our shared past, recent. When everyone was together, when there was Victory Day, when there was a parade, when both Russian and Ukrainian were taught,” she wrote, waxing nostalgic over a time when “wonderful songs were sung both in one language and the other.”

Even the pro-Kremlin Telegram channels run by Russian military bloggers had a dramatic change of tune as Ukraine claimed new wins Saturday: They began to openly blast military leadership—and Putin personally—for the embarrassing failures.

“Stalin, as much of a vampire as he was, never stooped to this and said how we lost nothing and there are no problems,” wrote one pro-Kremlin blogger. “For him, those who cowardly run away and ‘withdraw troops’ were the alarmists.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/moscow...wer?ref=scroll

**Looper** · 13-09-2022, 09:18 PM

Could be the silver lining in the war...

Ukraine war: What will Russia's losses mean for Putin?

You can normally expect Russian state TV's flagship weekly news programme to trumpet Kremlin successes.

But Sunday's edition opened with a rare admission.

"On the frontlines of the special operation [in Ukraine], this has been the toughest week so far," declared sombre-looking anchor Dmitry Kiselev.

"It was particularly tough along the Kharkiv front, where following an onslaught by enemy forces that outnumbered ours, [Russian] troops were forced to leave towns they had previously liberated."

For "liberated", read "seized". Moscow had occupied those areas months ago, but after a lightning counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army, the Russian military has lost considerable territory in north-east Ukraine.

Still, Russian state media are putting a brave face on things. Officially, what happened in Kharkiv region isn't being referred to here as a "retreat".

"The Russian defence ministry dismissed rumours that Russian troops fled in disgrace from Balakliya, Kupiansk and Izyum," claimed the latest edition of the government paper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta. "They didn't flee. This was a pre-planned regrouping."

In tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets, a military analyst took a different view: "It's already clear that we underestimated the enemy. [Russian forces] took too long to react and the collapse came… As a result, we suffered a defeat and tried to minimise the loss by withdrawing our troops so they weren't surrounded."

This "defeat" has sparked anger on pro-Russian social media channels and among "patriotic" Russian bloggers, who have accused their military of making mistakes.

So has the powerful leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

"If today or tomorrow no changes in strategy are made," Mr Kadyrov warned, "I will be forced to speak with the leadership of the defence ministry and the leadership of the country to explain the real situation on the ground to them. It's a very interesting situation. It's astounding."

It's more than six months since Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the days that followed, I remember Russian politicians, commentators and analysts on TV here predicting that what the Kremlin calls its "special military operation" would be wrapped up within days; that the Ukrainian people would greet Russian troops as liberators, and that Ukraine's government would collapse like a pack of cards.

It didn't.

Instead, more than six months on, the Russian army has been losing ground.
Media caption,

WATCH: Ukraine seizes abandoned Russian tanks

So, here's a key question: will this have political consequences for Vladimir Putin?

After all, for more than 20 years, Mr Putin has, within the Russian elite, enjoyed a reputation for being a winner; for always managing to extricate himself from the tightest of spots; in short, for being invincible.

I've often viewed him as the Russian version of famous escape artist Harry Houdini. Whatever knots or chains he got tied up in, Mr Putin always managed to slip free.

That changed after 24 February.

The last six months suggest that President Putin's decision to invade Ukraine was a major miscalculation. Unable to secure a rapid victory, Russia got bogged down in a long, bloody offensive, and has suffered a series of embarrassing defeats.

A successful surprise attack - but danger still looms
Why Russia wants to seize Ukraine's eastern Donbas

When an authoritarian leader's aura of invincibility fades, it can cause problems for the aforesaid leader. Vladimir Putin will know Russia's history. It hasn't ended well for past Russian leaders who fought wars and didn't win them.

Russia's defeat by Japan led to the first Russian Revolution of 1905. Military failures in World War One sparked the 1917 Revolution and the end of the Tsar.

Publicly, though, President Putin has no intention of ending up the loser.

On Monday, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: "[Russia's] special military operation continues and will continue until all the tasks that were initially set have been fulfilled."

Which brings us to the other key question: what will Mr Putin do next?

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone here who knows what Vladimir Putin is thinking and planning. Much may depend on how accurate the information is that he is receiving from his military and intelligence chiefs.

But here are two things we do know: the Russian president rarely admits to making mistakes. And he rarely makes U-turns.
A screengrab from a video of Putin opening the Ferris wheelImage source, Kremln.ru
Image caption,
In Moscow, Vladimir Putin seemed relaxed as he opened a new Ferris wheel

From what the state media is saying, we're already seeing signs that failures on the battlefield are being blamed on Western support for Ukraine.

"Kyiv, backed by Nato, launched a counter-offensive," declared Russian state TV.

There is one more uncomfortable question that's been in the background for months: if he cannot achieve victory via conventional weapons, would President Putin go nuclear?

Only a few days ago, Ukraine's military chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, warned: "There is a direct threat of the use, under certain circumstances, of tactical nuclear weapons by the Russian armed forces."

For now, there are no open signs of panic in the Kremlin. Russian state TV is sounding more positive. It's been describing Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure as "a turning point in the special operation".

As for the Kremlin leader, last Saturday - as reports were coming in from Ukraine that Russia was losing territory - back in Moscow, a relaxed looking Vladimir Putin was inaugurating a new Ferris wheel, the tallest in Europe.

Russia's president still seems to believe that, like Moscow's new Big Wheel, his "special operation" will turn in his favour.

Ukraine war: What will Russia'''s losses mean for Putin? - BBC News

Oh dear, looks like 2 frogfoots clipped wings taking off in formation...

**Hugh Cow** · 14-09-2022, 06:14 AM

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Don't be silly, he's terrified one of those sanctioned oligarchs has organised a little welcoming committee.

That's why he sneaked in without telling anyone, the coward.

Think you have the shoe on the wrong foot Harry. The oligarchs money doesnt keep him in power. His power keeps the oligarchs in money. They wont bite the hand that feeds them, they are too dependent on him. What they fear is a democratic president.

**harrybarracuda** · 14-09-2022, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

Think you have the shoe on the wrong foot Harry. The oligarchs money doesnt keep him in power. His power keeps the oligarchs in money. They wont bite the hand that feeds them, they are too dependent on him. What they fear is a democratic president.

I never mentioned the oligarchs money keeping him in power.

I implied that the oligarchs see him as a threat to their money, which of course he is.

No Putin - No sanctions.

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