Vladimir Putin, Russia’s resentful leader, takes the world to war:
https://www.ft.com/content/c039db89-7201-4875-b31f-b41a511496f1
https://www.ft.com/content/c039db89-7201-4875-b31f-b41a511496f1
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
- Thread starter Wednesday at Stoke
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Sanctions are hitting hard enough to hurt Russia, if not stop it:
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ing-hard-enough-to-hurt-russia-if-not-stop-it
For example: "Output in industries from aviation to automotive has crashed. In May, the number of cars sold across Russia tumbled by 83% from the previous month, to 24,000. Rewind to May 2021 and monthly sales were nearer 150,000."
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ing-hard-enough-to-hurt-russia-if-not-stop-it
For example: "Output in industries from aviation to automotive has crashed. In May, the number of cars sold across Russia tumbled by 83% from the previous month, to 24,000. Rewind to May 2021 and monthly sales were nearer 150,000."
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What exactly does Biden gain from saying these things publicly?
If you are able, can you link to the podcast he is talking about? I would be interested to hear more detail about the position.
Its factually true that Zelenskyy downplayed what was an imminent invasion to avoid evoking panic among Ukrainians.
I recall the meeting but there were no gangster leaders there! I don’t doubt he’s the top power within government.
Is it known at which point he broke free and how he was able to do it? These gangsters don’t usually play nice, I’d think they’d use threats and violence to keep him controlled. But then if he needs protection he does have the entire state apparatus. Yet his family abroad would be vulnerable.
Polonium in their tea is quite a calling card tbf.
Thanks so much!
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Came to post this astonishing thread myself.
Bear in mind that’s with most having relatively open internet access and not having those books forced upon them. That’s why China is so scary - it’s this level (probably more) or propaganda but with the majority of the country completely cut off from any outside news.
As an aside I find it so weird the U.K. is always the main baddie - kind of shows how backwards Russia is. We stopped being a major power long ago.
I honestly don't think Putin has forgiven us for trying to sway the outcome of the Civil War.
The gangsters in Russia don't have the power that they've had in the 90's. Putin always pushes the argument that it was him who had dragged the country out of the 90's when Russia was divided between the mob & oligarchs and in a way it's true, the only issue is that he wasn't doing it for the country, he simply took everything for himself.
It was a long process obviously but most of it happened in the 00's with siloviki (police, FSB, security service, prison guards etc.) gradually getting more and more power. There's a book in English called "The Vory: Russia's Super Mafia" that depicts that subculture well. At some point more than a half of Russia's prisons were run by the inmates and Vory (literally "thieves" — or "Vory v Zakone" / "thieves in law" — obligatory tag @VorZakone ) were at the top of that rough hierarchy. They're pretty much extinct now and those that are alive are long in hiding.
It's hard to run a shadow criminal organisation in a totalitarian state with well-financed repressive institutions, full control of every branch of political power and little to no concern about following their own laws — those are for the public, siloviki can (and literally do on a systemic basis) torture and even kill people or send people to prison on made up charges (where they are also tortured and/or killed).
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I understand the context but I still think it’s not a smart thing to say at this moment. It sounds like Biden is saying it’s Zelenskyy’s fault that Ukraine’s army wasn’t “ready enough” when the invasion started.
It depends on how you define "major power". If you're saying that the USA and China are the only major powers, then fair enough. But otherwise, apart from those two, the combination of soft and hard power and influence wielded by the UK is at least on a par with any other country, and more than the vast majority.
Russia's obsession is probably partly a reflection of this, but also also partly historical, partly a reflection of our geographical nearness (compared to the USA) to "European" Russia, and partly because, compared to many other European countries, the UK can't be as easily pushed - e.g. via energy import dependency, or stirring up political instability - towards Russian ends.
Yeah we’re extremely strong given our ties - close to the US, most of the commonwealth and, despite Brexit, we’re kind of still seen as European. I find it strange they chose us and not Germany - a country who are a recent enemy.
Talking of a Germany they have supposedly just blocked Spain sending 40 Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Nothing that I can see - it was stupid thing for him to say.
Not sure he's referring to just the army, but rather is making a broader (and more accurate) statement that the Ukrainians were caught a bit flat footed during the initial days of the invasion because their leader was busy attempting to downplay everything in the preceding days, despite having been given a lot of intelligence from the US that Putin was preparing a massive invasion. Zelenskyy's actions after the invasion have been very good, but not just before it.
Indeed. We could discuss about it in the "Cold War against China?" thread. The amount of propaganda against the US and against Japan in all Chinese media is just ridiculously OTT, and the fact that they haven't been at war and now spoiling for a fight in a while is just setting up a time-ticking bomb.
You are right! That council meeting on Feb 21th was shocking for me. If my boss talked to me like that, in private not in public, I'd resign that same day, no matter how much money I was making. It is astounding that these people sit there and allow to be humiliated like this.
Why?
Thank you for the clarifications!
"When German weapons are sold, there is what is known as an end-use clause. This is where the buyer needs Germany's Federal Government's approval before handing over the weapons at a later date."
So its basically Germany's decision and they've decided not to because of the same reason nobody else has sent modern MBT's, whatever that is.
He's famous for making gaffes. People forget sometimes that some of them are pretty terrible, and tend to just remember the funny ones.
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According to Business Insider the tanks were in a terrible state and the number they are sending now is 10 instead of 40. Although even the 10 they are sending may take some time to be repaired. Don't think it has anything to do with Germany.
https://www.businessinsider.de/poli...ckzieher-bei-leopard-2-panzer-fuer-ukraine-d/
Thanks for that!
I've seen Eastern Promises twice so I'm pretty much an expert on the Vor.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigory_Yudin
In early 2022, Yudin warned of a lack of political awareness amongst the Russian population about the Russo-Ukrainian crisis. On 22 February 2022, Yudin predicted that Putin was "about to start the most senseless war in history". After participating in protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, he was beaten unconscious by police and needed treatment at the Sklifosovsky Institute in central Moscow.
More for the geopolitics thread maybe, but yes, I read a newspapers article about this some time in 2021. Russia basically constantly moves its border forward. It's very gradual, tiny steps at a time, but it's clearly happening.
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Fantastic content