The two bits of nonsense posted by dandy were a video purporting to make a point that it doesn't and an opinion piece written by an obscure Canadian journalist a month ago.

Dandy is effectively saying "I've read/seen this and agree with it". But since he doesn't believe the moon landings are real (see earlier posts), I think his opinion doesn't carry a huge amount of weight.

@Gaburko - according to The Times article about the drone, the Russians do NOT have control over the skies yet*, and this is a source of bafflement to analysts.



* True yesterday, maybe things have changed.

__________________
Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

I cannot read the article, but according to the general on Sky News they are now quite comfortable in the skies and the fact that they are having this huge column sitting like ducks for over 3 days now and the Ukrainians were unable to target it is somehow an indirect proof. Also, the desperate plea of Ukraine for more jets is another indirect sign that they have suffered massive losses and need help.

Btw, I truly hope I'm wrong and the Ukrainians have some surprises, would be wonderful!

Ridiculous chain of command with Putin sitting far away from his advisors. Watch that video when he dressed down Sergei Naryshkin.

Ukraine conflict: Who's in Putin's inner circle and running the war? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60573261

The fog of war. Hard to know what's really happening. Hopefully we'll read in ten years the definitive account of how Putin was brought down by his hubris.

Peter Brookes cartoon in The Times. Very hard hitting, so I'll just post the link

As you see, he doesn't let anyone from his inner circle to come closer to him than 20 m.


- You are closer to him, hit him with something.
- How can I hit him? He's 20 m away.

As I was reading your link I was thinking that indeed he has surrounded himself with the siloviki and the civil servants have been distanced and merely informed about the decisions.

These siloviki are a product of an era in which the belief that the West tries to bring the regime down was a given and resistance was the only way to survive. I think this is still their true and honest belief even today and to make it worse, the response from the West just "reconfirms" their view that they are being targeted. In their view, war is the only way not only to stay in power, but to be alive.

Essentially, this means that we should not expect any of the siloviki to act as a saboteur and if this is true it's even worse: they will escalate as much as they can as in their twisted mind everything else is certain death.

I am fully convinced now, the world is not dealing with rational actors, these are irrational ones. Traditionally, this was reserved for religious fundamentalists, but I think we have them in military uniforms as well. Before the Ukraine invasion I thought and hoped Putin is rational, I don't think he is anymore.

Patrushev: age 70, Bortnikov: age 70, Naryshkin: age 67, Gerasimov: age 66.

Seriously......this is a classic sign of the lone dictator syndrome!!!!

Although that Shoygu general looks like a rottweiler ready to bite when the master instructs him to bite....(scary)

this is interesting, if you haven't seen it before:

Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukraine.

For years, the political scientist has claimed that Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine is caused by Western intervention. Have recent events changed his mind?

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and...sis-in-ukraine

Didn’t you see how he talks to others? With a very big distance.
This is the usual way, I cannot find photos from the mentioned meeting but here is another one with the distance. It looks crazy.

Attached Images

 

Here's a photo of Putin with his security council in 2018, at a normal distance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securi...018-03-30).jpg

Prolly that was before he became (more) paranoid once Covid threatened. I mean, what would the little he-man do if he were lying vulnerable in a hospital bed?

Exactly. It is totally different in 2022.


They're gathering again, we'll (hopefully) see the pictures from today.

Meantime Putin is bombing the centre of Kyiv.

Meantime he is bombing paediatric hospitals where little cancer patients cannot be removed.


Meantime, the irony of it all, he is bombing Churches.

Putin has "donated" (obviously not from his pocket) lots of gold to build impressive church on Mount Athos, one of the spiritual centres of Orthodox Churches.

Two interesting pieces of news, still not fully confirmed, but might be a further sign of the incompetence of the soviets

Ukraine Forces Reportedly Kill Russia General Andrei Sukhovetsky in Blow to Invading Army

and

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: we are now moving from the defense mode to the counteroffensive mode

I've read rumors today that people around him noticed that he changed in autumn 2021.

Churches, universities, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, birth centers, museums. He is a son of a bitch.

Pravda confirms it:

https://english.pravda.ru/news/world...ssian_general/

Tom

That is an interesting point. Some US national security experts (don't recall exactly where I heard it) have said that there have been rumours for some years that Putin is influenced by some ultra right wing orthodox clerics who are whsipering to him that he is some form of Messiah who will reinstall historic Russia.

I don't think there is hard evidence for that. But assume a mix of Soviet anti-NATO paranoia, Covid paranoia and some idea that he is the chosen one ...

And that is euphemistically put.

Good. His family can look forward to receiving 11000 roubles compensation. The equivalent of 90 EUR.

And there is some scary shit on the Pravda site: https://english.pravda.ru/world/150548-barbarossa_nato/