Russia on brink of ... NOPE! Russia INVADES Ukraine!

[K1052]

Follow the money ~ most of the "accidents" were oil & gas related, which is where the big money is in Russia. Roughly $350 billion/year in oil/gas exports - not even counting domestic sales. Russian weapons exports by comparison are like ~$10 billion/year.

I think he's referring to the hundreds of billions spent over the last decade or so on modernizing Russian forces. Much of which appears to have been syphoned off through graft and corruption. The people who run those industries are likely to have the closest ties to Putin and he was certainly getting a cut. Doubtful any of them have taken a fall, so to speak, for their actions which had his tacit endorsement.

Putin's problem is that he started to get high on his own supply of propaganda and there was nobody around who would dare discourage this.

 

[Dave_5k]

I think he's referring to the hundreds of billions spent over the last decade or so on modernizing Russian forces. Much of which appears to have been syphoned off through graft and corruption. The people who run those industries are likely to have the closest ties to Putin and he was certainly getting a cut. Doubtful any of them have taken a fall, so to speak, for their actions which had his tacit endorsement.

Putin's problem is that he started to get high on his own supply of propaganda and there was nobody around who would dare discourage this.

Hey, at least some of those refurbished T-62 tanks actually made it to the battle... money well spent! (Still looking forward to a T-55 capture...)

 

[Grabo]

"Ivan Pechorin, 39, managing director of the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, reportedly fell off a boat at full speed"

"
Pechorin worked under Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the Russian publication Komsomolskaya Pravda, modernizing aviation in eastern Russia while developing resources in the Arctic in light of heavy sanctions.
Pechorin's last public appearance reportedly occurred at the Eastern Economic Forum, held from September 5 to 8 in Vladivostok. The Daily Mail reported that Pechorin spoke during a session called, "Everyone has their Own Route: The Logistics of a Changed World.""

Putin's Key Man in the Arctic Found Dead After Falling Overboard

The death of an energy executive follows other mysterious deaths of businessmen across Russia the past few years.

www.newsweek.com

 

[K1052]

Looks like the Kremlin has settled on an explanation for their recent defeats.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1570045998168248320

 

[dainthomas]

Yeah the Ukrainian attack on Russian lines at Kherson has settled into an attritional fight. With the Russians stuck on the wrong side of a river with two busted bridges I would really not prefer to be them even if they have defensible positions. Likely just a matter of time.

I wonder if they'll wait until russian supplies are really low in a couple months and do a late autumn counteroffensive?

Zelensky visits Izium.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1569992213685276672

https://twitter.com/x/status/1569995790881558528

This is a guy that knows how to motivate his troops. He works the diplomatic angles masterfully to get them the supplies they need, then visits them personally at pretty substantial risk to himself. Between all this and visiting soldiers in the hospital I'm not sure when he sleeps.

It's crazy how wildly inaccurate the foreign estimations of his leadership abilities were.

 

[fskimospy]

Looks like the Kremlin has settled on an explanation for their recent defeats.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1570045998168248320

Russian media is now filled with pronouncements that any defeat in this war will mean the destruction of Russia and yet nobody asks why Russia chose to enter into a conflict with such dire stakes.

Like if I had a choice to enter a war where if I won I got Ukraine and if I lost I were killed I would choose to not enter that war.

 

[K1052]

Russians blew up a dam impounding a reservoir that provides drinking water to a city of 650K people.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1570072719986655232

meme explanation of the strategy:

 

[K1052]

Russian media is now filled with pronouncements that any defeat in this war will mean the destruction of Russia and yet nobody asks why Russia chose to enter into a conflict with such dire stakes.

Like if I had a choice to enter a war where if I won I got Ukraine and if I lost I were killed I would choose to not enter that war.

The idea that Russia cannot at will occasionally invade, subjugate, and genocide its neighbors apparently constitutes an existential crisis for them.

Russia ceasing to exist if it is defeated probably represents a rather acceptable proposal for like 100 million some people living on its borders.

 

[kage69]

Looks like Iranian drones are there

Shahed-136 kamikaze drone shot down near Kupiansk

 

[cytg111]

Russian media is now filled with pronouncements that any defeat in this war will mean the destruction of Russia and yet nobody asks why Russia chose to enter into a conflict with such dire stakes.

Like if I had a choice to enter a war where if I won I got Ukraine and if I lost I were killed I would choose to not enter that war.

Ufff, the smells like a precursor to mobilization.

 

[fskimospy]

Ufff, the smells like a precursor to mobilization.

As many people have mentioned I’m not sure mobilizing would do much. It would take months to train them and then send them into battle with what equipment?

 

[Dave_5k]

As many people have mentioned I’m not sure mobilizing would do much. It would take months to train them and then send them into battle with what equipment?

Here's one piece available for mobilization from Kursk:

 

[cytg111]

As many people have mentioned I’m not sure mobilizing would do much. It would take months to train them and then send them into battle with what equipment?

Is that the case though? I just heard on the radio today, military analyst, that due to this being a "special operation" and official war has not been declared there is a reserve of 100's of thousands already trained he could begin pouring in. At the same time, mobilize to replenish as fertilizer stacks up.

 

[GoPackGo]

I think he's referring to the hundreds of billions spent over the last decade or so on modernizing Russian forces. Much of which appears to have been syphoned off through graft and corruption. The people who run those industries are likely to have the closest ties to Putin and he was certainly getting a cut. Doubtful any of them have taken a fall, so to speak, for their actions which had his tacit endorsement.

Putin's problem is that he started to get high on his own supply of propaganda and there was nobody around who would dare discourage this.

Yes that is what I was referring to.

If Putin green lit the grift and the war, what is his endgame?

 

[NTMBK]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1570045755510980612

 

[Atari2600]

Yes that is what I was referring to.

If Putin green lit the grift and the war, what is his endgame?

I'd reckon he didn't know anything about the extent of it and thought he genuinely was presiding over the army they told him he had.

 

[K1052]

The abacus is overheating.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1570138322105929728

 

[tweaker2]

Well it finally happened.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1570047651231547393

Absolutely love the "FURY" tag on the gun tube. Made me chuckle. It's like a mobile pillbox for all intents.

 

[K1052]

Absolutely love the "FURY" tag on the gun tube. Made me chuckle. It's like a mobile pillbox for all intents.

Ukrainian TDF soldiers who are operating a motley assortment of truck mounted WW2 Anti-aircraft guns on cargo trucks, salvaged MLRS tubes on pickups, and soviet howitzers/anti-tank guns jury rigged up on captured MT-LBs seeing T-62 captures:

 

[Jaskalas]

Russian media is now filled with pronouncements that any defeat in this war will mean the destruction of Russia and yet nobody asks why Russia chose to enter into a conflict with such dire stakes.

Like if I had a choice to enter a war where if I won I got Ukraine and if I lost I were killed I would choose to not enter that war.

Listen to the Russians, they've been repeatedly saying their reason.
Ukraine does not exist. To Russia, all that land is theirs. Always has been. Until western "Nazis" took Ukraine from Russia in 2014.

This is the propaganda they've been sniffing since 2014, and now it has gone to their heads. Even Putin believes it.

This is existential for them, because until they reach Poland, the Russians really believe that THEIR land was stolen.

 

[fskimospy]

Listen to the Russians, they've been repeatedly saying their reason.
Ukraine does not exist. To Russia, all that land is theirs. Always has been. Until western "Nazis" took Ukraine from Russia in 2014.

This is the propaganda they've been sniffing since 2014, and now it has gone to their heads. Even Putin believes it.

This is existential for them, because until they reach Poland, the Russians really believe that THEIR land was stolen.

Nah, these are ex post facto lies the Russian government made up. We don’t have to pretend to believe them.

 

[cytg111]

Richard Shirreff “Former Deputy Supreme allied Commander Europe” and his take on the current situation…. that might well point towards a collapse of Russia…

 

[Jaskalas]

Nah, these are ex post facto lies the Russian government made up. We don’t have to pretend to believe them.

Of course they are lies.
I said they are.

The problem is the Russians believe them.

 

[fskimospy]

Of course they are lies.
I said they are.

The problem is the Russians believe them.

I’m not super confident of that.

 

[Jaskalas]

Mitch McConnell, called for giving Ukraine ATACMS, large drones and tanks. McConnell said this on September 14 in the Senate.

Guess that's a big FU to Tucker, Fox, and MAGA.
What strange times we live in, some of the old guard still remember their opposition to the USSR.