Ukraine (41 Viewers)

[DCSaints_Fan]

This is one tough kid

 

[rail]

Just a rumor piece but not unrealistic:

Fingers crossed.

 

[Saintman2884]

I think it is more speculative rumor... if FSB/Russian military were working on something, making sure that not a peep was heard about it before the move was made would be priority one.

Now considering everything going on if I was FSB hoping to start a coup, my first stage in the process would be formenting the belief among those closest to Putin that a coup was being planned... by another group, maybe one likely to side with Putin but not in his closest confidence.

Let him "uncover" the planted plot and liquidate the "perpitrators". Use that unhinged brutality to convince some fence sitters to turn on Putin, who just eliminated some who might have backed him against a coup. Ooo

You are not going to turn the inner circle. If he lets them close Putin probably knows the number of hairs they left in their brush this morning... so he probably would not buy that they were turning on him.

I wonder, if a large subset of the Russian military did start a coup, and Putins loyalists managed to hold Moscow but a military force of superior numbers was moving his way... would Putin use a tactical nuke on them, against Russian soldiers on Russian soil, rather than cede the government?

This scenario sounds eerily similar.to the one faced or undergone by the Russian Provisional Government that overthrew Tear Nicholas II in February 1917 by mutinious St. Petersburg workers, who went on strike and the Czar ordered his troops to fire upon them to disperse them, thinking his imperial army would obey him just like they did in crushing the 1905-07 Russian Revolution after the disastrous Russia Japanese War of 1904-05. They instead shot their commanding officers, joined the striking, revolutionary workers which led to the topple of the Romanov Russian ruling dynasty, except Nicholas II didn't possess nukes to fire on in a desperate, futile attempt to hold on to power.

The crazy, ironic, or saddest thing about Russia's participation in WWI is that from an actual economic and military standpoint, they werent ready for the rigie, fast-paced highly I industrialized nature and demands for that conflict. Most of Nicholas II's closest military and political advisors told him Russia wasnt prepared for a full mobilization, couldn't keep up, much less match match the sophisticated hardware, technology, advanced, intelligent military thinking, formation, levels of organization compared to their Entente allies British and France and far behind their German foes on the Eastern Front.

Even Nicholas II's "mad monk religious heretic" advisor, Rasputin, warned him against declaring war on Germany, saying Russia wasnt prepared militarily or economically for even a short, continental conflict. He said if Russia entered WWI, it would eventually mark the end of the Romonov dynasty. Ive always believed that even if WWI doesn't occur or Russia doesn't become as intricately involved, the Romonov dynasty probably gets overthrown in a violent revolution anyway because by 1914, the regime had lost a lot of its credibility, internationally and internally, most political analysts if you go back to that particular time period, were predicting or arguing that the Russian Czarist regime was on its last legs.

 

[superchuck500]

Deception about force size and location has always been a tool of battle. Ukraine is using mannequins to draw Russian fire.

 

[rail]

How can you not love these people?

 

[superchuck500]

Good highly detailed thread on the battle in the east:

 

[Sailorsaint]

It's a day old so the maps aren't updated and some of the info is already reported but, he adds quite a bit of info that I haven't seen anywhere else in the first half of the video....especially about the May 9 celebration.

 

[rail]

Just wanted to put something uplifting in here today.

 

[Sailorsaint]

Just wanted to put something uplifting in here today.

Thank you! Next time, wait until closer to the end of the day's news cycle, you know, to pull us all back from the ledge....

 

[rail]

Well that lasted all of 15 minutes. (sorry)

 

[Sailorsaint]

Well that lasted all of 15 minutes. (sorry)

Well, we all knew it was coming. As soon as Putin said, "Don't go in, just surround them." it was an operational phase to deploy more troops to the area. Even the short ceasefire and token evacuees was a tool used by the Russians. The demise of the Russian nation can't come quick enough for me. I no longer feel any pity for the Russian people, much less their armed forces.

 

[efil4stnias]

Well that lasted all of 15 minutes. (sorry)

ill just keep going back to your first post on Mariupol.


this info pains me.

I told my wife and kids over a month ago, if it werent for them, i would have dropped everything and joined the International Fighting Force in Ukraine.

And a part of me still wants to go, but I will continue to contribute what i can, when i can. I have to feel like im helping in some fashion.

my thoughts today will be with all of those civilians and fighters holed up in Azovstal. All day.

Slava Ukraini.

 

[porculator]

More on the dissatisfaction with Putin and how the factions would be oriented in this really interesting interview with Russia expert Catherine Belton. You have to sign up with Puck (free) to read it. It’s a news analysis site from Julia Ioffe (formerly NYT, Atlantic, etc).




But despite the dissatisfaction she doesn’t think a coup is setting up. Her final comments:

Well, if there really is a coup brewing, they would just take out Patrushev or whoever else it is if Putin goes down. No matter how crazy Putin is, there's never going to be a situation where it is him versus everyone else in the room. Even doofuses like Trump are able to surround themselves with senile ex-NYC mayors and pillow magnates when everyone else knows they're full of sheet. I'm sure Putin has a formidable inner circle that he's spent years curating that will have to be taken down with him.

 

[saintmdterps]

Just a rumor piece but not unrealistic:

There is no doubt Putin needs to be removed from office, and whoever competes that task is doing the rest of the world a huge favor

 

[porculator]

How can you not love these people?

I love how unflappable they are.

God forbid anything ever happens like that in our country. That fence would be plastered in caution tape for months until the insurance adjusters come out and only then can we start to move forward with putting together a proposal to design a tasteful and equitable memorial fence that meets the rigid standards of the HOA and the NIMBY Karen next door.