It’s a fucking disaster for all involved.
I would absolutely believe their morale is low but all things from the Ukrainian gov should be taken with an equal pinch of salt.
It would take a lot of personal courage
I know a few Russians living here and they have no time for Putin, but even still everything they say is very cagey. Like they are looking over their shoulder. The fear runs deep
Theyd have to be sure they can remove him or fucked into a mass grave. Surely the CIA has some group within Russia as a sleeper cell
As is expected gaddafi was also feared and we all saw what happened to him. Is there a strong enough and organised group to take the opportunity while he has the forces in Ukraine
Dissenters usually are found dead in the Moskva River right outside the Kremlin. Nice path there to walk by and it is a visual reminder for any would be dissenters that this is what will happen if you oppose the regime. Rule by fear is right!
There is none in the real sense because protest is not allowed in general. It depends on perception of vulnerability. A dictator cannot appear vulnerable. You don’t know what can happen or what repressed feelings of resentment are lurking in people, just waiting for a moment where they feel they can let it out. In East Germany that came with the weekly gatherings in Leipzig, which led to the fall of the wall. That’s why Putin clamps down so hard on any protest. If you allow any sort of protest it can very quickly spiral. But at the same time that simmering resentment builds up and up. Since 2014 Russia’s economy has been tanking. Batshit crazy nationalism is the classic distraction when that happens. If the batshit crazy nationalism fails, what then?
There is polling in Russia, carried out by the Levada Institute which is the only polling organisation with any credibility, and I think it usually shows his approval ratings around 60%, but you don’t know how credible that really is.
In Belarus, Lukashenko was gone only for big brother Putin. Putin has no big brother. The Chinese won’t be getting involved if he gets himself into trouble.
1 Like
There was a high profile opposition leader gunned down outside there a few years back. Walking down the street and bang.
Look at the Salisbury poisonings, there was little enough response to that from the UK, EU or US despite all the bluster after it initially.
I’d imagine the “ forces “ in Ukraine currently probably aren’t the cream of the crop unfortunately.
A good chunk of spetsnaz got wiped out assaulting a US base in Syria a couple of years ago
1 Like
Even the haunting image of Alexander Litvinenko back in the day was a very clear message to dissenters.
Good take, I don’t think there is but I really don’t know. Its interesting to see what is china’s long term game here, historically the Soviets and China had tension woth China being the weaker party at that time. I read that Mongolia applied several times to join the USSR but Moscow declined to keep peace with China. Xi could turn off the money tap and bankrupt Russia. Without oil and gas sales they would have falling apart years ago.
Will China go for Taiwan on the back of this or wait to see if Russia fail and go after Eastern Russia.
I think it suits China to let Russia “go first”. Then they can draw their own lessons from it.
They were Wagner group merc’s
1 Like
Yup China won’t want to be seen as an aggressor unless it knows it will win without any pushback. If the Ukrainian people keep fighting a gorilla war and or get western supports China will wait for another option. If Russia fail they might take the opening and seize part of Russia for resources. Rumours are they are in Afghanistan working on deals with the taliban for the rare earth minerals
This guy was involved in the operation where US forces wiped them out.
Says the invasion of Ukraine will be a disaster.
1 Like
I predict that the Russian gp will be canceled (terrible track) and that piece of shit masapine won’t be racing. Daddy’s money is gone. Haas will fold unless massive sponsor money comes in. All other drivers are calling for the Russian gp to be cancelled including vettel verstappen and bottas. Along with sanctions sport needs to remove Russian sportwashing
You should see his furniture
If that’s the case then Nikita loses his drive surely?