This. Russia was never a democracy, it went from a kingdom to a totalitarian socialist regime in 1917, a kleptocracy in the 90s, and a dictatorship under Putin.
Maybe the second plane was the decoy that Prigozhin was pretending to be on. But the Russians knew and blew up the correct plane.
Russia has no history of democracy or democratic institutions
No, would not work either, because of the vast wealth he steals in Africa, half belongs automatically to Putin. And if anything, this was one of the reasons for the delay in his execution. ( the other of course being that he wanted to make sure of his own personal safety, that was paramount, and took several weeks of investigations, covering all the bases before he gave the kill order)
Well it would be one of the biggest events in US Political history, if having gotten the republican nomination, he was rejected by the voters. Because even the Republicans are not 100% behind him.
Well, that begs the question of what information Russian people are actually receiving. Do they hear about people randomly falling out of windows? I heard that the Prigozhin story only got 40 seconds of coverage on Russia's main news channel.
So America now on the f16 wagon. Hopefully we can see them in action by next summer. Unfortunately ATACMS are proving hard to get.
I don't think they care about escalation I think they know regular HIMARS can't hit mainland China from Taiwan so if they deleted their stock China might see an opportunity.
It would be interesting to know who was on that second wagner plane that landed in Azerbaijan. Anyone concerned with their personal safety might put their name on the passenger list of one plane but not take it to sow confusion. He is most likely dead, but it would not be a shock if it is infact all staged. He did it before in 2019
A fascinating aspect of this is how Putin is making no attempt to disguise he is fronting up a mafia state, even from his own people.
It's very much along the lines of Stalin's purges and Hitler's 'Night of the Long Knives'.
Its hot in Crimea this week.
He may well have thought given his private army and his vast wealth Putin would not dare touch him. Whatever scenario is true, his hubris was ultimately his undoing. Given his background he should have known you can't trust anybody in that world, least of all Putin no matter what hand you feel you have to play. He should have stayed out of Russia. Putin might still send people after him but with his vast wealth he could have made it more difficult for Putin to get him.
Jesus, what a nice old chap. Cudos well deserved.
Zelensky awarding a 75 year old Japanese volunteer who came to Kharkiv at the beginning of the war and has been cooking free meals for the residents every day since.
"Fuminori Tsuchiko is a 75-year-old Japanese volunteer who has come to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion to help those who had to live in the Kharkiv metro, hiding from shelling and bombs. For some time, he lived with them underground – he’s been buying and giving away product packages (e.g., with groceries) and entertaining children.
Time passed, and Fuminory decided to sell his house in Japan and move to Saltivka, one of the most damaged by Russian attacks neighborhoods in Kharkiv. Here, with the help of Ukrainian and Japanese charities, he opened a volunteer cafe, where, to this day, he has been providing hot meals to locals.
“I like everything in Kharkiv. People here are very kind. I’m staying here forever because I want to help them. Glory to Ukraine!” says Fuminori. "
Of course, the guy is a joke. But he's still almost certainly going to be the nominee
... he only got the sack
**so far**
I keep reading hill 166 as hill 16 by mistake. It mean they will do well there. 😊
That Hill 166 chatter is looking more promising.
I feel like I've heard these kinds of murmurs before, which then came to nothing, unfortunately. So although I hope for every success in terms of Ukrainian advances, I think it's best to just wait and see before getting too excited.
Seen today a few reports of Ukrainian gains in a number of different areas of the front. Nothing huge but it's been a while since I've seen this number all at once. Hopefully it's true and there's more to come.
Also seen some analysis that the south is much drier and attacks might continue right into November. If that's the case Ukraine could have 2 more months to push on.
Certainly more plausible than reports from a couple of days ago that they were already on the outskirts of Tokmak.
Why are posting your opinion as fact when just a few posts ago your ask what is going on.
Seems to be a little bit more momentum on the Frontline since Ukraine committed more brigades. Here's hoping they make steady progress!
Wagner are, above all, soldiers of fortune. Some could possibly be paid off or else told to stay the F out of Russia. Worth remembering that Wagner got a good deal of its arms from the Russian government (remember Prigozhin ranting a few months ago about Moscow not sending ammo). Even if they had the gear, a good number of their men are over in Africa right now, so they've probably not got the petrol to get from there to Moscow, even if they wanted to. That's not to mention that Putin would be keen not to get blindsided twice by a stunt like that.
No, I think it's fair to say that if this was a hit on Prigozhin, ordered by Putin, Putin will be getting little to no blowback directly from it.
Putin did a Michael Corleone , taking out the heads of the five families and thus consolidating his power
he has probably guaranteed his chance of surpassing Stalin in terms of duration of power
I honestly don't know what's going to happen or what form it will take. There's posters on here who say that without Prigozhin, Wagner will just fall apart, seeing as they are basically just mercenaries', for hire to the highest bidder ( and could that be Putin now?) Or could the power behind Prigozhin ( for sure, there's some one there, behind the scenes.) emerge and hold the whole thing together? And of course, you will get some who were dedicated followers of Prigozhin, and will not take his death lying down. And these will be completely un-predictable. I would not be surprised to see many senior ( and not so senior) Russian officers and commanders taken out, especially if at any stage they had crossed Prigozhin. It goes without saying that if Shoigu or Gerasimov got in their sight's, it would be game over. They know only two well how things work in Putin's Russia.
Doesn't seem likely that the Wagner force would have the cohesiveness & leadership now to have another march on Moscow.
More likely revenge on chosen individuals and possibly domestic terrorism.
He would have had something that he thought was keeping him safe, and it would have been a little more than Putin giving him assurances to that end. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise. He was a man who'd been in and around warzones for years, leading a band of bloodthirsty mercenaries and avoided death throughout all of that, and isn't even to mention his previous stint in prison. He wasn't going to, due to ego or whatever else, suddenly cop the naiveté of a small child when dealing with Putin, who he'd just led a march against (or perhaps more accurately, Putin's military officials). He'd have known exactly how the man operates - he'd been around it for years, and was in a time when instances of people 'randomly' falling out of windows was at a real high. He'd have known full well to be highly wary for pretty much as long as Putin was in power. Therefore, my conclusion - the insurance policy he thought he had failed, and failed spectacularly.
Whispers emerging about this, big pace gain if true.
This hisbsecond jet had some odd flights but on the day of the crash it's last flight was from St Petersburg to unknown.
Then today from Moscow to Azerbaijan.
Outside of the Belorussian stationed Wagner trying another match on Moscow is there many possible flash points right now with Wagner most off the front lines ?
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