I'd say that any "Romance" between Putin and Netanyahu is well and truly over now since Oct 7th when the Israeli Opposition leader stated on Russian TV, that there had been Russian involvement in the Hamas attack, and that when Israel had "dealt" with Hamas, they would be coming after any Russians who had been involved.
Hold on, the report was that they were conscripting workers without visas. Before we can say this is a potentially incendiary incident, we'd need to ask if the natives of St Petersburg care that much about these visaless workers, or can Russian state media easily spin this as, "Illegal immigrants refuse to pay for their crime with service to mother Russia! Cause massive scale vandalism in protest!"?
If that's true then that's potentially an incendiary incident. Emptying the logistics industry would start having knock on effects beyond the poor bastàrds bein shipped off to Ukraine. The urban middle class suddenly suffering "first world" deprivation will change the mood music fast.
Still think a retreat by Putin will be a death warrant but it's gonna get untenable fast if they're getting that desperate. Obviously the prisons are running out of volunteers.
So the rumour is workers in that "Amazon" style warehouse in St Petersburg were getting conscripted so they set fire to it.
Hopefully that's a new trend and it has to be a good sign Putin is now resorting to forced conscription in the main cities. It will cause a lot of unrest.
Yes, something that is very difficult to understand here in the West. The sheer level of control that Putin has over ordinary Russians. This kind of mass acceptance of life under Putin is directly related to the USSR days, and Putin is well into the process or re-building the USSR, and Russians are generally, preconditioned to accept it.
Apparently it's a goods distribution centre. It was raided yesterday to forceably conscript workers without visas and have them fight in Ukraine. Employees burned it down in protest.
How do we know many Russians think something if they're too afraid to say it even in private? If people are too afraid to speak even in private, then we can say that Putin has achieved his aims pretty well as an authoritarian. Time was that an authoritarian would have to quell dissent as it occurred, but if people are afraid to speak even in private, then Putin has done something even more powerful: to quell dissent even before it becomes so.
And another Russian saying out loud what too many Russians think but are afraid to say (even in private)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1745572535817920660
It is reported as being an online store.
I would think that Iran rather than Russia is what lies behind Hamas' actions. Russia may indulge in some opportunism however..
The US support for israel may be partly due to the way Israel's enemies in the 60s and 70s aligned themselves with the Soviet Union. Only in the last decade have they realised that they were allied to losers, and hence they are not pro-Russia and anti US the way they once were (Iran is of course the big exception).
Interesting
Do we know of what?
Even if this isn't something of the military industrial complex, you'd wonder if a lack of usual logistics, security or service industry means these kind of gaps start appearing. Safety checks, administration, all those workers instead compost in Ukrainian fields rather than holding up the russian economy.
Agreed that Russia have stirred up Hamas but Israel with support of USA fell hook, line and sinker for Putin's strategy. Israel has always been a complete loose cannon and have shown they don't give a f**k for anything except their own agendas. They are a despicable state who think they have some special status in the world. The US should have known that they could not control the Israeli dogs of war once they were unleashed. And they have been obliged in giving them too much leash.
It has been a masterstroke by Putin.
Maybe the west needs to start arming Russian dissidents and let them start civil wars, play him at his own game.
Just another fire in the motherland...
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, there could be wider unintended consequences if they get this though,Ive Said multiple times boot them out,
As I was making the comment about a week being a long time in politics, as if on cue. I'd say that the powers that be knew this vote / motion was coming, and thats the reason they went along with Orban, just to get the EU funds released. As if this is not enough, the article mentions Article 7, and whats needed to trigger it.
Yasmina on X: "One step closer to withdraw Orban’s voting rights. A cross-party coalition of 120 Members of the European Parliament demand Hungary to be stripped of its voting rights over the country's democratic backsliding and Viktor Orbán's "unacceptable" use of veto power. "We believe… https://t.co/jPAjBdTNFF" / X (twitter.com)
Russian homes and infrastructure is falling apart meanwhile in Ukraine they have improved their trenches, no wonder they are happier being sent to Ukraine..
Yes, that video gives a good cross-section of rural life, how they think, and how they live. And the houses they live in. But tellingly, in the last interview, where the man being interviewed invited the journalist into his home, or rather the rear of the house, and they sat down together under a shelter, a common feature in most rural houses, where the guest would be offered food and drink, and the family would eat in the summertime. And of course, there would always be a bottle of vodka or two! I'd put him down as one of the wealthier inhabitants in that village, At around the 10min mark, he starts to have second thoughts about what he has said and starts to get worried. And this is Putin's Russia. Same goes for any interviews, you can never tell if they are being truthful or not. It's the Matryoshka Doll syndrome.
Of course, after all,they have been learning from Putins factory of lies, the Kremlin.
Thats a very good point, and I wonder what were the dates on Brianys street views? And of course, even prewar, while the state or municipality might be responsible for waste collection and disposal, it would be noticed which streets paid the baksheesh, or not.
The point is that given the oil and gas wealth that Russia had access to over the years, there should not be any houses like that. Sure, it's on twitter or X, where I reposted them from, and the poster was looking for the worst of the worst, and that's understandable, none the less, travel around Rural Russia, and generally the housing stock is not good. A lot of it has not been upgraded since communist times. I lived in several typical rural villages, and the houses were very basic, outdoor toilets etc, electrics that worked, but any western electrician would be horrified I'd say. Water from the well, and piped gas. So when everything worked, they were comfortable enough, even in the Russian winter. As for places to visit, the country is so vast, maybe in 10 lifetimes, you would not see more than a very tiny fraction of it, and there are many "tourist" destinations which are well looked after by virtue of the fact that they are tourist venues, and income generating. Then there are many more off the beaten track, which outsiders rarely get to see. I've always gotten on very well with the people in the villages, once they get to know you, and the word spreads, and you gain their trust. The reality is that they are a far cry from how they are perceived and described, even here on Boards.
Well, I've watched various 1420 videos, some of which are vox pops in rural Russia about the Ukraine war, and they look about the same. Although is Putin many of Russia's sons off to die in a war of his own making, the towns they come from do still hold one human resource when it comes to menial tasks involved in the upkeep of a town (or at least moving rubbish and sweeping streets) : babushkas.
Putin and Netenjahu had quite a bromance going a few years back, they also share similar hairstyle and keen on "your country is actually my country" thinking
Yeah, but Streetview was before all the street cleaners and binmen were reassigned to gardeners in the Ukraine. They can't be in better shape now.
wow! if that place was cleaned up and do up the houses it would be a very nice place...
I'm just dropping into random Russian towns on streetview, out in the middle of the country to see what they look like, and to be honest they don't look half as bad as that photo. A fair bit rundown, but I've seen them look no better in random midwest American towns.
Probably as much of a reason why they don't feature in brochures is that they're not really interesting places and take ages to get to.
Looking at the mountain ranges behind it, that could, indeed should, be a beautiful place.
Victorian era living standards in 2024 ....
The mighty Russia
And a sample of the conditions that the majority of Russians live in, outside of Moscow and St, Petersburg. Rural Russia does not feature in too many tourist brochures.
https://x.com/siamcat14445/status/1745774328405184822?s=20
Meanwhile, back in Putin's utopia...
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e050b53be62f0ae2404c620976170938.svg)
