And when the matter of ISIS is ‘settled’with Russia and all aid to UKr is stopped then off he - Putin- he goes again on his next attack . As the old saying goes -Rince and Repeat.-
Yip
Let's assume that the guy in blue is actually the FSB agent that people are claiming him to be.
So what? Can't they go to concerts in their spare time?
Nice to see aid still being supplied to Ukraine.
What is that though, a week or 10 days worth of artillery shells?
Sure, but even off duty, you would think that they would react to an emergency, which is what they are trained to do? And off duty or not, these guys are armed.
Yes. However something to note is that it was only 4 weeks ago that Germany announced 14,000 shells.
Which is a rate that seems to be increasing with the recent 18,000 announcement.
Boiled down that seems to be about 4,000 ish shells per week. If even two or three more countries pitched in at that cadence then Ukraine would be in pretty good shape on the 155mm shell front.
There's footage of one of the guys in blue talking to one of the attackers.
That would be interesting
A remember a BBC documentary on Tolstoy - nobody local would talk to the BBC man because they said they were being watched and feared saying the wrong thing. (Actually there was a drunk guy who started talking and pointing at the listening lads). Of course, the docu crew were followed by men in trench coats everywhere.
Small excerpt from the NYT:
In the subsequent days, internal Russian intelligence reporting — which the Dossier Center said reached the Russian National Security Council — warned specifically about the threat that Tajiks radicalized by ISIS-K posed to Russia. The reporting pointed to the involvement of Tajiks in disrupted plots in Europe and attacks in Iran and Istanbul in recent months. The reporting didn’t mention the Western warnings or a possible Moscow attack.
The Dossier Center was founded in 2017 by the exiled Russian tycoon Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, a longtime opponent of Mr. Putin. The authenticity of its report could not be independently verified.
But by then, the skepticism about the plot had grown within the Russian government, and Mr. Putin felt comfortable deriding the public warnings in a speech to top officers at the F.S.B., using the occasion to attack the West again.
“Because the F.S.B. — and Putin — sees the world through the prism that the United States is out to get Russia, any information that is not consistent with that frame is easily dismissed,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, who previously led analyses of Russia by the U.S. intelligence community.
She said, “That dynamic may have resulted in an intelligence failure with devastating consequences.”
Mr. Putin, in both 2017 and 2019, thanked the U.S. government for providing information that had helped Russia foil terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg. But analysts say a similar gesture would be impossible in the acrimonious environment he has created since invading Ukraine.
The United States has been tracking ISIS-K activities very closely in recent months, senior officials said. In the course of the monitoring, which has involved electronic intercepts, human informants and other means, American operatives picked up fairly specific information about plotting in Moscow, officials said.
I assumed he was being sarcastic.
I've read in the NYT that one of the gun men had been working at the concert hall for months. Obviously, a major security breach.
It's one of many countries who give Ukraine shells. It's also a marked increase of supplies from Germany. 18,000, usually it's around 2,000 - 3,000. Over the past 2 years Germany has given Ukraine 50k shells (standard 155mm) so this new delivery of 18k is a sizeable increase and hopefully not just an outlier.
Another jet?
A statement from Ukraine's intelligence chief is clearly worth a study
Its down to this so:
ZELENSKYY REPLAY: "WE WILL LOSE WITHOUT US SUPPORT"
Russia ( Putin and his followers ) is a malignant cancer in the face of this earth
Modern day Nazis. Pity more haven't woke up to that fact. The longer Putin is left alive the more emboldened the vitriol becomes from those that suck up to him.
The word that springs to my mind is … genocide. That is the level of who and what the Russian dictatorship is.
This has been clear from the start. Genocide. Rwanda, Holocaust, full blooded Nazis.
Haven’t seen much about any oil refineries being hit in the last while.
Surely Ukraine hasn’t stopped targeting them because of what the US said?
Be a shame to stop now and give Russia time to rebuild.
I've seen this Russian Media Monitor stuff before, but who watches this in Russia? is this on the main channel at 9pm, primetime, or is this on some obscure channel in the middle of the night? Are the people on it high profile? (or just high)? I have no idea if these people are being taken seriously inside of Russia? definitely not outside of Russia.
I suppose we should not be surprised. Possible similar in US and UK also?
is there an example in history of where a strong man dictator has not turned out to be a genocidal mass murderer . Mussolini??? But did he not commit war crimes in Ethiopia? Tito In Yugoslavia?? But look at what chaos came after him.
I am listening to scutter from acquaintances of mine singing the praises of the likes of Trump and Putin and what great leaders they are and how strong and decisive in comparison to our own leaders. Trump has a good bit to go yet but Putin is definitely already there in terms of murder.
The world has tried the strong man dictator approach before many times and it ultimately led to the most depraved acts of inhumanity ever conceived. It is a proven utter failure of a political system in the long term. Even where a strong man leader is relatively benign during his lifetime he sucks so much power inwards that chaos inevitably follows the vacuum of his death.
US never said anything of the sort. That was Russian propaganda.
I was laughed at on here a few months ago for suggesting this is exactly what we should be wary of… people completely blinded by their rush to confirm Russia as a defeated nation that couldn't possible pose any threat to 'the West' that they have to shoot down any suggestion that runs against their narrative.
No doubt whatsoever that under Putin, and his ability to divide and conquer, to cosy up to China, India and countless other smaller nations, Russia is a dangerous adversary. The sooner he dies and there's a chance for some sort of reset, the better.
You could point to Castro. His time in power is probably the closest history has come to absolute power wielded relatively benignly. But at what cost the loss of civil liberties? The rights of individuals to self-determination? Political dissent?
At least with Castro you could raise the argument that the State above the Individual benefits the Collective, and he's about the only example of a regime that genuinely sought to improve the lot of the Collective by prioritising the State over the Individual. That said, it's not a philosophy I agree with at all. The risk of abuse of power is simply too great. Essentially, the State, Collective and Individual all live at the whim of a tiny circle of powerful (always) men. South America, Africa, Asia can all throw up recent examples of failure of this philosophy as a result of power corrupting the powerful.
Liberal democracy of the West, for all its faults, has shown itself to be, not a flawless model but certainly one capable of evolving for the better, of being refined where the will to acknowledge failings exists. It's the will to acknowledge failings that needs to be most carefully tended to with our form of governance. Yes, the current system where so much wealth is concentrated in so few hands is unacceptable. But our system allows us to address that. And we should address it - it needs addressing not for the whole system to be torn down.
we are currently in a late game monopoly scenario. One or two players are hoovering up all the wealth on the board. The rest ? Some have walked away pretending they weren’t bothered anyway but others are contemplating sweeping everything off the board in a fit of rage. I suppose that’s where the likes of Putin are at. Like a bould child He’s sick of the game sick of the rules and wants to start a new one or throw it in the fire.
Only problem with that analogy is that Putin loves the rules cos he can stuff his pockets with hotels and cash as soon as the nominated banker leaves the room to go to the jacks. Putin has profited handsomely from the game… he should be doing everything he can to keep it ticking along.
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