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Ukraine-invasion-part-16

991 replies

PestorPeston · 22/03/2022 23:46

Warsaw Russian is letting out a lot of smoke - there has been no decision on who among them will be the next pontiff.

Biden is going there Friday

Is Boris Johnson the designated survivor?

Who the heck let me be in charge?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
18
DesdamonasHandkerchief · 26/03/2022 10:30

@PestorPeston

Busy week and struggling to catch up. That is quite some purge, is there anyone left in Putin's former inner circle?

www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-purges-in-putins-shrinking-inner-circle

This sort of sums up my feelings at the moment. twitter.com/BachanskiCezary/status/1507394755180777477
You will see that the next president of Russia will be #RomanAbramovich
Today he is rumored to be in Poland. Biden did not sanction him. The President of Ukraine asked not to impose sanctions. They're getting him ready. You will see. There will be no better candidate.

No more farcical that any other idea out there.

Best case scenario they get rid of Putin, get Alexei Navalny out of prison and, assuming he's not mentally broken by what he's already been through, he wins a free and fair election. Not likely I know but in my dreams ...
shreddednips · 26/03/2022 10:30

@MagicFox

I think he's pretty coup-proof Sad
I think he set up a system that was pretty coup-proof, but I wonder how secure it is now if there has either been a massive purge or mass defection of his inner circle. This is again just me speculating, but one man cannot keep control of everything without yes men to help him. He needs some kind of chain of command to coordinate things. Even if he found people to step up into those roles (and I wouldn't be queuing up to do it), surely replacing so many key players at once would have a huge destabilising effect.

This is why I just can't picture it being a purge unless there actually was a coup that was discovered and they've met a sticky end. So either that's the case (in my mind at least), or Shoigu et al decided to flee a sinking ship. And I can picture that one or two high profile people defecting would cause others to panic and trigger a chain reaction of people defecting.

This article is quite interesting and sums up the steps Putin has taken to coup-proof the regime, and the potential of elite defection to topple him:

foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/23/putin-coup-russian-regime/

MagicFox · 26/03/2022 10:35

I also have the Navalny fantasy, Desdemona!

shreddednips · 26/03/2022 10:36

@MagicFox

I also have the Navalny fantasy, Desdemona!
So do I Grin
Ijsbear · 26/03/2022 10:36

www.reuters.com/business/finance/swiss-freeze-more-than-6-billion-worth-sanctioned-russian-assets-2022-03-24/

6bn frozen (presumably $). That's not nothing!

TargusEasting · 26/03/2022 10:37

@PaperTyger

If this Man has "disappeared" who has his nuclear key
It is Saturday morning. Shoigu’s in his office thumbing through his vintage Finnish porn collection when Putin walks in.

Putin: “Hey Shoigy, have you seen the nuclear keys?”

Shoigu: “They’re in the draw by the toaster in the kitchen, where they’re normally kept”

Putin: “Not they’re not, for fuck’s sake. I’ve looked.”

Shoigu: “Calm down. Did you check properly? Remember, last week I bought some of those rubber coloured thingies from Yandex. Green on the lawnmower key, red on the gas meter cupboard key and yellow on the nuclear console keys.”

Putin: “Well that’s just fucking great. No yellow key here!”

Shoigu: “Is there a green key?”

Putin: “No. No green key. So what?”

Shoigu: “Well perhaps Lavrov’s got it. He went out to mow the lawn this morning and I hadn’t told him about the new colour coding system so suspect he took a whole bunch of them with him to be sure.”

Putin leaves the Kremlin to walk across the lawns and sure enough Lavrov’s in the Kremlin garden bent down over the lawnmower cursing.

Putin: “What’s up with you, Lavs?”

Lavrov: “This fucking mower’s not working properly. I paid 7,000 rubles to have it serviced after Christmas and the sodding battery is flat and the tyres have perished.”

Putin: “Well, you will always buy those cheap Chinese tyres. Never mind that, did you take the yellow key this morning. I need it?”

Lavrov: “No chance mate. I thought it was the mower key and went to turn it in the ignition, but the bugger snapped clean in two. Cheap rubbish. How was I to know. Intelligence round here is shocking.”

Putin: “What about the spare. There’s always two.”

Lavrov: “The spare was in my other trousers pocket. The trousers I packed when I went to London last time. They’re in my flat in Knightsbridge. Can it wait until I can go back and get them?”

shreddednips · 26/03/2022 10:39

Targus, that's absolutely brilliant 😆

thereisonlyoneofme · 26/03/2022 10:39

Are they focussing everything on taking Odessa? This will cripple Ukraine surely if they dont have access to their only port ?

DGRossetti · 26/03/2022 10:40
It's just over half a DUP
PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 10:42

Glorious targus
Grin

notimagain · 26/03/2022 10:57

Targus

Very good…...and frighteningly close to the reality that existed in one Air Force not that long ago……

www.wired.com/2007/11/british-nukes-a/

Ijsbear · 26/03/2022 10:59

@ DGRossetti what's a DUP?

@TargusEasting excellent :D

RedToothBrush · 26/03/2022 11:02

Nothing says 'in control' more than the deliberate release of what people view as a 'proof of life' video about veterans not the actual special operation...

Now.

Where are the others then?

Ijsbear · 26/03/2022 11:03

Is there any realistic prospect of Ukraine being able to take back the Donbas and Luhansk regions? It sounds like the Russians are hunkering down there to take them and keep them.

DrBlackbird · 26/03/2022 11:04

I know one person who would love to disappear all sanctions (and probably the entire Ukraine too). And that's Rishi Sunak

Rishi can at least string a sentence together and seems halfway competent, but I still suspect that he only speaks one language 💷💵💴

EsmaCannonball · 26/03/2022 11:26

I can't help but think that Abramovich is purely interested in saving his own skin and billions in all this. He's offered to negotiate on condition that he's not sanctioned and he isn't a good faith actor.

RedToothBrush · 26/03/2022 11:27

Nexta @nexta_tv
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of #Ukraine reports the suicide of the commander of the 13th Tank Regiment of the 4th Tank Division of #Russia

Disappearing senior government officials, fragging incidents and suicides...

DuncinToffee · 26/03/2022 11:41

Olekskii Reznikov

For the 1st time, meeting in 2+2 format. With @DmytroKuleba we discuss current issues & cooperation in political & defense directions between 🇺🇦-🇺🇸 with @SecDef & @SecBlinken.
In the evening we’ll also be present at @POTUS speech on the russian war against Ukraine.
Details later.

twitter.com/oleksiireznikov/status/1507656513011298306?s=21

DuncinToffee · 26/03/2022 11:44

Large crowd of local people protesting the arrival of Russian troops in the Ukrainian city of Slavutych, near Chernobyl where many workers from the nuclear plant live.

twitter.com/reevellp/status/1507677387479293952?s=21

PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 11:48

ESMA I'm 99% sure you're correct but that doesn't rule him out as someone who can help for the good.
He has older DC one of whom Seems to have a conscience.
When he first came here to the UK, apparently he always had a plane ready to flee .

PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 11:49

I can't see how or why he has any interest in this invasion at all

DuncinToffee · 26/03/2022 11:52

Regarding Abramovich,

Vladimir Putin personally approved Roman Abramovich’s involvement in Russia’s peace talks with Ukraine, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Putin’s direct blessing indicates that Abramovich sought approval at the highest level to help start ceasefire negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow in late February and runs counter to long-running claims by the oligarch that he does not have a close relationship with the Russian president.

www.ft.com/content/260fb656-4010-4ffe-96be-a273ec87792b

PaperTyger · 26/03/2022 11:57

Duncin if he's directly Holding, washing Putin's money then they will be close

EsmaCannonball · 26/03/2022 12:00

Abramovich is nothing more than a very high-level mafia boss.

I'm highly suspicious that Russia's statements about limiting the scope of the war are timed to coincide with Biden's visit to NATO and Poland. It's all about lulling NATO out of providing Ukraine with more offensive hardware. Any land held by Russia will be used as a base for future aggression in Europe (unless Putin's regime is overthrown, of course).

DuncinToffee · 26/03/2022 12:03

Follow the money, as always.