Ukraine Invasion: Part 37

[MagicFox]

Welcome all to thread 37. Thanks to everybody contributing to the backbone of these threads (extra hat tip to Ducks and Desdemona for posting daily updates) and to all lurkers too.

Drones, too

At this point I feel like I’d have a good chance at Putin speech bingo

I can't even really figure out what he's saying, it's just a load of boring blah blah. Obvs it's all the West's fault and they started all of this 🙄

Yeh just a rerun of his warped take on history and how it’s our fault he started a war

And now he’s thanking teachers…

And we are promoting paedophilia…..and marriage is for a man and a woman

Maybe in history he'll be known as Vlad the big shit, because he's full of it and treats the Russians like it.

It's interesting how many people aren't applauding.

I was just counting the number of yawns I’ve seen. At least 5 so far 😂

And I think Lavrov might actually be napping

My friends, experiencing Putin through your filter is the ONLY way to do it 😂

And now there is a long winded diversion into talk and loans for those wanting to embark on new projects

*tax

I would love to get inside the thoughts of that audience. The amount of WTF looks is outstanding 😂 meanwhile Putin rambles about yachts and mansions.

I wonder how much of what he's saying he genuinely believes ?

He seems very impassioned about factories. And keeps telling tourists to Haiti Russia…. Yeh no thanks on that one Vlad!

Indeed. Maybe a lot of their thoughts are 'Thank God I managed to get my kids out of this country'.

He will get traction in a lot of his target audience (eg Africa) with anything homophobic or accusing the West of encouraging paedophilia.

IME one of the ways African countries cope with their off-the-scale problems of paedophilia is by othering it and pretending it's the result of "corrupting Colonial Western influence".

(This is manifestly untrue, by the way. You only have to look at the fact that in, eg, the UK, paedophiles have to be segregated even in jail otherwise they'll be beaten to death; whereas in some African countries where I've lived it's not unusual to see the rapist of a 5-yr-old being given a suspended sentence "because it's a first offence". Tells you all you need to know about prevailing culture.)

Anyway, a bundle of "gay=paedophile=Western corruption" will hit home with those audiences.

And he’s done.

one small mention of nuclear weapons at the end but just moaning that the U.K., US and France don’t let Russia inspect their stockpiles so they are pausing cooperation on the remaining arms control treaty (but emphasised not withdrawing entirely) then ruled out a first strike.

All in all quote boring and unfrothy.

Thanks all, appreciate it

The World Service broadcast Putin speeching and the interpreter interpreting at the same time, with the result that I was effectively spared any of it, or at least any of it in comprehensible form. For which I was grateful: I don't need that as I am waking up.

I briefly caught the bit about gdp where he said unemployment is lower and productivity per person is up- thats what happens when you send a vast amount of those people to be slaughtered, and a similar amount leave the country. There are less people to divide the figure by.

Or am I missing something?

Sky news in part of their summary said he said presidential elections to be held next year. potentially he will be lining up someone awful to takeover from him so he can bow out. Not that any of the elections will be a free result

I guess there's always hope. Putin himself was originally installed as a puppet and unexpectedly emerged with real power.

They might accidently install somebody decent and normal

That's interesting, Surplus2requirements. Installed by whom?

Being installed by other forces is a common career path for dictators, but I've always had the impression Putin installed himself. Although he did eventually create an unspoken bargain with the oligarchs that they would get the freedom to corruptly gain riches as long as they left political power to him.

According to many who know lots more about this than I do changing the leader is not going to change anything.....there needs to be a complete change of thinking at an almost national level....