^ Agreed on all fronts and the pics of Putin in any “meetings” is creepy, bizarre, and hilarious.
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I like that idea… but with what money? Russia is cut off from international banking. Accounts frozen and their losing oil contracts. Chevron just pulled its contract with them.
The Russian people are in bad shape. I do feel for them. Maybe they could mob up and storm the kremlin and physically remive that fucker?
Ukraine, i think, will be fine once putin is done flexing. The whole world is on their side and sympathize with them. I think the world will make sure rheyre made whole again.
Did you guys see what happened in a UN human rights meeting yesterday? The Russian delegate dude was beamed in by video and as soon as it was his turn to speak, the place just emptied as everyone got up and walked out.
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Looks like Reuters heard our questions… and unless im reading it wrong. Putin has no authority to launch nukes within the chain of command. Oversimplified: Nukes can only be used unless there is a direct threat to Russia and seeing how Russia us the aggressor the chain if command will deny his order (hopefully/theoretically)
It’s an interesting article – thanks for the link, grmpy – but I don’t think these safeguards are going to carry much weight if Putin decides to nuke someone. All of these people in the chain-of-command are (rightfully) terrified of their leader. Most of the people required to “ok” a nuclear strike have rooms reserved for them in a luxury Siberian bunker somewhere…
A more chilling angle can be read about here:
There needs to be a coup-de-tat over there. That’s the only way this is going to end well. The Russian people are hopefully driven to revolt by the drubbing their economy has taken. I don’t see any other appreciable “endgame” that doesn’t end with Putin either fucking with NATO, or with Putin losing Ukraine and pulling a nuclear “scorched earth” number on his way out.
This was the only winning (based on current landscape) that I could think of as well.
Thank you, Grumpy, for digging in and getting a bit more much needed insight on the nukes issue. I’ll check out those articles too.
I feel horrible for everyone involved on all sides (most of whom had absolutely nothing to do with any of this but got thrown in). I read that military service is compulsory (I forget for how many years) so it’s no shock that the morale of the troops on the Russian side is dismal. Most, I’m sure, we’re just some regular 18-20-something dudes who ultimately just wanted to bang out their requisite service and then get on with seeking a normal life. I can’t imagine being in that position and suddenly being forced to fire rockets into a city which even likely has or had friends and relatives.
It’s just devastating. And even just thinking of the economic sanction stuff. I’m annoyed enough at our inflation and gas prices here (a normal Carl’s Jr. combo meal cost me $12 today and gas is about $5 a gallon). I’d lose my mind if my life savings was suddenly cut in half and access to normal goods I take for granted were cut off overnight.
Anyway, it’s really depressing. Putin has really isolated himself (he’s been completely paranoid of Covid and stays WELL distanced all the time) so I think the logistics will be really tricky, but I really wish someone would just assassinate the fucker so we can all breathe some relief and go forward.
Thanks. That is very helpful. However, Putin’s justification for the invasion is that Ukraine (and NATO) are a direct threat to Russia. So, he seems more than willing to play that card.
I’ve read that fiona hill article. that’s where I read that putin was bragging about his stingers to trump and trump didn’t get what he was really saying.
Can they really orchestrate a coup on a leader who already orchestrated a coup? Wouldn’t it just be “taking that shit back?” lol
I don’t think the russian people have any muscle to flex on putin. I’ve ready demonstrators have already been locked up over there.
Putin may be flexing in order to get somebody to attack his military because then he can be validated into “defending russia,” with nukes.
Right, but as the article shows, someone has to be actively shooting missiles into russia, and nobody is doing that. You’re totally right, this crazy fucker can make up whatever lie he wants to stick to in order do whatever he wants but it’s right there in black and white and nobody’s shooting at him.
What does concern me most , though, is that a desperate man is a dangerous man, and if his country is in economic despair with mass starving what does he have to lose by scorching us all? BUT that said… If he is gonna do it, what’s he waiting for?
19 days into the war. Some of the pictures and video are hard to fathom. Doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon. Tragic.
Did anyone see the video of the State-owned television news broadcast in Russia where a woman protester stood behind the news anchor on-air with her Stop the War sign? That took some serious guts. I hope she is OK and isn’t imprisoned in Siberia for the next decade.
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Yeah. Saw that last night. Very ballsy. We had the same reaction and really hope she’ll be okay.
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She was arrested and escorted out of the facility. No other details I read other than that.
I’ve also read that Ukraine is asking Russian soldiers to lay down their arms and fight for Ukraine. Not sure how many takers there are but I have read some platoons are doing it. The reports I’m reading are that Putin has basically lost and knows it and it’s really only a matter of time.
Kinda reminds me of playing Risk with my sister and her kicking my ass with a small ass army cause I keep rolling low numbers over and over again 
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Kamchatka!
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I don’t understand the whole NATO situation and the new hate on Lindsey Graham. (I still understand the normal/regular hate on Lindsey Graham, but not the new hate.)
1st: Why isn’t NATO helping Ukraine with fighting? Because Ukraine is not a member of NATO the wording/charter/whatever says NATO is “not obligated” to help a non member. It doesn’t say they can’t help. Also, the point of NATO was to stop exactly shit like this. Why must one be part of the group before they help? Seriously, the response is, “we’re going to stop shopping from your country.” WTF are they waiting for?
2nd: Lindsey Graham is calling for the assassination of Putin. He’s getting crazy backlash. Why? In my view, this seems to be about the only smart thing to come out of Graham’s mouth…um, ever, and it’s not even smart. It just seems like common sense. But the backlash is trashing him in that “Are you trying to start ww3?” But, how does killing the fucker with his finger on the button threatening ww3 actually start www3? If he’s dead he aint launching any nukes. WTF…
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Yeah, I’ve been grappling with pretty much all the same sticky points you’ve laid out, Grumps. I don’t see my comments above so it must have been in some other forum that I was noting it, but regarding what we can and can’t do and what is and isn’t an “act of war”, it really seems silly that we’re suddenly pretending to be all about protocol and fair play on this topic. Obviously we’ve fucked around in plenty of places that were not NATO and which we hadn’t officially declared war on. But beyond that, why are we so absorbed with something that would be perceived as an “act of war” on Russia when, according to THEIR words (and Putin’s specifically) everything we’ve done so far has already been an act of war. He said it when we did the sanctions. He said it when we took them off SWIFT. He said it when we sent aid/ weapons. So, does it really matter if we do something that may actually be meaningful just because Putin may call it an act of war?
As for Graham’s comments about assassination . . . I’ve been chewing on that one too. I guess it’s just one of those things that we’re not supposed to say out loud, hahaha. But who the fuck could possibly disagree? Of COURSE it would be great if someone assassinated Putin. At least it would be great for a short term (as it’s probably a 50/50 shot that we’d get another Putin come up, but that’s speculation). The same people that paint all this “worse than Hitler” landscape and decry that Putin is going to take over the world, blah blah blah. Uhhh, does ANYONE take issue with the person that says, “If I could go back in time I’d kill Hitler?” No. They will vilify the guy that may elect NOT to kill Hitler, though. So, now we’re living it in real time and we’re not supposed to talk about killing the Hitler-du-jour (Putin)? Whatever.
I don’t know if a full hawkish assault on the fucker is the best way to go. But there is definitely a disconnect in our leadership between how they describe the game board and the consequences of the players versus how they describe our chosen strategies and tactics. We just look silly.
Anyway, still hoping for a resolution on all this, and I guess my persistent fear and dread has more recently been replaced with head shaking and eye-rolling, hahahaha!!
Regarding the Nuclear Threat, I really am disgusted that, while Putin puffs and flexes with his Nukes, we continuously come back with “Nukes are NOT an option!” Uhhhh, well, if we say they’re not an option FOR US, while the other dude is clearly saying they ARE an option for him, we’ve just showed our cards. We’ve bent over and basically admitted that our nukes are nothing more than longhorns on the front of a Cadillac or giant balls on the back of a Silverado. They may look tough, but they ain’t doing a goddamned thing. Peace through strength only works if you have the strength. We HAD a strength, but now it seems like we’re openly telling everyone that not only are we afraid of everyone else on the planet, we’re even scared of ourselves.
Just seems like terrible strategy.
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It seems the only way this conflict ends “happily” for Ukraine is if NATO assembles a ground force to drive the Russians out of Ukraine. I don’t see that happening for the very reasons you guys have mentioned. Otherwise, Putin will continue to drop bombs and missiles until Ukraine is reduced to rubble; or he’ll wait until enough people leave or starve to death to move in. My guess is that this will end with Putin getting a third or even half of Ukraine. Putin will claim that the “special military operation” was a huge success, and the families of all of the dead Russian soldiers will be told by the State that their deaths were not in vain.
Imagine if the Ukraine army seized some of the Russian artillery and then arranged for one of those hypersonic missiles to “accidentally” hit Putin’s $1.4b mansion on the Black Sea.
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Dare to dream.
It really is pretty wild that there just doesn’t seem to be an end to psychotic megalomaniacs who can grab a country or even the planet by the balls and just steamroll away. We’re very limited in what we’re shown and the insight into other countries and how the people feel and think, but at least from the sources I have listened to and read, it SEEMS that Putin does not reflect the will of the people or even the ruling elite . . . hence his extreme paranoia and the need for continued vigilant control of the media and any public voice of protest. And, yet, boom . . . dude wants to lead the obliteration of a nation, so that’s how it goes.
Certainly not. He just fired like 1000 people around his circle because he’s paranoid of being assassinated. Which seems dumb to me. Those people are already vetted. wouldn’t it be more worrisome to bring in new people. People who aren’t necessarily on his agenda from the get go but pretending to get close.
Four months into the “special military operation” and no end in sight. So many lives destroyed. The economic sanctions appear to have hurt the West just as much or more than Russia. Is there an end game?
It’s hard to believe what’s true. I constantly see headlines/stories that say that Russia keeps losing and has no morale, 19 generals killed etc etc, but yet the war continues to march on. how can that be if Russia keeps piling up the losses? Starting to smell like a lot of propaganda and Russia isnt doing as badly as the press is letting in.
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