Wagner's fighters are not happy with their leader being killed. Some are vowing revenge and cursing Vladimir Putin. Wagner fighters are furious and vowing vengeance after their leader Prigozhin's presumed death in a plane crash Yup. Putin is getting more popular by the day.
Sure, if anything jumps out of this thread it’s nuance. Did you miss where one poster threatened to report me to the FBI for opining that Putin had his grievances ? Or when I asserted that this is a proxy war *uproarious laughter ensued* followed by calls for me to be silenced because a war was going on ? Thanks for the laugh.
Putin praises Prigo, calling him a man of complex fate and many talents, but stops short of calling for an investigation to find out who killed him. Apparently, he's hoping people decide that it was an accident. Ukraine: The Latest - 'Prigozhin’s role in shaping the course of the war is overstated'
A conflict is brewing between the FSB (security bureau) and the Russian army, as Russia starts losing this war. The FSB wants to declare war and mobilize as many people as possible, and get rid of the top two army leaders, Gerasimov and Shoigu. Putin cannot, under any circumstances, get rid of these two. It would be suicidal. Putin's power is based on having two allies in charge of the army, and Prigo in charge of his mercenary group, Wagner. Now that Prigo is dead, and Wagner is out of the war, Putin is left with little to hold on to his power. Putin is actually afraid of the FSB. Apparently he knows first-hand that an unqualified spy boss can easily seize power and become dictator. Conflict between FSB and Russian Army brewing as Russia fails on the battlefield, says expert Yakovyna
hopefully some of their top young IT people came to US… “Yet the invasion of Ukraine has caused the single largest exodus prompted by political upheaval since the 1920s. They found that between 817,000 and 922,000 people have left Russia since February 2022. The largest recipient countries were Kazakhstan and Serbia, each with 150,000 emigrants. But Russians have moved all over the world, including between 30,000 and 40,000 who went to America, according to the estimates. Also significant is the profile of those who are able to move. In general, Russia’s wartime émigrés have relatively high levels of income, social capital and education. That is bad news for Russia, both economically and socially. Re: Russia reckons that the wartime emigrants account for roughly 1% of Russia’s workforce, exacerbating an acute labour shortage. The Gaidar Institute, a think-tank in Moscow, said that 35% of manufacturing businesses did not have enough workers in April, the highest figure since 1996. Shortages of specialists are especially severe: according to one Kremlin official, at least 100,000 IT professionals left the country in 2022. With no vision for the future aside from international isolation and war, the Kremlin will struggle to stem the tide” Russians have emigrated in huge numbers since the war in Ukraine
Finally, a light in the darkness for Russia's economy! Hope and Salvation are on the way! New jobs for Russians that pay well, and are not too strenuous or excessively dangerous, although they have enough element of danger to make these jobs exciting. What could be more thrilling? Even better, it takes money out of Ukraine's economy! And it has an element of urban renewal to it. Win-win situation! Russia's bloggers and propagandists should be all over this any day now, getting people to sign up. Ukrainians offer ‘quick money’ to Russians to set fire to buildings I was worried about the Russian economy collapsing. I feel much better about Russia's future now.
Ukraine consolidating gains in march toward Melitopol (msn.com) Ukrainian Air Forces struck a command center. Thirteen strikes were conducted on personnel concentration areas and three Russian air defense systems within the past 24 hours. Rocket forces and artillery units struck two command centers, two personnel, weapons, and military equipment concentration areas, five artillery systems in firing positions, an air defense system, an ammunition depot, and an enemy electronic warfare station were targeted by Ukrainian missile and artillery units over the past 24 hours. ............................ Valerii Zaluzhnyi told U.S. officials that Ukrainian forces are on the verge of a breakthrough in their southern counteroffensive, according to an Aug. 24 Wall Street Journal report. Zaluzhnyi said that Ukrainian forces "continue to create conditions for moving forward step-by-step." The Ukrainian military’s General Staff confirmed success in the area of Robotyne, stating that Ukrainian troops are solidifying their positions in the newly liberated territory. They are also continuing to advance towards Melitopol. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reported the liberation of the village of Urozhayne in Donetsk Oblast on Aug. 16. Defense Forces reclaimed nine settlements in southern and eastern Ukraine in June. Additionally, Ukraine liberated the nearby village of Staromayorske in July.
it feels like a boxing match where the Ukranian body blows (bridge/rail destruction, munitions depots, artillery counter-battery, and drones) are starting to be felt by Russian forces Ukrainian forces achieve breakthrough at Robotyne, General Staff reports / The New Voice of Ukraine (nv.ua) Ukrainian troops operating on the southern front have achieved a significant breakthrough around the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, according to a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's General Staff, Andriy Kovaliov, on August 22. "In the vicinity of Robotyne, a successful advance has been executed, and our forces are now securing the gained positions," Kovaliov said. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are continuing their advance in the Melitopol direction. Soldiers are inflicting artillery strikes on Russian targets and carrying out counter-battery measures, he said. ..................... Earlier, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar confirmed that active combat operations are ongoing in the village, with Ukrainian units achieving success southeast of Robotyne, and south of the village of Mala Tokmachka. On August 18, CBS News, citing anonymous U.S. officials, reported that Ukrainian forces were making progress toward Tokmak. The settlement is located more than 20 kilometers to the south of Robotyne.
No, it didn’t, but it was conventional wisdom at the time … for both parties. Anyone who tries to act now as if they knew Ukraine would put up a formidable resistance; that Russia would put up such a buffoonerous offense; or that the Global North would stand with Ukraine for as long as it has is straight-up lying. A better zinger at this point is to find the few people who prophesied that all of the above became true … but that we would still only offer Ukraine half-ass support. Truly no one would have believed you that Jake Sullivan would have kept his job, that we would not have increased military pressure on Russia, or that we would have failed to increase our petroleum, food, or munitions production over 18 months into this thing. Someone in April 2021 would have called you insane to predict such things. They would have said things such as, “Only an idiot would not have given such directions at that point.”
Russia's neo-Nazi groups are not happy with Prigo's murder, or the lack of support from the Russian government when their own leader was arrested in another country. They are now refusing to fight in Ukraine. Wait, wut? Russian neo-Nazi groups have been fighting for Russia in Ukraine? Like, fighting to eliminate all Nazis in Ukraine? How did that happen? So if Russia is sending their Nazis into Ukraine, then they must have been lying about the reason for invading Ukraine. This is unbelievable! O.k., not really. Russian neo-Nazi group refuses to fight in Ukraine, accusing Kremlin of abandoning its leader (yahoo.com)
Western MSM breaking the news to its audience slowly but surely … https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch...ffe-a58a-4b99-b783-05b11ee87892_906x1280.jpeg
don’t you have experience with helicopters? Why hasn’t Ukraine asked for any from the west? It seems Apaches/attack, etc could help and not be much a threat to go into Russia. And Blackhawk’s could help leapfrog minefields, transport reserves to Russian counteroffensive efforts or front line areas Ukraine is having success.
I don’t know the answer to that in terms of what I’ve been officially briefed. In my professional judgment, given how devastating the surface-to-air threat has been for Russian helicopters, it could be that they assess the juice is not worth the squeeze in the close fight. Helicopters probably still have a lot of utility behind the lines, but you also don’t need to give Ukraine top-of-the-line Western helicopters to support that mission. You can probably facilitate getting the Eastern European countries to turn over their old Soviet rotary wing, which the Ukrainians are already trained on. Just my thin-slice opinion, though.
I saw a great point made about why Ukraine will inevitably lose the war. This is not really news, but hasn't been talked about much from what I can tell. If we look back at history, when a major power invades a smaller nation, the only time the smaller nation are successful in driving out the invaders is with Guerrilla warfare tactics, over a prolonged period of years. It's never with organized, widely publicized ahead of time, conventional offensive operations. For Ukraine to have a chance win, they needed to play the long game. What they are doing and are still talking about doing is a marching into a disaster. Not only did Ukraine F themselves royally by publicizing or what I would call marketing their planned counteroffensive, they did it so far in advance, it gave the Russians time to dig in and build an extensive defensive network along the front line. Which is virtually impenetrable, especially without air superiority. But even with F-16s, it won't make a bit of difference. Ukraine's approach and desperation to recapture territory as quickly as possible is their downfall. Now I'm sure NATO leaders see this and are very aware, which leads me to speculate this proxy war is just a weapons dump to justify the need to restock newer hardware via defense contractors.
It’s a fair question … If Americans are polarized and paranoid of each other, how can America devise a clear-headed approach to its appointed enemies Russia and China ? https://x.com/kanthan2030/status/1695524461372653914?s=61
