Russia has permanently banned a whole Trump enemies list including media, entertainment and political figures. And Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Obviously. Isn't it normal for a foreign country to ban the former mayor of Atlanta? Rachel Maddow? Barack Obama?
Former CIA director John Brennan opined that Putin is trying to hang on until November 2024 in hopes Trump gets elected. That will end US support to Ukraine. Not that he is going to just passively wait. Expect election interference on steroids.
MAY 24, 2023 / 05:25 AM Mercenary Prigozhin warns Russia could face revolution unless elite gets serious about war; https://apple.news/AGmGmK-OARDaH4sktbCuEYw MOSCOW (Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, warned that Russia could face a revolution similar to those of 1917 and lose the conflict in Ukraine unless the elite got serious about fighting the war. Russia’s most powerful mercenary said his political outlook was dominated by love for the motherland and serving President Vladimir Putin, but cautioned that Russia was in danger of turmoil. Prigozhin said there was a so-called optimistic view that the West would get tired of war and China would broker a peace deal, but that he did not really believe in that interpretation. Instead, he said, Ukraine was preparing a counteroffensive aimed at pushing Russian troops back to its borders before 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Ukraine would try to encircle Bakhmut, the focus of intense fighting in the east, and attack Crimea, he added. “Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia so we need to prepare for an arduous war,” he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel. “We are in such a condition that we could fucking lose Russia - that is the main problem ... We need to impose martial law.” Prigozhin said his nickname “Putin’s chef” was stupid as he could not cook and had never been a chef, quipping that “Putin’s butcher” might be a more apt nickname. “They could have just given me a nickname right away — Putin’s butcher, and everything would have been fine,” he said. If ordinary Russians continued getting their children back in zinc coffins while the children of the elite “shook their arses” in the sun, he said, Russia would face turmoil along the lines of the 1917 revolutions that ushered in a civil war. “This divide can end as in 1917 with a revolution,” he said. “First the soldiers will stand up, and after that - their loved ones will rise up,” he said. “There are already tens of thousands of them - relatives of those killed. And there will probably be hundreds of thousands - we cannot avoid that.” The defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. UKRAINE WAR Prigozhin criticised Russia’s post-Soviet policy towards Ukraine and cast the implementation of what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” as unclear, contradictory and confused. Russia’s military leadership, he said, had “fucked up” repeatedly during the war. The stated aim of demilitarising Ukraine, he said, had failed. Prigozhin said Soviet leader Josef Stalin would not have accepted such failure. A cross-border attack into Russia’s Belgorod region indicated the failures of the military leadership, he said, warning that Ukraine would seek to strike deeper into Russia. Russia needed to mobilise more men and to gear the economy exclusively to war, Prigozhin said. Wagner, he said, had recruited around 50,000 convicts during the war, of whom about 20% had perished. Around the same amount of his contract soldiers - 10,000 - had perished, he said. In Bakhmut, Prigozhin said, Ukraine had suffered casualties of 50,000-70,000 wounded and 50,000 dead. Reuters is unable to verify casualty claims from either side, and neither Russia nor Ukraine release figures on their own casualties. Ukraine has said Russian losses are far higher than its losses. Prigozhin said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu should be replaced by Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev while Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov should be replaced by Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media.
LOL Stalin would not have accepted such a defeat? The Red Army got slaughtered early on. Remember the siege of Leningrad? Later, yes, the tide turned. Don't give Stalin credit for it.
Yeah, commies Stalin & Mao murdered millions to implement their own doctrines of communism. I think Mao killed 30 million plus?
OK. here is the info I have gathered on the incursion into russia by two groups of russian partisans, (total of 13 vehicles and I am guessing less than 100 soldiers). It was really a raid, in and out within 36 hours. I think that is all it was ever planned to be. Mostly to create some panic and force russia to permanently station troops along their entire border with Ukraine. Appears that the partisans lost some equipment, which seems to have been provided by Ukraine (not too smart to include USA supplied equipment I think). They captured some russian equipment and brought back to Ukraine. Claim to have taken captives but I haven't seen any. They lost two dead and 12 wounded. Reportedly, russians shelled some of the villages before Ukrainians arrived and also after they left. Video of russian journalists being shelled when Ukrainians are long gone
Russians snitching on Russians who oppose the war; Russians snitch on Russians who oppose war with Soviet-style denunciations MOSCOW — Parishioners have denounced Russian priests who advocated peace instead of victory in the war on Ukraine. Teachers lost their jobs after children tattled that they opposed the war. Neighbors who bore some trivial grudge for years have snitched on longtime foes. Workers rat on one another to their bosses or directly to the police or the Federal Security Service. More in the link below; https://apple.news/AdsermJeTSm6Z_tDTCsunmg
Ha. I was just about to post same story from WAPO. It's terrible to live in such a fearful atmosphere. I told my FB friends in Crimea a long time ago: Don't "like" my posts, don't comment on them and don't share. I never message any of them even about personal or casual stuff. I'm afraid they might come under investigation because I am American and their intelligence service surely knows I run a pro-Ukrainian page on FB. "Since the invasion began, at least 19,718 people have been arrested for their opposition to the war, according to legal rights group OVD-Info, with criminal cases launched against 584 people, and administrative cases mounted against 6,839. Many others faced intimidation or harassment from the authorities, lost jobs, or had relatives targeted." https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/27/russia-denunciations-arrests-informants-war/
A Russian woman living in Auburn, Washington, trolled Ukrainian neighbors with pro Russia slogans painted on her wall. They were painted out, and her car also, in blue and yellow colors of Ukrainian flag. And air let out of the tires
The long awaited counter 0ffensive by Ukraine may have begun. They are reported to be making gains north and south of Bakhmut and further south in the Zaphorizia region, supposedly five points in all. russians report seeing Leopard tanks for the first time, which would indicate that those forces held in reserve for the attack are now at the front. It's possible that these are all feints and that there will be a massive rapid attack elsewhere (my speculation). Free russia forces are still operating in Belgorod province which is in russia just north of Kharkiv, They claim to have taken out some IFV's and tanks and russians confirmed one of their commanders has been killed.
I'm not going to worry about posting it here. Not too many russian agents on this site..... Besides, russians will believe that the tweet itself is disinformation (and it could be).
Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy out forward his so called peace plan. Surrender 20% of Ukrainian territory to Russia and guarantee Ukraine can never join NATO.
