Post by tecoyah on Oct 3, 2022 12:59:34 GMT
"Ukraine annexation could be beginning of the end for Vladimir Putin
Oct. 3 (UPI) -- President Vladimir Putin's bizarre ceremonies formalizing Russia's annexation of some 15% of Ukraine once again revealed the yawning chasm between Kremlin triumphalism and reality.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs documents formally annexing four regions of Ukraine on Friday. Photo courtesy of Kremlin Pool
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs documents formally annexing four regions of Ukraine on Friday. Photo courtesy of Kremlin Pool
© Kremlin Pool
Never mind Russian forces didn't even fully control the territories Putin brought under the Russian flag. Never mind Russia's "referendums" were a blatant fabrication -- with voting often held at gunpoint. Never mind that by now more people have fled Russia than the 300,000 extra troops to be "partially mobilized" in support of Putin's flagging war effort. And never mind that Russian forces are retreating in many of their newly acquired lands, with the key city of Lyman liberated by Ukraine less than 24 hours after its annexation was announced.
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Putin's vitriolic rantings to a decidedly subdued audience provided plenty of distasteful sound bites. He referred to the West as satanists with "various genders," calling for holy war against the transsexual Western bogeymen. His characterization of Americans as neo-colonialists was laughably hypocritical since Putin was literally in the process of announcing the recreation of an empire.
He made references to Catherine the Great, claimed southern Ukraine had always been Russian and liberally invoked the imperial term "Novorossiya." NATO expansion, supposedly the trigger for Russia's existential security crisis that left it with no option but to invade its neighbor, barely got a mention in Putin's tsunami of xenophobic bile.
But the real story of Putin's latest melodrama is that he has unequivocally bet his political survival on "victory" over Ukraine and the West.
Crucially, there are definite signs his grip on power is starting to fray, even if Putin's demise may still be some way off.
Internal crises
Dictators often meet their ends through inadvertent overreach. So, too, Putin's new fragility stems from his own choices. Obsessed with recreating a footprint over what he believes are Russia's historical lands, and determined to blame the West as the global embodiment of moral decrepitude, Putin has created his own existential threat.
Yet his invasion of Ukraine has been an utter disaster. His conventional forces have been revealed as a chimera: poorly trained, poorly led, hopelessly corrupt and often badly equipped.
This is becoming an internal threat that his domestic messaging is struggling to explain.
What were sold as glorious Russian victories were repelled, got bogged down and then became embarrassing retreats, forcing Kremlin propagandists to simultaneously try to put out multiple spot fires. But spinning defeats as temporary setbacks can only work for so long. And finding others to blame, from false conspiracies about NATO forces fighting alongside Ukrainians, to criticism of field commanders for failing Russia, is also a temporary solution.
Eventually it will become patently obvious that the one man who isn't permitted to be criticized -- Vladimir Putin -- is ultimately in charge of the mess.
Implicitly this is already happening. Margarita Simonyan, Putin's chief cheerleader in Russia's tightly controlled media landscape, has suddenly dissociated herself from politics, plaintively claiming she has no political authority.
When loyal mouthpieces start trying to look dispassionate, it's time for dictators to worry."
www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-annexation-could-be-beginning-of-the-end-for-vladimir-putin/ar-AA12xxOe?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=38537a17f61641df9e2c27dc4d98d0c9
Pooty Poot is between his self made rock and his mental hard place...hopefully his desperation does not go Nuclear.
Oct. 3 (UPI) -- President Vladimir Putin's bizarre ceremonies formalizing Russia's annexation of some 15% of Ukraine once again revealed the yawning chasm between Kremlin triumphalism and reality.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs documents formally annexing four regions of Ukraine on Friday. Photo courtesy of Kremlin Pool
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs documents formally annexing four regions of Ukraine on Friday. Photo courtesy of Kremlin Pool
© Kremlin Pool
Never mind Russian forces didn't even fully control the territories Putin brought under the Russian flag. Never mind Russia's "referendums" were a blatant fabrication -- with voting often held at gunpoint. Never mind that by now more people have fled Russia than the 300,000 extra troops to be "partially mobilized" in support of Putin's flagging war effort. And never mind that Russian forces are retreating in many of their newly acquired lands, with the key city of Lyman liberated by Ukraine less than 24 hours after its annexation was announced.
WYNDENHALL Waterloo SOLID WOOD 47 Inch Wide Contemporary Console Sofa Table - 47.4 Inches Wide - Hickory Brown
Ad
Overstock
WYNDENHALL Waterloo SOLID WOOD 47 Inch Wide Contemporary Console Sofa Table - 47.4 Inches Wide - Hickory Brown
Putin's vitriolic rantings to a decidedly subdued audience provided plenty of distasteful sound bites. He referred to the West as satanists with "various genders," calling for holy war against the transsexual Western bogeymen. His characterization of Americans as neo-colonialists was laughably hypocritical since Putin was literally in the process of announcing the recreation of an empire.
He made references to Catherine the Great, claimed southern Ukraine had always been Russian and liberally invoked the imperial term "Novorossiya." NATO expansion, supposedly the trigger for Russia's existential security crisis that left it with no option but to invade its neighbor, barely got a mention in Putin's tsunami of xenophobic bile.
But the real story of Putin's latest melodrama is that he has unequivocally bet his political survival on "victory" over Ukraine and the West.
Crucially, there are definite signs his grip on power is starting to fray, even if Putin's demise may still be some way off.
Internal crises
Dictators often meet their ends through inadvertent overreach. So, too, Putin's new fragility stems from his own choices. Obsessed with recreating a footprint over what he believes are Russia's historical lands, and determined to blame the West as the global embodiment of moral decrepitude, Putin has created his own existential threat.
Yet his invasion of Ukraine has been an utter disaster. His conventional forces have been revealed as a chimera: poorly trained, poorly led, hopelessly corrupt and often badly equipped.
This is becoming an internal threat that his domestic messaging is struggling to explain.
What were sold as glorious Russian victories were repelled, got bogged down and then became embarrassing retreats, forcing Kremlin propagandists to simultaneously try to put out multiple spot fires. But spinning defeats as temporary setbacks can only work for so long. And finding others to blame, from false conspiracies about NATO forces fighting alongside Ukrainians, to criticism of field commanders for failing Russia, is also a temporary solution.
Eventually it will become patently obvious that the one man who isn't permitted to be criticized -- Vladimir Putin -- is ultimately in charge of the mess.
Implicitly this is already happening. Margarita Simonyan, Putin's chief cheerleader in Russia's tightly controlled media landscape, has suddenly dissociated herself from politics, plaintively claiming she has no political authority.
When loyal mouthpieces start trying to look dispassionate, it's time for dictators to worry."
www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-annexation-could-be-beginning-of-the-end-for-vladimir-putin/ar-AA12xxOe?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=38537a17f61641df9e2c27dc4d98d0c9
Pooty Poot is between his self made rock and his mental hard place...hopefully his desperation does not go Nuclear.
