cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/9957785
Within Russia, the war has come under growing criticism as Ukraine has ramped up strikes inside the country and Russian casualties keep growing … These deadly attacks are a ‘sign of desperation’ as Putin is realising he might not win the war.
Here is an Invidious alt for the video (4 min) inside the linked article.
A big part of me revels at the idea of Putin getting throughly and publicly embarrassed by how badly they are losing.
But the other part of me is quite concerned about the lengths he may be willing to go to ensure that doesn’t happen.
If he nukes Ukraine, or anybody he’s been threatening to nuke for the last however long, it’s over for him. Russians lost the last nuclear standoff because it’s obvious they know it’s a lose-lose scenario to drop a nuke. They’ve been trying to reclaim the madman gambit ever since, but only idiots are buying it.
The longer it goes on, the more fucked Russia are long term. Between the economy teetering on free fall and the working age population devastation, the only thing propping it up is propaganda. That prop is failing thanks to Ukrainian strikes inside Russia bringing their foolish invasion home for all to see.
Everyone knew this from day zero, except Putin and his cadre of oligarchs who were so full of their own self-assured superiority they believed enough of the corrupt reports from the underlings all the way down.
It’s just crazy to me how self-defeating that whole mindset is. If you were a rogue nation with a power-driven agenda of conquest, wouldn’t you demand only the coldest, hardest facts from your underlings? I would.