Posted on 03/19/2022 3:19:16 PM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Montefiore says that is his only work that he knows Putin has read. It charts Potemkin’s annexation of Crimea and conquering of southern Ukraine – territory they called “New Russia” and which Putin wanted back.
“That’s what Putin wants to call it,” Montefiore said.
He said Putin had probably planned to take back the southern coast as far as Odessa as part of Russia, and keep northern Ukraine and the capital Kyiv as a republic but governed by a PUPPET leader like Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus.
Montefiore, who wrote two biographies of Stalin, said that Putin’s raving speeches had betrayed the level of the Russian leader’s isolation.
“Vladimir Putin in 2022 is as isolated as Stalin was in 1952 and that’s despite the fact that he’s got access to the internet and WhatsApp,” he said, adding that this isolation had caused both Putin and his cronies to miss the surge in Ukrainian national pride that was contributing to their heroic resistance.
He said Russian leaders usually became more isolated as they gained more power because of the violent nature of their rise. The nation’s leaders have to maintain a constant state of vigilance against the enemies they had created. However, he said this was not the same as paranoia.
Joseph Stalin picture in 1940.Credit:Alamy
On Thursday, Putin appeared to threaten his people with a revival of Stalin’s Great Terror that began in 1937 and in which 1 million people were shot over two-and-a-half years.
“He’s dog-whistling 1937, so that’s pretty scary and the reason he’s doing it is because he realises there’s opposition in the elite and among the populace.
“He used all these keywords: ‘traitors,’ ‘enemy of the people,’ ‘scum,’ ‘bastards,’ all of which were from the 30s, which a Russian would know he’s threatening massive repression in Russia.
Russia’s invasion has unified the Ukrainian military – and civilians – against Putin.
Russia’s invasion has unified the Ukrainian military – and civilians – against Putin.Credit:Kate Geraghty
“He’s literally putting the fear, an ancestral, terrifying fear into these people. People who would have heard of these stories from their old parents, and grandparents and great-grandparents about the time when people didn’t sleep at night, they kept a bag packed in case they were deported. People were never seen again.”
“It was a terrifying speech in only a way the Russians would know,” Montefiore said.
However, he said it was important not to get “hysterical” about Putin’s menacing words.
Montefiore predicts that Putin’s “idiotic” gamble, driven out of his desire to carve his name alongside the Russian greats, would spell his downfall.
“At the age of 69, Stalin had conquered the whole of Eastern Europe, conquered Berlin, made Russia a nuclear superpower and industrialised Russia and Putin had just taken the Donbas – a few Godforsaken rust-belt towns in eastern Ukraine.
“And I do think he just felt now is his time to take his place in history, to join Peter the Great and Stalin and he gambled for it and I think he didn’t think it was as a big a gamble.”
Oligarchs are going to take him out.
They have to take him out before he begins blaming and purging them.
HISTORIC REFERENCES {2}:
On Thursday, Putin appeared to threaten his people with a revival of Stalin’s Great Terror that began in 1937 and in which 1 million people were shot over two-and-a-half years.
“He’s dog-whistling 1937, so that’s pretty scary and the reason he’s doing it is because he realizes there’s opposition in the elite and among the populace.
“He used all these keywords: ‘traitors,’ ‘enemy of the people,’ ‘scum,’ ‘bastards,’ all of which were from the 30s, which a Russian would know he’s threatening massive repression in Russia.
“He’s literally putting the fear, an ancestral, terrifying fear into these people. People who would have heard of these stories from their old parents, and grandparents and great-grandparents about the time when people didn’t sleep at night, they kept a bag packed in case they were deported. People were never seen again.”
“It was a terrifying speech in only a way the Russians would know.” - Montefiore
“And I do think he just felt now is his time to take his place in history, to join Peter the Great and Stalin and based on poor intelligence he gambled for it and I think he didn’t think it was as a big a gamble.”
As for how it ends? “The war could last a long time; despite Ukrainian courage and Zelensky’s charisma, Russian force will advance.”
But if it goes wrong?
“Russian rulers are normally destroyed by palace coups so that’s my guess.” - Montefiore from Sydney Morning Herald
I pray you are right. The other world leaders, including Biden, are frozen in fear.
Delusions of grandeur spinning in his head caused this huge flaming fubar. Most others in Russia are not delusional. They will take action to put the rabid dog down. Who will be Beria and poison him? Probably one of of his inner circle who will become extremely rich, their rewards courtesy of the oligarchs losing tens and tens of billions of dollars.
He was shooting for Vladimir the Greater. At this rate, he might achieve Vladimir the Special (as in Special Olympics).
Stop calling me crazy!
I hope so, but am not confident they can. His speech was aimed directly at THEM, as a reminder of the Great Purge. He called them out and called their behavior anti-Russian, implying they are a fifth-column and calling for “purification”. Is he bluffing? Maybe. People tracking aircraft have been posting about private jets leaving Moscow.
[They have to take him out before he begins blaming and purging them.]
Putin was the power behind the throne during Yeltsin’s tenure. He’s a formidable schemer who clawed his way to the top from a nobody* apparatchik’s spot in the Soviet Union. I doubt he’ll fall easily. I expect he’ll die in office of natural causes.
* He was posted in Dresden, East Germany which was already completely buttoned-up by Erich Honecker’s Stasi. It’s like being a CIA employee in Newfoundland Canada - cushy, but not exactly important.
One oligarch lost 4 billion dollars so far. Thats just one. Some are at risk of losing everthing. How many in Putin’s inner circle would betray him for several hundred million dollars? I bet that list is 100 deep.
;>)
$100M doesn’t do you much good if you are dead. I hope someone takes him out, but I don’t think that’s the most likely scenario. Of course, I’m not privy to what’s happening inside the Kremlin.
I think they keep it a secret to prevent premature death, yes?
Said so a week ago. Stalin said it was “high time the Slavic race dominated Europe. Putin’s trying to fulfill the ancient dream.
Is anyone in the media able to talk in anything other than platitudes and buzzwords??
Nah. They can do it ‘til the cows come home. ‘Til the fat lady sings. They tell it to us straight. They tell it like it is. They don’t beat around the bush.
Xiden isn’t a world leader. He isn’t even the president of the US.
I feel terrible for the average Ukrainian, but the Ukrainian and Russian Governments are corrupt as Hell. No side is “good”.
The Obama regime, which includes Xiden, is largely responsible for this mess. They fomented the 2014 coup which deposed the legitimate president Yanukovych which, in turn, ignited the Civil War in the Donbas.
This war is brought to you by George Soros, Klaus Schwab, Barack Obama, Josef Stolen and other Globalist scum.
One more thing: The US government is just as corrupt and a force of evil as the Ukrainian and Russian Governments. Remember the 2020 stolen election.
““And I do think he just felt now is his time to take his place in history, to join Peter the Great and Stalin and he gambled for it and I think he didn’t think it was as a big a gamble.”
this is very similar to what Trump recently said, but unlike Trump, Montefiore won’t get panned for saying it
...and "Zuck's Bucks"...
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