Cornered like a rat, Vladimir Putin is more dangerous than ever, warns Russia expert

THE DAILY MAIL ^ | 10 October 2022 | PROFESSOR MARK GALEOTTI

[dennisw]

The horrifying attacks on Ukraine yesterday– are a sign that the Russian president is, if not yet desperate, getting nearer to it.

They represent a highly significant psychological shift for the beleaguered leader. He is no longer trying to win the war: now he is simply trying not to visibly lose it.

Previously he could have defined victory however he wanted. But by annexing Ukrainian regions, he has upped the already high stakes. If he cedes so-called ‘Russian’ territory, he will become the Tsar who gave away Russian land instead of the strongman who restored the empire.

And by ordering partial mobilisation on September 21 he ensured the war now touches every Russian family. Putin has made the catastrophic mistake of calling his own bluff.

He realises he is fighting for his political life and, as we have seen before, he is ready to sacrifice countless lives at the altar of his own ambition. In 2000 he let 118 men die on the stricken Kursk submarine rather than accept help from the West to rescue them.

Now he is prepared to accept appallingly high casualties among the ill-trained conscripts he has sent to Ukraine.

The Russian army has been revealed as shoddy, incompetent and ill equipped. Money that should have been spent on maintenance was siphoned off. Meanwhile the Ukrainian army, equipped with 21st century weaponry by the West, and highly skilled partly thanks to British training, has inspired awe with its indomitable spirit.

Battlefield failure reflects badly on Putin personally because he has built himself up as a warrior president. Some years ago, I met a group of Russian officers who, after alcohol had lubricated tongues, were scathing about Putin’s military pretensions. ‘I wouldn’t want a virgin telling me what to do on my wedding night,’ one said.

[WMarshal]

"Conservative American says you are a disgusting Putin Stooge"

Just because you declare yourself to be a conservative American doesn't make it so. You are a neocon Bidenista who hopes this stupid war can distract America from giving leftists the boot in November.

[MalPearce]

You weren’t by any chance looking at a bracelet widely publicised by Vatnik conspiracy nuts, which turned out to be available in multiple online stores and doesn’t have any neonazi symbols on it at all?

And where the actual bracelet was bought, then videoed to show that all you have to do to make a twisted rope square look like a swastika is to get the camera out of focus, or do a Gaussian blur in Photoshop?

https://twitter.com/i/status/1579221142627586049

[cranked]

Oh, its fact.....confirmed fact.

[Cronos]

“The largest offensive behemoth the world has ever seen is now sitting on the border, within easy striking distance of Moscow. “

And the cause of that is Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Until he invaded, NATO was moribund.

Now it is reinvigorated thanks to Putin

[Cronos]

“The largest offensive behemoth the world has ever seen is now sitting on the border, within easy striking distance of Moscow. “

And the cause of that is Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Until he invaded, NATO was moribund.

Now it is reinvigorated thanks to Putin

[Cronos]

Now it is reinvigorated thanks to Putin

[DesertRhino]

Putin gave up on Afghanistan? He was a lt col nobody in Dresden when the Russians pulled out of there.

[cranked]

Putin gave up Afghanistan about as much as the US did.
At least they did not have an exit like the US........

[MalPearce]

The whole thing is about parochial nonsense and history, not current realities.

For Putin it’s about emulating Peter the Great and undoing the “catastrophe” of 1991.

For the pro Putin legacy Tea Party, it’s still all about the brown guy and his birth certificate, Biden and Nuland.

For pro Russian separatists it’s all about Poroshenko replacing Yanukovych... And Stephan Bandera, a very long dead dude.

For Azov, it’s all about Stephan Bandera being a lesser evil compared to Stalin. (”He may be a bastard but at least he’s our bastard”).

For Europe it’s about 30 years of fragile peace and cheap heating, and yet another tidal wave of refugees.

For ordinary Russians it’s all about (actually 5 that ended 3 years ago but the Kremlin says 8 ongoing, so...) years of genocide.

For most Ukrainians, Russia is at best a very arrogant bigger brother, at worst a toxic sibling who won’t deal with his own problems and just messes up everybody else’s lives with his drama.

[DesertRhino]

Putin was not involved in any way in the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan. You have info saying otherwise?

[cranked]

Putin is Russia yo. lulz

[cranked]

Notice how I used ‘Putin’ then next sentence ‘They’?

[MalPearce]

No, it’s confirmed bollocks. And you’re confirming you’re an eejit for not even fact checking something so desperate as, an easily purchased mass market bracelet comes with swastikas on it.

It very obviously doesn’t.

[cranked]

Zaluzhny, as with ZelenskyyIdiot, is a product of his environment, an environment surrounded by and filled with neo-Nazi Banderists.

[SaveFerris]

✝️🙏🛐

[FreshPrince]

like when you said the Ukrainians were losing “half their army” every week”

I know really! Amazing what the Ukrainian Army can do with just old men and women left.....

[FreshPrince]

And call the Russian embassy and tell them to withdraw! No blood for territory!

[BlackbirdSST]

Why aren’t you on here whining to the mods about keyword abuse. Look at that crap.

[Cronos]

Nope. It’s actually confirmed false.

What are you on?

[cranked]

Nope, confirmed actual.

But for the sake of playing your game, prove these false....

‘Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion attempts rebranding’
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/06/03/ykgh-j03.html

‘British Media ‘Whitewashing’ Ukrainian Neo-Nazis: UK Editor’
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/British-Media-Whitewashing-Ukrainian-Neo-Nazis-UK-Editor-20220530-0001.html

‘Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis
https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/6/21533/Ukraines-Neo-Nazis?infinitescroll=1

‘Jon Stewart, DOD Honor AZOV BATTALION NAZI At Disney World’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zoB_6c0cag

‘Adam Schiff meets with members of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion’
https://www.worldtribune.com/adam-schiff-meets-with-members-of-ukraines-neo-nazi-azov-battalion/

‘Zelensky Speech With Nazi AZOV BATTALION Prompts Greek Lawmakers To WALK OUT’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0tAWaNEhU8

‘Ukrainian neo-Nazis dehumanize and mock fallen Russian soldiers’
https://www.weeklyblitz.net/opinion/ukrainian-neo-nazis-dehumanize-and-mock-fallen-russian-soldiers/

Start at the 4:58 mark-
‘RT News - Sep 19 2022’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtB_r5yazsg

‘The ideology of the Banderists’
https://www.voltairenet.org/article217363.html

“Ukronazi ‘good terrorists’ – a who’s who (infographic)”
http://thesaker.is/ukronazi-good-terrorists-a-whos-who-infographic/