Posted on 11/19/2022 7:26:10 AM PST by dennisw
A desperate Vladimir Putin will seek to massively boost mobilisation by sending more troops to fight in Ukraine, and impose martial law in many Russian cities, it was forecast today.
Yet the draconian moves could trigger a coup from within the elite even before his 'poor health' incapacitates him, says one expert.
And he is now using body doubles who are so like him, it is impossible to tell the difference, it is claimed. The scheme comes as Putin's men were forced to retreat from Kherson last week
This comes as the first train arrived in the liberated city since the initial invasion
The 70-year-old Kremlin leader - who is believed to be suffering from cancer and possibly other ailments - is actively discussing a new forced enlistment to swell yet further the size of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
Putin's new scheme comes as Russian troops were forced to pull back from the strategic stronghold of Kherson last week as Ukrainian forces reentered to liberate the city.
The Russian president has already drafted 360,000 on top of his one million strong regular army, yet the results have remained poor.
But the New Year is likely to see another massive call-up as he raids offices and factories for what critics see as cannon fodder.
One theory is that he will want to persuade Russians they are fighting a 'popular war' to protect their country's existence against a threat from the West.
Putin-watcher Valery Solovey, a former professor at Moscow's prestigious Institute of International Relations [MGIMO], a training school for spies and diplomats, said: 'With a high degree of probability, the second stage of mobilisation will be announced after the New Year celebrations…'
It will be 'more comprehensive than the first.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
https://people.com/politics/putin-escalates-arms-race-says-russia-developed-hypersonic-missiles/
Don’t delude yourself. It’s very dangerous to encourage propaganda. That article . . . 2019.
One of the reasons Putin seized Crimea in 2014 was because Ukraine signed exploration contracts with several US oil companies to follow up on reports of oil and gas surrounding Crimea in the Black Sea and in eastern Ukraine. It is quite likely thatSea of Azov might be similar. And all this military activity is caused by this strong motive.
Irish hate the British. So do many/most Irish Americans. Putin rump swabber, you are busted!
horse poop. I hate most Americans too. Don’t care where they come from.
It is reported Putin is using body doubles. This would explain why some days he really has photographed as being swollen and otherwise appearing unhealthy, and at other times seems to be doing quite well. On the other hand I have 3 close friends each of who has been treated for cancer in the past year, and they are all doing quite well. Of course they are not dealing with the kind of stress that Putin has created for himself.
Now if Putin were smart and thought he could do it without his Wagner and Chechen buddies getting mad, here is what he could do to extricate himself from the mess he has created.
Given all the accusations and probabilities of massive cheating and theft on the part of many people in the chain of military and political command that has resulted in the destruction and failures in the Russian military situation, He should demand a massive investigation of the cheating and wrongdoing on the part of many people in the Russian power structure, and with great public press negotiate and arrange the withdrawal of all ground troops now on Ukraine territory.
The article below on all the criminality in connection with procurement and handling of the Russian military certainly is a prize can of worms for Putin to activate and use as publicity on his own behalf with the Russian people. It might even work if he was smart enough to do it. He also has enogh ill gotten gains to buy off a lot of troublemakers if he did.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4110440/posts
As a Pooty troll you may have been trained in propaganda narrative, but apparently not well in spelling. If you think that the word for information is derived from the verb to Know, then it might make sense the you would call it knews. But if you are an educated native English speeker, then you would know it is NOT knews, unless you are making an obscure play on words.
At a certain age, one is a fool if he is not a misanthrope.
you have a difficult relationship with common sense
As you do with a common word.
“Third request on this thread; what country are you from?”
As I said last time: quid pro quo, Clarice. Your profile page is just a wall of disconnected photos of other people, or pinched from other people’s social media. How about you tell us your story?
I’m originally from a rural family in the north-east of England but I left in my teens, and I have now spent far more of my life living and working abroad than living in the UK. (Including in Mass and NH - I posted this thread at the time: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2689647/posts)
In the years I’ve been here I’ve talked about a whole bunch of issues including abortion, adoption, gun control, separation of church and state, and common law marriage - and my views are based on fixed principles and observing what works and what doesn’t - not wobbly political arguments and irrelevent whataboutism. But I’m always careful to explain, the context on the ground HERE isn’t the same as in the UK, or Europe, or anywhere else really.
An example of such a principle is, we must never assume anyone like Hitler or Stalin or Blair/Bush - won’t act on “unfinished business”. Of course Putin will have “unfinished business” in Ukraine even if you get a peace deal, because under the hood he’s no different. Like them, he thinks he’s got a Just Cause and he’s willing to fight dirty to win it.
Putin’s mouthpieces are already admitting that getting a ceasefire is expedient if they can break it down the line - and they are STILL promising collective punishment in Ukraine for decades afterward. In fact the highest estimates of Ukrainian casualties so far still don’t hit 10% of the level of loss through collective punishment that Russia had promised to inflict even with a bloodless takeover.
So we have to be prepared for the possibility that Ukraine could fight to the three millionth Ukrainian before it even begins to consider capitulating to Putin’s demands.
Eastern Europe has been warning western Europe that Putin was likely to invade Ukraine SINCE 2008. And that’s a problem for the Putin puffers. Because where were all the triggers for this fear? Azov didn’t exist in 2008. Ukraine’s biolabs were mostly legacy Soviet ones that needed maintenance and Russia wasn’t complaining about them. Hunter Biden’s laptop wouldn’t be built for years. Zelenskyy was still dancing on stage (with Russian media pundits who’re now war hawks) and nobody knew he’d go into politics. Even Poroshenko wasn’t on the scene. Yanukovych was not quite Putin’s bitch yet, but he was certainly cordial to Russia. So why did they EXPECT Russia to invade Ukraine, six years before Maidan?
The onely thing that hasn’t changed since Putin came to power is his vision of a post-Soviet Russian empire, wrapped in an alternative history where the independence of nations formerly under the Soviet yoke never really happened. Putin started that project with Chechnya, which he knew the west wouldn’t care about (despite him violating the Yeltsin peace accord in order to flatten Grozny); then he went for Georgia, which he also knew the west wouldn’t care about.
ALL OF THAT NONSENSE about Hunter and Azov and Biolabs is merely stuff that’s proved helpful to Putin - his project didn’t depend on any of it. What it needed was geopolitical changes to make an invasion of Ukraine (a) more likely to succeed and (b) attract the least amount of condemnation. And that weather started to arrive in 2019. Ukraine voted to ditch Poroshenko in favor of a (perceived to be) weak Russian speaking leader, and expelled the most pro-nazi guys in the Rada. America (well, kinda!) elected a leader who might be easily manipulated by Russia, and be unwilling to intervene. Europe was distracted by migrant crises. The UK still trying to figure out how to get its imports/exports setup working after Brexit.
Then along came all the COVID overreactions. Frankly, Putin decided in March 2021 that he’d be invading Ukraine in early 2022 because he’d never have a better opportunity with all those things working to his advantage.
Insisting on negotiated peace with Putin when the invasion is the product of 20+ years of planning AND practice in other countries, reminds me of the running joke in Peanuts where Lucy’s asking CB to kick the pigskin and we all know what’s going to happen. Putin is Lucy, peace is the ball, and the mugs are the ones egging Charlie Brown (Ukraine) to take the kick. We all know that the second Russia’s ready to launch round 2 (Grozny-fication), it’ll whip the peace ball away.
Not only that, we know the reason why one of Russia’s conditions for a ceasefire is, end all western military aid to Ukraine for Round 2. Because it NEEDS Ukraine to be handicapped.
I already told you. I’m an American who detests foreigners preaching to US regarding our foreign policy. It’s none of your business. Now for the fourth time, where are you from?
You first. Or are you waiting for the St Petersburg troll factory backstory team to write you one?
I’m an American citizen. Are you?
Give it up Yawn Prestooon. You are are fired for making Vlad look bad. For making Vlad look like a Clown. Go home from the all night Rus troll factory and eat some breakfast.
Are you slow? I’ve already answered that.
I reckon the reason you’re revealing nothing is because your entire american persona is a fake.
For the third time. Quid pro quo. You’ve got the bullshit bingo done - bit to a very primitive level of “I’m American, and I like baseball”. You spam threads repeatedly with the same copy paste HTML, irrespective of its incongruity. When given an opportunity to talk more like a human being, you deflect.
You exhibit all the traits of a poorly constructed internet alter ego. All those years with an account and not once have you given anything away.
Right now you’re barely convincing enough to pass a Turing Test to prove you’re a real boy let alone prove you’re an American.
Quid pro quo, Clarice.
I still have no idea where you are from. I suspect you are as American as Christopher Steel, but I patiently await your reply.
The boot and glove factories must be in overdrive. If they need to outfit another 200,000 or so troops, they should have started overtime shifts back in August.
Wars are won or lost by logistics. The Ukrainians can tolerate a lot of cold, as long as they kill Russians. On the other hand, when Russian boys come home without feet and fingers because they are ill equipped, I am sure the will of their people will falter.
In wars like this, boots and gloves matter as much as HIMARs.
Russia floated the idea of joining NATO. They could not come close to meeting the criteria.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.