Interview with Ukraine’s military intelligence chief. The whole thread is good but with the total mobilization of Russia’s force with an impending war declaration this part is particularly important… Putin has no way out other than to win the war even at the cost of totally destroying Russia itself. Grim stuff.
Thing is, as I was saying from the very beginning, Putin has no way out at all. Including "winning". "Winning" will destroy Russia just as surely as losing will.
If Russia wins, then China wins, as well, US & NATO lose. It's not in US interest for this war to end quickly, not before Russia is slowly, slowly ground into the dust.
Tuesday 03 May 2022 10:29 am https://www.cityam.com/kremlin-on-h...sb-looking-to-oust-putin-and-end-ukraine-war/ Kremlin on high alert as coup rumours grow in Moscow: Disgruntled generals join FSB looking to oust Putin and end Ukraine war By: Michiel Willems Russian president Vladimir Putin while addressing his nation two weeks ago Rumours are swirling in Moscow that a number of former generals and KGB officials are preparing to oust Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and plan to end the war in Ukraine, which is increasingly seen across Russia as a strategic mistake and, above all, an economic disaster. The top of Putin’s former employer, the Russian security service FSB, is said to be so frustrated about the lack of military progress in Ukraine that it has reached out to a number of generals and former generals, according to various media reports in Eastern Europe and Germany. In particular group called the ‘siloviki’, former FSB officers who are active in Russian politics, is said to be pushing hard to oust Putin, together with former officers from the GRU, KGB and FSO, other Russian intelligence units. The idea a coup may be imminent is further strengthened by social media activity across Russia and eastern Europe, which has gone into overdrive in the last 24 hours. Moreover, analysts in and outside Russia have said all signs are there Putin may face a coup. The Russian president is reportedly “very worried” a coup may be imminent and has tightened security in and around the Kremlin. “Does it matter? It matters a lot,” said Russian security expert Andrei Soldatov told The Center for European Policy Analysis. “This is the very first time the siloviki are putting distance between themselves and the President. Which opens up all sorts of possibilities.” Russian security expert Andrei Soldatov “The Russian President has been bracing for a coup for some weeks as has faced fierce criticism over his “special operation” in Ukraine and he has purged around 150 of his spies over the constant failures,” Soldatov explained. Moreover, rumours are also going round Putin’s health has taken a hit since the start of the war. On a number of videos the Russian president looks tired and irritated. Tensions between FSB and Putin It has become evident that the relationship between the FSB and Putin has deteriorated since the start of the war. Last month, two senior officers in the FB, were put under house arrest by Putin. Andrei Soldatov who runs, the well-informed investigative website Agentura, reported that Sergei Beseda, the head of the Fifth Service – the FSB’s foreign intelligence branch – and his deputy had been detained and put under house arrest. The move was seen as a clear sign Putin is deeply concerned about the FSB’s role in the offensive against Ukraine and he fears forces within the intelligence apparatus may be working against him, Western officials told the Agentura platform. “Both men have played a major role in intelligence operations against Ukraine for several years and highly likely played a major role in the planning for the invasion,” one said. “There could be significant changes at senior levels in the FSB.” Russian analyst Alexey Muraviev is also convinced that the Russian President is facing a coup from his top military and intelligence chiefs. Muraviev told Sky News Australia that an attempt to remove Putin may be imminent because “I think that there have been tensions between Russia and the intelligence community and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.” “Clearly, there’s been a clear error of judgment that was made and it was probably driven by Putin himself about the situation in Ukraine.” Russian analyst Alexey Muraviev “I think that sort of false narrative was presented to them by the Supreme Commander in Chief, and when it fired back when the Russians began taking heavy casualties, Putin began quietly blaming the security services,” he continued. “I don’t think went really well also because he’s coming from within the security apparatus.” “About the initial planning and the initial phase of the invasion where the Russian military naturally assume that they’re going there as liberators rather than the invaders,” he explained.
Michael Hudson Well, Richard’s quite right when he says it’s a tectonic shift. Let’s look at this from Russia’s point of view. This is everything that Russia has been aiming at and insisting upon for the last five years. President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov have been leading the understanding that the world needs to be de-dollarized, that the United States has declared an economic war against Russia, China and their allies, really against Eurasia. So, in effect, by drawing the sanctions — not only the sanctions — but the most important thing is by seizing Russia’s foreign holdings in the United States, its treasury bond holdings and the bank deposits. What the United States has done itself is exactly what both Lavrov and President Xi of China have been saying the world must move towards. They’ve been saying we must have a multinational world, multipolar world. We must be de-dollarized. We must cut free of the dollar and isolate, protect ourselves from the United States’ ability to use sanctions, to interrupt our economic activity, to use oil to threaten any country that doesn’t follow U.S. policy from having their energy reserves cut off, to protect countries that don’t produce their own food from being able to buy food and feed themselves. If they do something the United States doesn’t like, if they do not open their markets to the United States, if they do not privatize their infrastructure. So everybody thought for the last five years: How will Russia and China and their allies, India, Iran, create this new world order? Well, the United States has accelerated this process. It has destroyed itself. The dollar as the standard. It is said whether you’re Afghanistan and we grab all of your foreign exchange reserves, whether you’re Iran, and we grab your reserves, if you’re Venezuela, and we tell the Bank of England simply take all of your gold and confiscate it. Bank accounts in the United States are safe. You must withdraw from the dollar in order to avoid the United States doing this to you. What we’ve just done to Russia and what we would like to do to China, is grab all of their wealth and hope that this is somehow going to make them unhappy enough to say, oh, please don’t hurt us anymore. We’ll do whatever you want. It’s about neoliberalism. So when Richard talks about the tectonic shift? It’s really a shift between two systems. It’s between the United States pushing neoliberalism on the one hand, and countries following, let’s say, an industrial capitalism evolving into socialism, on the other hand. And all of this has already begun, just as President Putin has said, this war is not about the Ukraine. It began a year ago when the United States started the war against Germany and Europe to haul it in. When President Biden insisted that Europe and especially Germany, has to block Nord Stream 2, what he said he has been saying for over a year now: that we want Europe to become dependent on American gas and oil and not on Russian oil, not only because we want the business of the exporting, but we want the ability to control the world oil trade. So that if countries do resist neoliberalism, we can cut off their energy supply and we can use Russia as an example of what we can do to Argentina or Latin America or Africa. And I think the Chinese phrase is killing the monkey, killing the chicken to frighten the monkeys. So that’s it. You are seeing a fundamental shift, and it’s a shift of economics systems. And the United States has accelerated it. Of course, there’s a transition period with interrupted supply chains. But from Russia’s point of view it just accelerated the Eurasian victory by years.
Vladimir Putin's Ireland nuclear threat 'horrific' as expert reveals why he's so concerned “There's no way of stopping this underwater drone. The warhead on it has a yield of up to 100 megatonnes" irishmirror https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/vladimir-putins-ireland-nuclear-threat-26855413 (Image: via REUTERS) A retired Irish army officer has condemned the “absolutely horrific” threats to Ireland made by Russia which were aired on Russian TV this week. In the report, TV presenter and close contact of Putin, Dmitry Kiselyov, showed an underwater missile being detonated just off the coast of Ireland. Explaining how the war weapon would demolish the entire country without warning, Kiselyov explained: "It approaches its target at a depth of 1km at a speed of 200km/h. “There's no way of stopping this underwater drone. The warhead on it has a yield of up to 100 megatonnes. "The explosion of this thermonuclear torpedo by Britain's coastline will cause a gigantic tsunami wave up to 500m high. "Such a barrage alone also carries extreme doses of radiation. Having passed over the British Isles, it will turn what might be left of them into a radioactive desert.”......