Senate Russia: its impact on the world, its invasion of Ukraine, and its future

They're just returning to what they were saying at the very start of the war. That Ukraine will be demolished, and should therefore not resist the Russian steamroll. A form of incredibly premature "I told you so," I guess. Shrug. Lots of nonsense in the noise these days.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/24/us-long-range-missiles-ukraine-00154110

Yeah this certainly won’t escalate things.

 

Meanwhile in Russia, Defense Minister Shiogu better stay away from windows; one of the members of his circle was arrested for bribery. Purge incoming!

 

"Say hello to tbe stairs comrade"

"What happened to him?"
"He slipped."

 

Well if it was going to escalate things it would have already happened.

 

Now that I'm home, it was deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov. The irony is that the alleged bribes have to do with construction projects in occupied Mariupol (obviously rebuilding housing for the native Ukrainians and not exclusive resorts for wealthy Russians).
He's apparently one of the most powerful members of the Russian military leadership, or at least he was.
If Shiogu wants to coup, now is when he needs to do it - otherwise he either needs to run or, uh, really hope things work out.

 

Do they still call each other "comrade" now that they're no longer Communist?

 

Hmm, you could ask Putin, don't think he responds well to questions though.

 

... and the purge has begun. Defense Minister Shiogu has been replaced by... an economist. (Shiogu isn't completely on the outs, he was moved to be head of the Security Council - but it's still a significant demotion).
With the prior arrest of one of his underling cronies, now another major member of the MoD has been arrested - Lt. General Yury Kuznetsov, by counterintelligence - probably on charges of treason, while really just being guilty of massive corruption and bribery.
And the main spokesperson of the the MoD, Igor Konashenkov, has resigned.

 

"Instead of just my country being ruined, why don't we ruin every country?"

I can only read the headline, but I assume he's trying to get a "no-fly zone" again.

 

I haven't posted in here in forever but what happened to the whole narrative that Ukraine was winning and Russia was losing soldiers by the hundreds of thousands?

 

Ukraine could be losing and Russia could still be losing soldiers by the hundreds of thousands. Which is exactly what happened in the Winter War.

 

Strangely enough, the proportion of "Russian" troops dying seem to be weighted more towards non-Russians. What an odd statistical anomaly!