Truth Out the Window: Putin’s Cynicism with “Special Military Operation” Mocks Russian Intellect and Losses
Note Putin’s dictatorial cynicism in the apparatchik-wording at the Russian Foreign Ministry, reported by Politico covering Russia’s latest free press restrictions retaliating for EU bans on Russia’s state-controlled RT and Sputnik: The “counter-restrictions” are imposed on “a number of media outlets of EU member states and EU-wide media operators that systematically disseminate false information about…
Putin Uses Pride & Fear to Coerce Continents of People
Current Issue Friday, President Vladimir Putin boasted that Russia did not need to use nuclear weapons to conquer Ukraine. Pride. And today, Reuters reported new references to Russia’s possible use of tactical nuclear weapons from the Russian MOD and Spokesperson Dmitri Peskov. Fear. This is more of Putin’s pattern of untrustworthy, contradictory communications seeking arbitrary…
Under Putin, Russia’s Vassalage to China
China’s and Russia’s “multipolar world” brand has obscured China’s global unipolar objectives and Russia’s subjection to China. As Putin gambles Russia’s future on death dealing expansion during an economic contraction, China’s power over Putin hardens. Multipolar-speak helps hide that from Russians. Susan Haynes née Turner warned of this deception risk in her 2009 paper “Russia,…
Belarusian Helicopters Fly Low into Poland’s Białowieża Forest
Setup: Two events aimed at NATO ally Poland were apparently orchestrated by Moscow, Belarus, and Wagner Group mercenaries this week: (1) Wagner mercenaries moved toward the strategic Suwalki gap that joins NATO ally Poland with the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), (2) and a military helicopter incursion into Poland by at least two low-flying Belarusian…
Stalking Horse, Provocateur, and PMC-Pirate for Putin
Set Up: Yevgeny Prigozhin has popped-up again in Belarus, claiming that new Wagner Group deployments are coming, emphasizing Africa and not ruling out future action in Ukraine. This, as Wagner fighters train Belarusian troops near Belarus’s border with Poland, and Russian troops mass with tanks, artillery, and multiple rocket launchers inside Belarus to open up…
Implications for Russians if “Wagner Doesn’t Exist”
The BBC reported that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said, “Wagner doesn’t exist” when asked if Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group would continue as a fighting force aggressing against Ukraine. Putin set his portrayal of Wagner Group’s non-existence in the context of Russian law prohibiting mercenary armies, a law that he admittedly violated when he told the…
View: Autocratic model trips on its own red carpet
Mr. Khrushchev said, “We will bury you” I don’t subscribe to this point of view… -Sting Xi Jinping has spent tens of billions promoting autocracy as the new, responsible leadership model. Yet Putin’s Russia, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and others have shown the world that autocracy is as outdated and hazardous as lead paint. Top-down…
Assessing Russia’s Ruling Convolutions
Perspective: In an insightful 2016 paper, “A Little Masquerade: Russia’s Evolving Employment of Maskirovka,” Major Morgan Maier, United States Army, wrote: “Russians originally employed maskirovka to create a false reality to achieve surprise and battlefield advantage over adversaries. While surprise remains a significant component of maskirovka, it fails to address Russia’s application of deception in…
To Kill Autocrat Parasitism, Break the Autocratic Spell Over its Hosts
Prescription: By three key efforts parasitic autocracies can be removed: (1) honest diplomacy, psychological, and information operations with cyber-support that break the dictatorial spell over the host peoples wherever they are; (2) giving those physically battling the aggressive parasites a decisive, unfair advantage in eradicating the parasite; (3) aiding other…
The “Pravitel” Prerogative
Putin’s chosen prerogative as the presumed “pravitel” (правитель) over Russia trends in extinguishing the lives of generations of young and middle aged Russian and Ukrainian men on the outdated delusion that the prize of expansive imperial buffer territory is worth all the lives he can spend. I have heard arguments from academics…