Beijing’s Gamble: Putin’s Unsuccessful Mentor
As with Dr. Frankenstein’s ill-considered electrification of a dead person in Shelley’s classic, President Vladimir Putin three years into his reign sought to raise Yuri Andropov’s foreign and domestic policies from the dead to help him rebuild the USSR that Andropov’s decision-making on Soviet intervention in Afghanistan hastened toward collapse. And now there’s Ukraine. Other hardliner…
Observations: Prigozhin, Wagner & Russian Forces
Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly remains in St. Petersburg, Russia rather than in exile in Belarus as expected after his June 24th “march of justice” on Moscow. Belarusian President Lukashenko publicly speculated that Russian President Vladimir Putin has softened toward Prigozhin, perhaps discussing a “new” working relationship. Observations, Thoughts, and Informational Uses Shifting words and actions by…
Announcement by Russian MOD of Withdrawal from Lyman
Did President Vladimir Putin bless the withdrawal of Russian forces from Lyman? Recent reports claim he had become more involved in tactical decisions before it happened. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it withdrew troops from Lyman, Donetsk, Ukraine after the city was surrounded by Ukrainian Armed Forces, not the Kremlin. If not blessed by Putin,…
First Debate: Draining the Swamp to Waterboard America with the Firehose of Falsehood
The anti-George Washington seeks another term. The incumbent in the White House is ‘draining the Swamp,’ with his “Firehose of Falsehood” plumbed in reverse and directed out his mouth at our eyes, ears, noses, and throats, waterboarding us with the bacterial corruption of the Swamp. ‘Toxic waste dump’ is a more apt term, yet we are all-in…
Germany’s Choice Shines a Light on Moscow’s Strategy
The Nord Stream gas pipeline deal between Russia and Germany could enter its own coma along with Russian dissident Alexey Navalny, in whose system German military physicians found the Soviet nerve agent Novichok. In light of Moscow’s continuing willingness to use state terror to get its way, Berlin should question what authoritarian strings will be attached to the…