Putin On the Ritz

Sanctioning rich individuals having spent twenty years legitimising their bent fortunes is a strange one. How 'close to the Kremlin' is he really? He isn't in the government, so, beyond not being daft enough to get himself poisoned or ruined, what is his functional role in any Russian aggro beyond having Russian investments (which, as long as the gas keeps flowing, is hardly incriminating). I think the idea that these people can topple the government is a bit Western-centric. Cut McDonald's off and annoy Jeff Bezos and maybe the United States falls to bits; but Putin, and his actual inner circle of committee waxworks, will lol at any sanction whinges with would you rather be worth zero billion mate?

Wasn't there some fine print in the sanction paperwork about one of his companies acting in bad faith in Ukraine in the run up to this?

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Originally Posted by 7om

I don’t understand the moves being made against Chelsea. It’s not like Abramovich’s ties to the Kremlin is new information. It’s been well-known ever since he bought the club. So why now, after this long, are we suddenly taking credit cards away and not allowing them to take gate receipts / sell merch?

If he is dirty money then why was he allowed to a) buy the club in the first place, and b) stay in charge for so long?

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Politics - but I have no sympathy for Abramovich, Chelsea or the whining fans. S'all in the game, yo.

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Originally Posted by Lewis

Sanctioning rich individuals having spent twenty years legitimising their bent fortunes is a strange one. How 'close to the Kremlin' is he really? He isn't in the government, so, beyond not being daft enough to get himself poisoned or ruined, what is his functional role in any Russian aggro beyond having Russian investments (which, as long as the gas keeps flowing, is hardly incriminating). I think the idea that these people can topple the government is a bit Western-centric. Cut McDonald's off and annoy Jeff Bezos and maybe the United States falls to bits; but Putin, and his actual inner circle of committee waxworks, will lol at any sanction whinges with would you rather be worth zero billion mate?

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Putin's lot will try to shrug off the West entirely and go to the Chinese model of just being a hard man dictatorship with a docile populace. Whether that's realistic in the Russian case, without China's economic athleticism, is another question.

Alistair Campbell sharing a video where European cities are being bombed is fucking incredible hutzpah. The fact that the same people who did war crimes and a global recession are still running the joint is exactly why we’re in this situation. Revolution please.

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Just saw this thread. Maybe I’m naive, but what in the fuck is this? The son of a former KGB officer in the House of Lords? MI5 specifically told Johnson that giving this guy a peerage would pose a risk to national security so naturally he does it anyway.

It’s almost like Boris Johnson is corrupt? Remember he was late to something because he was on the guys boat?

I'm beginning to suspect that some of these politicians might not be entirely honest.

*Phonics saying "it's almost like" to be unnecessarily patronising klaxon*

I'm sure this is just a problem specific to Boris and not some deep-seated theory about the nature of what power does to cunts.

People need to stop acting shocked about Boris and this generation of Tories and just vote the cunts out. There’s been so much corruption from them that otherwise resignation-worthy shit like this is just another day. Don’t give them the benefit of the doubt over Russia and lockdown parties and whatnot, because the “they’re all the same” line certainly doesn’t wash in this era.

They're getting closer to Poland. It's on.

There was a really superb piece of television on Sunday Morning. Palin had interviewed Vadym Kastelli 30 and 15 years previously. It was poignant seeing it from the hope of 15 years ago of Ukraine as a democratic, European aligned nation to him waiting to fight in Kiev.

Pretty interesting Chinese view on what's to come:
https://uscnpm.org/2022/03/12/hu-wei...-china-choice/

Tldr. Are we all going to die in the next 2 weeks or not?

Hopefully that's what comes to pass, although Xi is such a cunt I can't believe it'll be easy for him to ditch his fellow repressive dictator.

The long and the short of it is that the Western way of life is quite simply better and more attractive to populations than others, and that is always going to win out in the end.

Yeah, it'd be a pretty big volte face from 'best buddies forever' a month or so ago, probably has to be done though.

The tldr seems to mainly be that "this military action constitutes an irreversible mistake" by Vald/Russia and the main variable is how bad the outcome of the unwinding is for the rest of the world, ranging from mild inconvenience to the end of humanity.

The threats to target Ukranian supply lines suggests an outcome towards the less good end of the spectrum, although hopefully someone within the apparatus might realise that drawing the west into a nuclear war probably isn't the option with the best outcome for Russia as a whole, which is presumably the end game of Russia attacking something in a NATO country, NATO annihilating the Russian army through conventional means leaving just 'the button' for the deranged-in-chief to press.

If Putin goes then he will be replaced (either immediately or eventually) with someone similar. Russia isn't going away, the approach may change but the goals are not likely to. They also aren't going to lose this war in any practical sense, it looks to be taking longer than they hoped but they will take Kiev. How they come away with a useful result is another question.

The best outcome for all concerned is someone to get rid of Putin at their end, will need a few of them to grow a pair though which isn't the Russian way.

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Originally Posted by Disco

If Putin goes then he will be replaced (either immediately or eventually) with someone similar. Russia isn't going away, the approach may change but the goals are not likely to. They also aren't going to lose this war in any practical sense, it looks to be taking longer than they hoped but they will take Kiev. How they come away with a useful result is another question.

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Cult of personality goes a long way with ruthless rulers like Putin. Such tactics wouldn’t be accepted like they are if they were executed by Randomov. If Putin goes, it only gets better.

They'll be as corrupt as they ever were but Putin also had the KGB links to blackmail and intimidate.

Oh yeah, I'm not intimating it'll be sunshine and rainbows, but they'll be more of a nuisance than a threat.

I suppose it would depend on if the overthrowing party are motivated by trying to stop the insanity or simply by seeing an opportunity to seize power for themselves.

I can't think of many coups that have lead to a better state of affairs, mind.

Whoever replaces him simply replaces him, not with the same power base to begin with but it takes a while to get your sycophants around you. It will almost certainly continue to be a sort of police state just with a different policeman in charge.

They're not some backward African nation who can roll on with a military junta, they've got too many fingers in too many pies internationally that the bottom wouldn't just fall out. And I just don't buy that anyone from within Putin's circle that is remotely competent enough to step up is anywhere near as mental.

I wouldn't bet against Navalny to be honest. Putin going the journey might be the catalyst for revolution. I just don't see any of his underlings holding the line; the cult of personality around Putin is so strong that everybody else is a nobody. At the very least they'll be pathetic for a few years until the new guy carves out his own persona, but it may not wash.

They made Brexit yet not a word about it while every token sanction going is made. Shows how the west will really deal with this.

We will never admit Brexit was/is a mistake until all the over 50's who voted for it are in the ground.

Brexit looking pretty good in the current situation tbh. We would have caused absolute havoc to the EU response if we were still in it, while we've also been free to sneak an absolute shit ton of weapons in there without pissing off the federalists.

:D I pity you sort.

Whoever replaces him will be some no-mark waxwork, as he himself was originally. In the event that the entire system falls to pieces and becomes a democracy, then you will get three different Putin-like parties battling it out with the communists, all of whom will pursue their current foreign policies, and then Garry Kasparov polling four per cent off two billion dollars of Western backing.

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This guy is Bellingcat so either he's neutral/well informed or CIA, but the source is Russian. So fuck knows.

Slutsky sounds like a WWE gimmick nobody wants.

A lot of people in the replies taking that to mean Russia losing and backing out.

2 weeks ago the Russians said they had no intention of invading and would be moving away from the border. I don't believe a syllable of anything they say.

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Originally Posted by Shindig

Slutsky sounds like a WWE gimmick nobody wants.

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Wasn't there a football manager with that surname?

Leonid Slutsky. Did he manage Hull for a brief time?

EDIT: Indeed he did. Lol this is on his Wiki page:

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Slutsky has commented on football games many times on Russian TV. His commentating career was disrupted after he repeated the word "Navalny" following his co-commentator's using the term навальный футбол (navalny futbol); the term навальный (navalny) is a term best translated as "overwhelming" or "storming", but is also the surname of opposition politician Alexei Navalny. The incident led to his sacking from the TV pundit role at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

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Must be a different one, surely.

Different blokes, sadly. Currently managing Rubin Kazan.

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Slutsky, who is Jewish, saw his professional playing career ended aged 19, after he injured his knee falling from a tree while saving a cat.

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Chasing pussy ruins another promising career.

Would have been amazing if it was the same bloke. :D

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Last week Zelensky told Johnson, in one of their daily phone calls, that Ukrainian soldiers shout "God Save the Queen" when they fire the [NLAW].

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Christ. :D

:D

Do they shout it in broken English? Huge irony given we don't want the fuckers over here.

NLAW in Ukrainian is pronounced "en-lov" which is even weirder considering we don't want to let them in.

One for the CoD enthusiasts.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ramzan-kadyrov

“We will show you that Russian practice teaches warfare better than foreign theory and the recommendations of military advisers,”

:drool:

I swore I drank with his identical twin in a Russian whorehouse during the World Cup.

Didn't Putin spend the best part 20 years going after the Chechens? Crazy people.

He has proper AVB vibes about him. Probably never shot a gun.

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That's so good.

:D

Amazing.

But how are they letting the filming happen? Is it a hidden camera? I assume not.

On the China stuff, they're now getting absolutely clattered by Covid of all things (lol) which is going to make life difficult for President Vladimir V. Putin, as the New York Times comically styles him.