Ukraine 3

[Timber Rattler]

If you look at his most recent photos this past week, his physical appearance has markedly degraded over the past few weeks.  He's clearly wasting away and his suits hang off him, and his face and neck are bloated.  Definitely got cancer of some sort, coupled with Parkinson's.  He's not going to be mobile for much longer, and this fall is probably the beginning of the end for him.

[DB]

This is NOT good. If Putin is really 'terminally ill', then there is nothing to stop him from pushing the nuclear button.
They say, 'Go out with a bang.'

Only if his underlings follow orders - they still have lives to live.

[Kamaji]

Only if his underlings follow orders - they still have lives to live.

Exactly.

[Ghost Bear]

Putin fell down stairs, soiled himself as speculation over worsening health grows: report

By Olivia Land and Snejana Farberov
December 2, 2022

*  *  *

Source:  https://nypost.com/2022/12/02/putin-fell-down-stairs-soiled-himself-amid-health-woes-report/

Even if the story isn't true, it is still a sign of his weakening power that this story is circulating. If he was still at the top of his game no one would dare to repeat the story.

Also, if he does have colon cancer, I can't think of many worse ways to go. Maybe brain cancer. Or cancer of the spine.

[mountaineer]

Zelensky announces a decree banning religious organizations and churches in Ukraine with “ties to Russia.”
His government has also been raiding Ukrainian Orthodox churches and arresting priests.

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1598723160228081664

[libertybele]

Zelensky announces a decree banning religious organizations and churches in Ukraine with “ties to Russia.”
His government has also been raiding Ukrainian Orthodox churches and arresting priests.

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1598723160228081664

Gee, what's wrong with this picture??  Anyone still think that there just might be a slight possibility that the Ukraine gov't might be doing away with those that don't comply with their dictatorial rules and regulations and blaming those deaths on the Russians?

[sneakypete]

What do the Russians care about such charges?

There is nothing that is going to be done about the charges or to the Neo-Soviet leadership,so it's nothing more than a fart into the wind.

People in the west just don't seem to remember that even though "communism is dead",the Russian leadership is STILL composed of Communist Party of the USSR appointees.

However,thanks to the incompetence of Putin and his Soviet pals,they may be out of power soon and living in the Lubyanka basements will awaiting trial.

And they not only brought it upon themselves,they did it to themselves. It will NOT be a Russian Revolution that brings about the collapse of Communism in Russia,but the freaking stupidity of the neo-Soviet leadership who are refusing to recognize that times have changed, and they needed to modify their way of governing in order to survive. They seem to think it is still 1930,and deserve every-freaking thing that happens to them,including being burnt at the stake if that were to happen.

Hell,the revolutionaries could probably sell tickets to that one. The CPUSSR has been brutalizing and enslaving the Russian citizens since Day One of their control. They need to get a little taste of what they have been serving up,

[mountaineer]

Gee, what's wrong with this picture??  Anyone still think that there just might be a slight possibility that the Ukraine gov't might be doing away with those that don't comply with their dictatorial rules and regulations and blaming those deaths on the Russians?

Didn't he previously ban news stations and political parties, while jailing opposition leaders? And now the church. 

[Timber Rattler]

Gee, what's wrong with this picture??  Anyone still think that there just might be a slight possibility that the Ukraine gov't might be doing away with those that don't comply with their dictatorial rules and regulations and blaming those deaths on the Russians?

He's banning them because those churches are working for Putin's former KGB crony Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian orthodox Church.  It's a sensible wartime measure when the priests' loyalties are in doubt. 

[sneakypete]

“The Ukrainians are fighting a very, very successful mobile defense,” U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Wednesday.

.

That probably means the Ukrainians are staring to lose. Miss Miley is rarely right about anything.

[sneakypete]

Or Stalingrad. War is shit.

@Weird Tolkienish Figure

And THAT is an understatement,my friend!

Damn shame that none of the loons that start these wars end up either being crippled and maimed themselves,or swinging from streetlamps.

[berdie]

He's banning them because those churches are working for Putin's former KGB crony Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian orthodox Church.  It's a sensible wartime measure when the priests' loyalties are in doubt.

I think it maybe similar to WWII when the Japanese Americans were locked up?

[sneakypete]

Just one in four Russians support Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, leaked Kremlin study shows

By JAMES FRANEY IN BUCHAREST FOR THE DAILY MAIL
30 November 2022

Russian support for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has plummeted to new lows – with just one in four supporting the war, it emerged last night.

A leaked study, conducted by the Kremlin’s Federal Protective Service, showed just 25 per cent of the public supported a continuation of Putin’s so-called ‘special military operation’.

It comes as British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called for the Russian leader to face trial for war crimes.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11487855/Just-one-four-Russians-support-Vladimir-Putins-invasion-Ukraine-leaked-Kremlin-study-shows.html

@Kamaji

This is BIG when you stop and consider that almost all the votes will come from St.Petersburg and Moscow.

I am not sure about St.Pete,but I know for a fact that "only the fit and faithful" were granted the "privilege" of living in Moscow. They were,for the most part,the "party faithful that were 100 percent in favor of Communism,and put their asses on the line in the 20's,30's,and 40's to protect and build Communist Russia into a super power.

I was told by Russians on both of my trips to Russia that in order to live in Moscow,your family had to have a strict pro-Soviet POV on life and government. You couldn't just move there,you had to apply for a permit to live there,have your family investigated,fingerprinted,and photographed,and their history of support for Communism had to have been without question. And this was told to me BY Russians who lived in Moscow.

One example was one woman I dated while there was the daughter of a "Hero of the Soviet Union" during WW-2,and was then a professor at Moscow State University. The family consisted of him,her,and her daughter,yet they had the entire top floor of an apartment block building all to themselves.

Another woman I dated while there shared a one bathroom,1 kitchen apartment with another family. Her father was killed in WW-2 while fighting the Nazi's,and that is why they were allowed to live in Moscow and work at a factory.

Even decorated WW-2 Soviet veterans with facial scarring or missing limbs from amputations were not allowed to live in Moscow. They didn't present the right image for "victorious heroes".

[sneakypete]

Good!

Let the Orcs find out how it is to be without power.

@bilo

It won't have any real effect until the strikes start being make in Moscow or St. Petersburg. It probably won't even be reported inside Russia.

[Timber Rattler]

I think it maybe similar to WWII when the Japanese Americans were locked up?

No, not at all.  Those Russian-connected priests were acting as spies and agents provocateurs on Kirill's orders in Moscow, at the behest of Putin.  They got caught.  There is another Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which is loyal and a suitable alternative.

[sneakypete]

This is NOT good news if true.

Now,IF we had been hearing rumbles about how the Politburo is getting troubled by the lack of success with the Ukrainian invasion and questioning leadership,it would be EXCELLENT news for the entire world,including Russia.

We ain't hearing that,though. What we are hearing is "more of the same,but harder" from a VERY ill old man that wants to go down in history as a winner,not a loser or someone who has to compromise his stated goals.

We SHOULD be at a minimum hearing vague rumors about how the Politburo is getting fed up and wanting to remove Putin and stop the war. We ain't even hearing rumors,though. AFAWK,the whole damn Politburo still backs him.

This scares me a little. By all normal standards, he should be getting gentle pushes to leave office due to "bad health issues" by now.

[sneakypete]

This is NOT good. If Putin is really 'terminally ill', then there is nothing to stop him from pushing the nuclear button.
They say, 'Go out with a bang.'

@240B

Well,he still has a wife and children,and that MIGHT keep him from doing that.

There are also other Politiburo members who are "in the know as to his plans" that have family members they love and don't want to lose.

I THINK,and sincerely HOPE that if Putin goes batshit crazy and orders a nuclear strike that the Politburo will order him taken out. After all,they have families,too.

[Kamaji]

Gee, what's wrong with this picture??  Anyone still think that there just might be a slight possibility that the Ukraine gov't might be doing away with those that don't comply with their dictatorial rules and regulations and blaming those deaths on the Russians?

No.  I think they're ferreting out spies.

[Timber Rattler]

No.  I think they're ferreting out spies.

Those Russian Orthodox priests were feeding Putin information and assisting with targeting.  Historically, the Russian Orthodox Church has long been an organ for the State Security Apparatus, going back to the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Remember Father Gapon at "Bloody Sunday" in 1905 St. Petersburg? 

He was a spy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Gapon

[berdie]

No, not at all.  Those Russian-connected priests were acting as spies and agents provocateurs on Kirill's orders in Moscow, at the behest of Putin.  They got caught.  There is another Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which is loyal and a suitable alternative.

I guess the point I was trying to make, very ineloquently  , is that during war a country doesn't know who is "with 'em and who is against 'em". So, consequently, chances aren't taken. If these priests were verified as Russian agents, I see no reason that they wouldn't be arrested.

[Kamaji]

Those Russian Orthodox priests were feeding Putin information and assisting with targeting.  Historically, the Russian Orthodox Church has long been an organ for the State Security Apparatus, going back to the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Remember Father Gapon at "Bloody Sunday" in 1905 St. Petersburg? 

He was a spy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Gapon

The orthodox churches are not like the Western roman catholic church, which is a separate sovereign entity.  The orthodox churches are creatures of the state in which they are headquartered, and typically the government has a say in who is appointed to lead the church (sort of like the Church of England).  As such, it is not unsurprising to find that a government like that of Putin's Russia has, in essence, perverted the Christian mission of the Russian Orthodox church by turning it into a den of spies.

[mountaineer]

Putin fell down stairs, soiled himself as speculation over worsening health grows: report

He has a lot in common with our president, then, doesn't he?

Perhaps we should call him Vladimir Poopin'.

[Kamaji]

He has a lot in common with our president, then, doesn't he?

Perhaps we should call him Vladimir Poopin'.

[bilo]

.

That probably means the Ukrainians are staring to lose. Miss Miley is rarely right about anything.

They are having a tough time of it around Bakhmut.

[bilo]

@bilo

It won't have any real effect until the strikes start being make in Moscow or St. Petersburg. It probably won't even be reported inside Russia.

Yeah, but they can't do that because it would ignite an even bigger problem.

What the Ukrainians are enduring is brutal. I think there are legitimate questions about corruption that need to be answered, but that is secondary to defeating the Russians. The Orcs violate every convention without the slightest hesitation. Ukraine needs more weapons for air defense especially.