The Kremlin’s undoubtedly not feeling great about how Vladimir Putin attempted to swagger into Ukraine as though he could settle his imperialistic beef within days, after which the country would instantly fold. Over six months later, President Zelensky and his people keep standing firm while making stunning advances against Russia. Putin’s troops are now disguising themselves and fleeing while Putin’s regime isn’t sitting down for criticism. Rather, they have decided to punish local lawmakers (in Russia) who dared to call for overthrowing Putin over this war that’s hurting Russia’s economy, possibly to a point where it can’t come back.
So, removing Putin isn’t an option unless it’s an inside job. And you never know what will happen after the war is over, but the Putin gang is now hitting Russian State TV, where propagandists recently admitted that this war is a giant “failure” while asking Putin to abort mission. Fast forward less than a week, and The Daily Beast details how Putin’s mouthpieces are calling for increased bloodshed in “another phase” of the conflict in the hopes of continuing and maybe ending this thing by December. Yikes:
Konstantin Zatulin, deputy chairman of the committee of the State Duma for the CIS, said on 60 Minutes: “This military operation–or this war–is entering another phase… The idea that we could achieve a victory with little blood or one massive strike is now in the past… Last week, there was a widespread message–everywhere, except for our television– that this is no time to celebrate, while we’re experiencing difficulties and failures at the battlefront, while we’re retreating… We are pondering what they will do. We need to overcome that… because victory is our only option.”
From there, a military expert named Igor Korotchenko called for Putin’s troops to be “acting quickly, harshly and uncompromisingly.” He called for Russia’s army to “scale up our strikes against critical infrastructure in such a way that one region after the next, one district after another, Ukraine is plunged into darkness.” This, he believes, will cause all remaining Ukrainians to abandon the country, and this also seems like an admission that Russia’s army can’t win the war by fighting; rather, they have to play dirty with resources. Whatever happens, though, it’s clear that Putin’s war isn’t going as planned. The conflict is drastically affecting millions of lives, both in Ukraine and Russia, and it all appears designed to only serve one man’s ego.
(Via The Daily Beast)