World Politics

[HardCoreBlue]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

Putin Is Preparing to Flee When Russia Implodes, Ex-Aide Says
-Reuters
Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his cronies already have a plan in place to flee the country once things go sideways, a former aide to the Russian president has claimed.

Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Putin, made the astounding claim on Telegram early Wednesday, citing an unnamed source that he said had “insider” information on the whole affair.
The evacuation plan, according to Gallyamov, got underway back in the spring, when it was unofficially dubbed “Noah’s Ark.”

“As the name implies, it’s about a search for new land to go to in case it becomes completely uncomfortable in the homeland. The leader’s entourage has not ruled out that he will lose the war, be stripped of power, and have to urgently evacuate somewhere,” Gallyamov wrote.

Putin’s inner circle first considered a plan to evacuate to China, Gallyamov said, but later thought better of it, fearing the chances of “cooperation” from the Chinese were slim, especially since they despise “losers.” Now, he said, the focus has shifted to either Argentina or Venezuela, with Putin ally Igor Sechin currently overseeing an evacuation plan for the latter country.

The plan is so far along, Gallyamov said, that Sechin’s “right-hand man” at Rosneft “formally resigned” from the oil giant to handle “on-site work.”

Citing two sources close to the presidential administration and a source in Rosneft, the Telegram channel Mozhem Obyasnit also reports that high-ranking officials have already begun buying up real estate and working on getting residency rights in Venezuela. Those lower on the totem-pole in the presidential administration and Russian government are seeking residency in Ecuador, Paraguay, and Argentina, according to that report.

In particular, a source was quoted saying, Russian officials have snatched up property on Venezuela’s Margarita Island, where they are confident they’ll be safe from extradition.

“The island of Margarita in Venezuela is their local Courchevel,” the source was quoted saying, comparing the would-be Kremlin hideout to the famous French Alps ski resort.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-putin-is-preparing-to-flee-to-venezuela-when-russia-implodes-ex-aide-abbas-gallyamov-says?ref=home

With Snowden in tow I assume?

[Tracker]

4 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

With Snowden in tow I assume?

No doubt if it comes to this, Snowdon will be on his own. American jail will probably be more comfortable than his life in Russia

[Tracker]

                                               

[iHeart]

 

[blue_gold_84]

Who is Viktor Bout?

Quote

Variously dubbed “the merchant of death” and “the sanctions buster” for his ability to get around arms embargoes, Bout, 55, was one of the world's most wanted men prior to his 2008 arrest on multiple charges related to arms trafficking.

What a ******* time to be alive.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

2 hours ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Who is Viktor Bout?

Probably same type of character as Nic Cage played in Lord of War.

[blue_gold_84]

8 minutes ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

Probably same type of character as Nic Cage played in Lord of War.

Bout was the inspiration for Cage's character, Yuri Orlov.

[Tracker]

Backfired: Putin’s Prison Recruits Spiral Out of Russia’s Control

Russia’s most deranged gambit in its war against Ukraine is rapidly turning into a crisis as military leaders lose control over the prison inmates freed in exchange for a stint on the battlefield.

About 20 armed inmates fled from the frontline in occupied Donetsk in recent days and the Russian military was forced to launch a manhunt for members of its own team, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Thursday. Three of the “fugitives” were killed in the ensuing search, Ukrainian authorities said, wryly noting: “Beat your own, so that others are afraid, as they say.”

The hunt was reportedly still on for the other fleeing inmates. The news comes just two days after a suspected Russian deserter fleeing the battlefield in Ukraine’s occupied Donbas crossed the border into Russia before opening fire and injuring two police officers. Independent media outlets identified the gunman as a prison inmate recruited to fight in the war.

While many experts saw the prison-recruitment scheme for what it was from the get-go—a convenient way to bolster Russia’s fledgling troops using men deemed easily disposable—it seems many of the inmates are themselves finally coming around to that realization.

The public sledgehammer-execution of Wagner defector Yevgeny Nuzhin last month certainly didn’t help matters, no matter how much Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mastermind behind the prison recruitment scheme, told inmates they’d go down in history as “heroes.”

Now, Russian inmates say there have been other executions carried out against those perceived to have “betrayed” the mercenary group—and wannabe recruits are shown videos of it.

One inmate at a penal colony in the Far East told the BBC’s Russian service that Wagner recruiters showed execution videos to inmates in the facility’s recreation room.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-putins-army-of-russian-prisoners-spiral-out-of-control-in-ukraine?ref=home

[Tracker]

This happened at a public gathering three days ago, and reports indicated that Putin was drunk, fell down the stairs and shat himself. But....

 

                                           

[Wideleft]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

This happened at a public gathering three days ago, and reports indicated that Putin was drunk, fell down the stairs and shat himself. But....

 

                                           

 

[Tracker]

Germany Arrests QAnon-Linked Extremists Over Plot to Topple Government

GERMAN SPECIAL FORCES conducted a wave of arrests Wednesday, detaining 25 individuals suspected of harboring connections to a domestic terrorist group aiming to overthrow the nation’s government. German prosecutors allege that the far-right group has been heavily influenced by QAnon ideology. 

The large-scale action involved raids of over 130 locations, and investigations into an additional 27 individuals who were not arrested. The individuals detained include a Russian national, a member of the German nobility, and a former parliamentarian affiliated with the far-right Alternative for Germany party. 

The group had planned to overthrow the German government, in part by assassinating government officials and installing “Heinrich XIII P.R.,” identified by German officials as 71-year-old Prince Heinrich XIII, a German noble of the House of Reuss. Heinrich was among those arrested. 

According to a press release from the German attorney general’s office, the group was founded around November 2021. Prosecutors allege the organization adheres to the ideology of the “Reichsbürger,” or Citizens of the Reich, and is heavily influenced by QAnon. According to the statement, the group is “firmly convinced that Germany is currently governed by members of a so-called ‘deep state.’” The group also believes an “Alliance” of “technically superior secret society of governments, intelligence services and the military of various states, including the Russian Federation and the United States of America” had assets present in Germany prepared to assist in securing liberation from “deep state” forces. 

The organization had reportedly engaged in paramilitary training for its members, and began acquiring arms and equipment in preparation for its coup. Several of the accused individuals were preparing to occupy government positions and head agencies following the overthrow. According to prosecutors, the group targeted members of the Bundeswehr, the German military, and the German police

[Goalie]

Irrelevant wnba player for merchant of death. Seems fair lol. 

Chevy would have gotten a 1st probably 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Goalie

[blue_gold_84]

On 2022-12-08 at 9:02 AM, blue_gold_84 said:

Who is Viktor Bout?

What a ******* time to be alive.

update: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63947938

Quote

Russia's arms dealer Viktor Bout - nicknamed the "merchant of death" - has joined the pro-Kremlin ultranationalist LDPR party, following his release in a high-profile US prisoner swap.

In a video posted online, LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky thanked Bout, 55, for becoming a member of "the best political party in today's Russia".

In the LDPR video published on Monday, Bout is seen standing on stage together with Mr Slutsky and other leading party members.
Mr Slutsky said that Bout had spent "long years" in prison, but "today he is with us".
"We will return all those who are in trouble outside our motherland," he vowed.
Meanwhile, Bout said that for the time being he was not planning to run in any elections, Russia's Ria Novosti news agency reports.

[WildPath]

44 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

update: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63947938

There has to be some that the public doesn't know about this. There has to be. I know the US worships professional athletes, but I really don't see why this happened. Bout has said he will use his skills to support Russia's war. Finding unofficial ways to procure weapons is exactly what Russia needs right now...

Someone explain?

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-no-power-cold-strikes-g7-aid-1.6682945

Quote

Russian forces pounded targets in eastern and southern Ukraine with missiles, drones and artillery, Ukraine's General Staff said on Monday, as millions remained without power in sub-zero cold after further Russian strikes on key infrastructure.

The Group of Seven (G7) economic powers said they would keep working together to bolster Ukraine's military capabilities, with an immediate focus on air defence systems, according to a leaders' statement released by Britain.

Addressing the virtual G7 gathering, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the leaders to supply Kyiv with modern tanks, artillery units, shells and long-range weapons, and to help his government obtain an extra two billion cubic meters of natural gas in light of Ukraine's energy shortages.

Separately, European Union foreign ministers agreed to put another two billion euros ($2.8 billion Cdn) into a fund that has been used to pay for military support for Ukraine, after it was largely depleted during almost 10 months of the war. More top-ups may be possible at a later stage.

There are no peace talks and no end in sight to the conflict, the biggest in Europe since the Second World War...

 

[bustamente]

3 hours ago, WildPath said:

There has to be some that the public doesn't know about this. There has to be. I know the US worships professional athletes, but I really don't see why this happened. Bout has said he will use his skills to support Russia's war. Finding unofficial ways to procure weapons is exactly what Russia needs right now...

Someone explain?

Mr. Bout might find himself falling down an elevator shaft in a hail of bullets American style

[Brandon]

3 hours ago, WildPath said:

There has to be some that the public doesn't know about this. There has to be. I know the US worships professional athletes, but I really don't see why this happened. Bout has said he will use his skills to support Russia's war. Finding unofficial ways to procure weapons is exactly what Russia needs right now...

Someone explain?

Biden wanted a slew of new memes about him.   Outside of that I have no idea why in the world they would of done that deal.  

[Wideleft]

Ukraine war: The Russians locked up for refusing to fight

• Published
  15 hours ago

By Steve Rosenberg

Russia Editor

 

When his son was sent to fight in Ukraine, Sergei begged him not to go.

"You've got relatives there. Just refuse," Sergei recalls telling Stas, who was already an army officer. "But he said he was going. He believed it was right. I told him that he was a zombie. And that, unfortunately, life would prove that."

Sergei and Stas are not the real names of this father and son. We've changed them to protect their identities. Sergei has invited us to his home to tell us their story.

"So off he went to Ukraine. Then I started getting messages from him asking what would happen if he refused to fight."

Stas told his father about one particular battle.

"He said the [Russian] soldiers had been given no cover; there was no intelligence gathering; no preparation. They'd been ordered to advance, but no one knew what lay ahead.

"But refusing to fight was a difficult decision for him to take. I told him: 'Better to take it. This is not our war. It's not a war of liberation.' He said he would put his refusal in writing. He and several others who'd decided to refuse had their guns taken off them and were put under armed guard."

Sergei made several trips to the front line to try to secure his son's release. He bombarded military officials, prosecutors and investigators with appeals for help.

Eventually his efforts paid off. Stas was sent back to Russia. He revealed to his father what had happened to him in detention: how a "different group" of Russian soldiers had tried to force him to fight.

"They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to shoot him. They made him lie on the ground and told him to count to ten. He refused. So, they beat him over the head several times with a pistol. He told me his face was covered in blood.

"Then they took him into a room and told him: 'You're coming with us, otherwise we'll kill you.' But then someone said they'd take my son to work in the storeroom."

Stas was a serving officer when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. President Vladimir Putin promised that only professional soldiers would take part in his "special military operation."

 

But by September that had all changed. The president announced what he called a "partial mobilisation", drafting hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens into the armed forces.

Many of the newly mobilised troops were quick to complain that they were being sent to a war zone without sufficient equipment or adequate training. From Ukraine there have been multiple reports of mobilised Russian troops being detained - in some cases, locked in cellars and basements - for refusing to return to the frontline.

"It's a way of making people go back into that bloodbath," says Elena Popova from Russia's Movement of Conscientious Objectors. "The commanders' aim is to keep the soldiers down there. The commanders know only violence and intimidation. But you cannot force people to fight."

For some Russians, refusing to return to the front line may be a moral stand. But there's a more common explanation.

"Those refusing to fight are doing so because they've had more than their fair share of front line action," explains Elena Popova. "Another reason is the foul way they're being treated. They've spent time in the trenches, getting cold and hungry, but when they come back they just get shouted and sworn at by their commanders."

The Russian authorities dismiss reports of disillusioned soldiers and detention centres as fake news.

"We do not have any camps or incarceration facilities, or the like [for Russian soldiers]," President Putin insisted earlier this month. "This is all nonsense and fake claims and there is nothing to back them up with."

"We do not have any problems with soldiers leaving combat positions," the Kremlin leader continued. "In a situation when there is shelling or bombs falling, all normal people cannot help but react to it, even on the physiological level. But after a certain adaptation period, our men fight brilliantly."

Andrei, a Russian lieutenant, stopped fighting. Deployed to Ukraine in July, Andrei was placed in detention for refusing to carry out orders. He managed to contact his mother, Oxana, back in Russia to tell her what was going on. Once again, we have changed their names.

"He told me he had refused to lead his men to a certain death," Oxana tells me. "As an officer he understood that if they went ahead, they wouldn't get out alive. For that they sent my son to a detention centre. Then I got a text message saying he and four other officers had been put in a basement. They haven't been seen for five months.

"Later I was told that the building they were in had been shelled and that all five men were missing. They said no remains had been found. Their official status is missing in action. It doesn't make sense. It's absurd. The way my son was treated wasn't only illegal, it was inhuman."

Back in his living room, Sergei tells me that what happened to Stas in Ukraine has brought them closer together.

"We're on the same wavelength now," Sergei tells me. "The wall of misunderstanding between us has gone. All his bravado has gone. My son told me, 'I never thought my own country would treat me this way.' He's changed completely. He gets it now."

"People here don't understand how much danger we're in. Not from the opposing side. But from our own side."

Produced by Will Vernon. Images by Anton Chicherov.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63916810

[Tracker]

Belarus is sending groups of migrants across the border with Ukraine into minefields and UA guarded positions as a way of scouting out the border regions.

 

 

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

Well, saw this and thought I should post it somewhere- here seems like a good place:

 

 

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-invasion-day-293-1.6683737

Quote

Russia and Ukraine pounded each other's forces in heavy fighting in the eastern region of Donetsk on Tuesday, as Kyiv's allies meeting in Paris pledged just over 1 billion euros ($1.44 billion Cdn) to help Ukrainians survive the freezing winter.

Russian forces are battling to take full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, two of four territories the Kremlin claims to have annexed in votes rejected by most countries as illegal.

Moscow is also attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure with waves of missile and drone strikes, at times cutting off electricity for millions of civilians enduring Europe's deadliest conflict since the Second World War.

In Paris, about 70 countries and institutions pledged aid to help maintain Ukraine's water, food, energy, health and transport, French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said Ukraine needed at least 800 million euros.

"It's a lot, but the price is less than the cost of blackout," Zelenskyy told the meeting via video link.

As if it's been nearly a year of this utterly atrocious nonsense. **** Russia.

[Goalie]

They did the deal cuz Biden listening to a vocal minority of people who thought Griner was more important than she is. 

[Bigblue204]

18 minutes ago, Goalie said:

They did the deal cuz Biden listening to a vocal minority of people who thought Griner was more important than she is. 

This is easy to say for people who aren't related to her. If it was my wife/daughter/mother etc etc I'd be pressing everyone to get them home by any means necessary. People may not like the trade, but at the end of the day it was the right thing to do.

[JCon]

It's not surprising who is getting upset over this. Not one bit. 

[bustamente]

Griner is a basketball player who made a huge mistake and paid a severe price, bet she has never experienced anything like she did while imprisoned. Paul Whelan is not squeaking clean and has a very checkered past, also was a Trump supporter and his God didn't give a **** about him. Eventually he will get released when the Russians decide what they want for him and others.