Putin's last stand?

To-day, the 24th August, Ukraine celebrates 'Independence Day'.

And yesterday, the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee (left),

"....greeted the government and the people of Ukraine on the eve of their Independence Day.

In a message to Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, Mr Mukherjee said: "On behalf of the government, the people of India and on my own behalf, I would like to extend warm greetings and felicitations to you and to the friendly people of Ukraine on the occasion of your independence day."

"We look forward to the further strengthening of friendly ties and bilateral cooperation," he said. (NDTV : August 23, 2015) (my emphasis)

What is significant about this public message of the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, to the Ukrainian people is that India is a critical member of the BRICS group viz. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

As a further slap in Putin's face, Dmitry Zaks (right) informs us that,

"The heads of Germany and France will meet Kiev's pro-Western leader in Berlin on Monday for Ukrainian crisis talks most notable for their diplomatically-charged exclusion of Russia's Vladimir Putin.
.....
Russia has declined to formally address Putin's absence -- a position that underscores its refusal to admit Putin's growing isolation from Western countries .." (AFP : August 22, 2015) (my emphasis)


For Putin, this public pronouncement of President Pranab Mukherjee, together with his exclusion from to-day's Berlin meeting, must be sticking in his craw since,

".. The Crimea forbade to hold in the center of Simferopol festive meeting on August 24 occasionally Independence Day of Ukraine.

It was declared the day before by the local activist, the cofounder of the Ukrainian cultural center Leonid Kuzmin on the page on Facebook.

The corresponding ban (right), according to Kuzmin, I established so-called «city administration» Simferopol which for the formal reasons rejected the application for carrying out meeting submitted on August 18 with flower-laying to Taras Shevchenko's monument." (news-pn: 22 August 2015)

Adding to Putin's woes is the fact that,

"Oil prices are now looking to fall even further. WTI is trading below $41 per barrel and has already breached the six-year lows.
......  In fact, some market analysts and traders are even predicting oil prices will fall to $30 per barrel." (Gaurav Agnihotri : Oil Price : Thu, 20 August 2015) (my emphasis)

It is therefore not surprising that,

"Poroshenko made one of his gloomiest predictions on prospects for peace in his country days before he meets German and French leaders in Berlin for a summit he called to urge them to put pressure on Russia to comply with a 6-month-old peace plan strained by ceasefire violations and shelling.
...
"The military threat from the east is a tangible reality for decades to come. This threat will not go away in the near future and every generation of Ukrainians must have army experience," he said. " (Business Insider UK : Aug. 23, 2015) ( my emphasis)

Putin needs to further ramp up his war-mongering efforts in eastern Ukraine as a counter to the growing economic gloom that has descended upon the Russian public. 

As Paul Roderick Gregory (right) writes,

"Putin’s failures are becoming more evident on a daily basis. No one denies that Russia is a kleptocratic state whose leaders have stolen much of the national wealth.
.......
Putin’s Kremlin promotes and supports a view of the world that causes world leaders to scratch their heads in dismay."(Forbes : Aug 20, 2015) (my emphasis)

He goes on to explain further that the 'knives are out' for some of Putin's closest associates, from Dmitry Peskov to Vladimir Yakunin to Gennady Timchenko to Victor Zolotov ...  (pic: left to right)

Paul Goble (left) also informs us that,

"Both Vladimir Putin's plans for Ukraine - his initial one of absorbing much of Ukraine and his "Plan B" of having the West force Ukraine into agreeing to make consessions - have failed, Andrey Piontkovsky says; and "the interests of Putin and his closest entourage now "seriously diverge, with the latter searching for his replacement" (Window on Eurasia : Thursday August 13, 2015) (my emphasis)

Is this, as Paul Gregory suggests, that,

" ... some kind of power struggle is going on that seems to have Putin as its target. The pattern of attack is classic: bring down the big guy’s supporters first." (ibid Paul Gregory)

(to be continued)