Putin's fear of defeat is escalating.

 It is now flooding the internet ether that the "Privileged Apartheid Reared South African (PARSA)", Elon Musk, 

" ... considered [last year] pulling Starlink satellite internet from Ukraine after having a “great conversation with Putin,” according to a former Pentagon official" (Josh Salisbury: Evening Standard: 22 August 2023) (my emphasis) (cf also: Kate Nicholson: Huffington Post : 22 August 2023).

And, as now reported by John Bacon and Jorge L. Ortiz,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be shaking hands at a major international summit in South Africa, discouraged from attending in person because of criminal charges linked to his invasion of Ukraine.
...
But host South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court, which in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to steal Ukrainian children and bring them to Russia for adoption. South Africa would be obliged to arrest the Russian leader if he traveled to the meeting in Johannesburg." (USA Today : 22 August 2023) (my emphasis) 

WION : 21 August 2023 : YouTube

 As Dylan Robertson  reported in April 2023,

"South African authorities (left: President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa) will have to grapple with whether to enforce an International Criminal Court warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin if he follows through on plans to attend the BRICS Summit -- which also includes Brazil, India and China -- this August in Johannesburg." (CTV News : 23 April 2023) (my emphasis) (cf also : Blog Entry : 24 April 2023)

Let us recall that in October of 2022 PARSA Musk tweeted how to achieve “Ukraine-Russia peace”.

Furthermore, as reported last year by Kate Nicholson (right), PARSA Musk suggested that :-

• “Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.”
• “Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake).
• “Water supply to Crimea assured.” (Huffington Post : 4 October 2022) (my emphasis)

Evening Standard: 22 August 2023

 In other words, PARSA Musk then believed that Ukraine should fully capitulate to Putin and allow him to keep his illegally annexed land of Ukraine, as well as simply 'gifting' Crimea to him.

It is interesting to note that China, South Africa, India, and Brazil, of the current BRICS  group, are all donning the same political mantle of wanting peace between Putin and Zelensky whilst studiously refusing to point to Putin as the instigator of this war in the first place.

PARSA Musk falls into the same category of wanting peace whilst refusing to lay the blame for Putin's war with Ukraine at Putin's feet.

And against the background of this 'political' sanctimonious stand of China, South Africa, Brazil, India, and PARSA Musk, Matthew Dooley (left) informs us that,

"Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man Dmitri Medvedev has vowed that Russia will conquer Ukraine even if it takes decades.

In what appeared to be a thinly veiled threat against the West, Russia’s former president painted Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as an existential crisis for Moscow.

“We must not stop [the war] until the current, inherently terrorist Ukrainian state is completely dismantled. It must be destroyed to the ground…so that even the ashes from it do not remain,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram." (Daily Express (US) : 21 August 2023) (my emphasis)

Medvedev is not alone in wishing to completely destroy Ukraine.

Putin's propaganda mouthieces on Russian TV are similarly pushing the same "nuclear Armageddon" into the minds of Russian people.

Russia Media Monitor : 22 August 2023 : YouTube 

They seem to be mirroring, as reported by Alex Shipman,

"Vladimir Putin showed signs of fear while visiting top military brass over the weekend, a body language expert has told Daily Express US.
...
Putin, seen exiting a black SUV before meeting military personnel, “looks wary and lacking in status signals” and has an expression “that might normally suggest fear”, body language expert Judi James said. " (Daily Express (US) : 20 August 2023) (my emphasis)

Daily Express (US) : 20 August 2023

As I wrote in my previous blog entry (19 August 2023),

"This [constant] threat of 'nuclear Armageddon' may be due to the fact that, as reported by the Economist,

"“During the past two weeks we have seen things gradually tipping in Ukraine’s favour,” says Nico Lange, a Ukraine expert at the Munich Security Conference. The evidence from both satellite imagery and (mainly Russian) military bloggers is that slow progress is being made. Sir Lawrence Freedman, a British military strategist, agrees: “They’re [the Ukrainian army are] doing [their] stuff and they’re stretching the Russians.” (The Economist : 16 August 2023) (my emphasis)

The ramping up of 'nuclear Armageddon' by Putin's "glove puppet" Medvedev, and by his ardent propagandists on Russian TV, seem to underscore what Alex Shipman refers to as 'Putin's fear'.

Is it the counter-offensive successes of Ukraine's army that is causing Putin's fear of defeat to escalate?    

UPDATE 1 : 24 August 2023

Underscoring Putin's fear we now learn, as reported by Will Vernon,

"[...] today, as the news broke that Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane had fallen out of the sky, crashing in a fireball in Russia's Tver Region, most people were far from shocked. In fact, most Russians were probably surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

Speculation had been swirling for weeks in Russia about exactly what fate awaited Yevgeny Prigozhin. Exactly two months ago, the Wagner boss launched his brief mutiny." (BBC News : 24 August 2023) (my emphasis) 

As US President Biden commented on this news,

"I don't know for a fact what happened ... but I am not surprised"

MSNBC : 24 August 2023

UPDATE 2 : 24 August 2023

Furthermore, and as if to underscore the fact that the actions and pronouncements of PARSA Musk is now being more closely scrutinised, Zeeshan Aleem reports that,

 "The New York Times reported last week that [PARSA] Musk had been sporadically slowing access to rival social media sites, and even some media outlets, in yet another demonstration of how he’s able to use his platform to selectively boost and punish content-makers based on his personal preferences. Musk’s declared devotion to free speech continues to be proved false." (MSNBC : 23 August 2023) (my emphasis)

 MSNBC : 23 August 2023

 

 

 

 

(to be continued)