Demonstrating Russian wives could yet be Putin's Achilles heel.

In my blog post of 23 February 2015, I reported that,

Merkel and the Pope

"Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the conflict in Ukraine and the fight against poverty during a private audience on Saturday. (Daniela Petroff : AP : February 22, 2015) (my emphasis)

Since this was a 'private audience', we shall never know what was said between them. Was Merkel simply 'filling him in' on what the current German strategy towards events in Ukraine is, or was she summoned by the Pope." (blog post 23 February 2015)

And in my blog post of 15 June 2022 I reported that,

"Yet we now also learn about the Pope supporting Putin's initial arguments about NATO as the catalyst that caused him to start his second war with Ukraine.

As reported by Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli

"He [the Pope] has conspicuously avoided condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as the aggressor. He has criticized the West’s sanctions and defense spending. And in an interview published this month by an Italian newspaper, Francis appeared to echo a Kremlin talking point, describing the “barking of NATO at Russia’s door” as one of the triggers for Putin’s wrath." (Washington Post : 20 May 2022) (my emphasis)

And as we learn of the Pope, "describing the “barking of NATO at Russia’s door” as one of the triggers for Putin’s wrath.", MSN News (The Guardian) " (blog post 15 June 2022)

Should we therefore be surpised that, as reported by Daniel McLaughlin (left),

"Pope Francis has been criticised in Ukraine and by some of its allies for suggesting it should have “the courage of the white flag” and seek negotiations to end its war with Russia’s invasion force.

“I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag and negotiates,” the pope said in interview with Swiss media last month that was published in part over the weekend." (The Irish Times : 10 March 2024) (my emphasis)

The Guardian : 11 March 2024 : YouTube

Since Putin invaded, and illegally annexed, Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, Jesuit Pope Francis has always been an apologist for Putin. 

That Putin's other apologist since 2014, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left with Putin), rushed to the side of Pope Francis to "privately discuss" Ukraine with him AFTER Putin's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea also speaks volumes for the current vaccilation of Germany's Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to supply Ukraine with much needed Taurus missiles.

 And it now transpires that,

"[Angela Merkel's former Defence Minister, and current] EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is facing a new legal challenge after the European Parliament secretly voted in favour of opening proceedings against the EU executive over funds approved for Hungary last December.

The Strasbourg's legal affairs committee voted on Monday to take the Commission to court after it unblocked €10.2 billion frozen EU funds for Viktor Orban in December.

The move came ahead of the December EU summit which aimed at approving a news aid package for Ukraine which was being vetoed by the Hungarian Prime Minister." (Alessandra Scotto di Santolo (right):Express : 12 March 2024) (my emphasis)

With the Pope asking Zelensky to "raise the white flag" and fully capitulate to Putin, and Ursula von der Leyen pouring billions of Euros into the pocket of Victor Orban, Putin's staunch supporter and mouthpiece in the EU, Zelensky should now ask himself, "With 'friends' like the Pope, Angela Merkel, Olaf Scholz, and Ursula von der Leyen, who needs enemies?".

And against this political backdrop Charlie Bradley (right) reports that,

"Vladimir Putin's forces took the town of Avdiivka in February after months of fighting near the town, but a new Ukraine war map shows Russian advances have virtually ground to a halt.
...
This comes as the New York Times also reports that Russian troops have been held back near the villages of Berdychi, Orlivka and Tonenke in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine has been boosted in these areas by its most skilled battalions and American armoured vehicles and tanks." (Express : 11 March 2024)(my emphasis)

Added to which, Guy Faulconbridge (left) and Lidia Kelly (right) report that,

"Ukraine pounded targets in Russia on Tuesday with dozens of drones and rockets in a sweeping attack that inflicted serious damage on a major oil refinery and sought to pierce the land borders of the world's biggest nuclear power with armed proxies.
...
In one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia to date, Russia said it had downed 25 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions including Moscow, Leningrad, Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Tula and Oryol. Many more drone attacks were reported.
Russian officials reported attacks on a slew of energy facilities, including a fire at Lukoil's (LKOH.MM) NORSI refinery and a drone destroyed on the outskirts of the town of Kirishi, home to Russia's second largest oil refinery." (Reuters : 12 March 2024) (my emphasis)

 

Richard Ashmore : Express : 10 March 2024

As his re-coronation as the Czar of Russia rapidly approaches, and as his navy has suffered devastating defeats  in the Black Sea (cf. Charlie Bradley), Putin has a new headache to contend with

As reported by Ania Nussbaum and Milda Seputyte,

"France received a show of support from Baltic countries and Ukraine after President Emmanuel Macron irked other allies when he left the door open to sending troops to Ukraine.

Lithuania’s Gabrielius Landsbergis, Estonia’s Margus Tsahkna, Latvia’s Krisjanis Karins and Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba praised Macron’s “outside of the box” approach during a joint press conference, after Paris convened a meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Vilnius on Friday.

“What Macron is reminding everyone and bringing again to the forefront is the sense of urgency,” Karins said. “This is what is needed.” (Bloomberg : 8 March 2024) (my emphasis)

Putin's and Medvedev's constant threats about "nuclear" war is now coming to bite them in the behind as the idea of troops from EU countries bilaterally joining Ukraine's forces outside of NATO takes hold amongst other EU members.

Added  to which, Russian wives demonstrating daily for the return of their conscipted husbands from Ukraine may yet prove to be Putin's Achilles heel.  

 

Aljazeera : 12 February 2024 : YouTube

 

(to be continued)

In Ukraine, Winter is now turning into Spring in its war with Putin.

Today, as reported by Guy Faulconbridge (left),

"Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign intelligence chief has said French President Emmanuel Macron's refusal to rule out sending European troops to fight Russian soldiers in Ukraine was extremely dangerous and irresponsible.
...
Asked about Macron's remarks, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence
Service (SVR), the main successor to the KGB's First Directorate foreign spying section, said they were deeply irresponsible." (Reuters : 6 March 2024) (my emphasis)

This response of  Sergei Naryshkin (right) follows on from the report of Warren Murray that,

"Emmanuel Macron (left) has urged Ukraine’s allies not to be “cowards” in supporting its fight against the Russian invasion. He “fully stood behind” remarks made last week not ruling out the deployment of western troops. “We are surely approaching a moment for Europe in which it will be necessary not to be cowards,” the French president said on a visit to the Czech Republic." (The Guardian : 6 March 2024) (my emphasis)

Sky News Australia : 6 March 2024 : YouTube

Was Macron specifically referring to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz when urging Ukraine's EU allies "not to be “cowards” in supporting its fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Andrew Naughtie & Tamsin Paternoster (left) seem to underline this possibility by reporting that,

"Scholz's government has lately been resisting pressure to share one of its most powerful military assets with the Ukrainians just when they need it most.
...
According to Benjamin Tallis, Senior Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations,"Following the Taurus leak, it seems that what Scholz is really afraid of is the weapon's effectiveness. This betrays his position of not wanting Ukraine to win – and it's an approach that lets down all Europeans by making us less safe." (Euronews : 6 March 2024) (my emphasis) 

What further betrays Scholz's position of not wanting Ukraine to win is the recent relocation of 5,000 German troops to Lithuania "amid mounting concerns about a potential attack from Moscow, whose Kaliningrad enclave borders Lithuania, along with its ally Belarus. (Euronews : 29 February 2024) (my emphasis)"

Admittedly, these German troops have been deployed as NATO troops in defence of a NATO member.

But cowering behind NATO's Article 5 as an excuse not to send Taurus  missiles to Ukraine further underscores the argument of Benjamin Tallis that Scholz simply does not want Ukraine to win in its war with Putin.

As was reported by Nathan Rennolds (left),

"German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been criticized for a "flagrant abuse of intelligence" after he appeared to suggest British and French soldiers had been helping Ukraine fire missiles they had supplied.

Scholz made the comments while explaining his reluctance to send Germany's long-range Taurus cruise missile to Ukraine, which he said risked the country becoming directly involved in the war.
...
"What is being done in the way of target control and accompanying target control on the part of the British and the French can't be done in Germany. Everyone who has dealt with this system knows that," he said, The Associated Press reported.

"German soldiers must at no point and in no place be linked to targets this system reaches," he added." (Business Insider : 29 February 2024) (my emphasis)

And whilst Scholz is cowering behind NATOS's Article 5,

• Ukrainian intelligence says seven people have been killed and six more injured after a Russian patrol ship was hit and sunk in a sea drone attack. (Thomas Mackintosh : BBC News : 5 March 2024) (my emphasis)

BBC News : 5 March 2024 : YouTube 

• Ukraine shot down 38 of the 42 Shahed-type attack drones launched by Russia overnight on March 6, the Air Force said in its morning update. (Olena Goncharova : Yahoo News : 6 March 2024) (my emphasis)   
  

• Coalition members funding the short-term purchases [of ammunition for Ukraine] include Britain, Canada, Denmark, the Czech Republic and the United States, among others, Wouda told Reuters."Collectively we have actually found opportunities around the world to find ammunition in other places, outside of Europe," he said, declining to identify those places. (Anthony Deutsch and Jan Lopatka : Reuters : 6 March 2024) (my emphasis) 
  

• Ukraine has hinted that it was responsible for destroying a railway bridge in the Russian region of Samara, some 600 miles from the Ukrainian border. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said in post on messaging site Telegram that the blast had “paralysed” traffic in the area. (Chris Samuel : Express : 4 March 2024) (my emphasis) 
  

• And in a significant political development reported by Joel Gehrke, "India is working to secure the return of citizens who say they were conned into fighting for Russia in the war in Ukraine. “We remain committed, as a matter of top priority, to actively pursuing with the Russian authorities all the relevant cases of Indian nationals for an early discharge from the Russian army,” the Indian External Affairs Ministry said in a Monday statement." (Washington Examiner : 26 February 2024) (my emphasis)

• As also reported by Rebecca Robinson, "A distressing plea has emerged from a group of young men from India who claim to have been deceived into military service in Russia's war against Ukraine.... Subsequently apprehended by Belarusian authorities and handed over to Russian forces, they were coerced into signing undisclosed documents, effectively conscripting them into military service." (Express : 5 March 2024) (my emphasis)

The recent euphoria of Putin and his 'siloviki' over the fall of Avdiivka has now been eclipsed :-

1. by Macron not ruling out the deployment of western troops in Ukraine, 
2. by Scholz being inexorably forced towards supplying Ukraine with Tausus missile, 
3. by Ukraine gaining the momentum in pushing back Putin's forces, 
4. and by the India government pursuing the return of forced Indian conscripts into Putin's army.

In Ukraine, Winter is now turning into Spring in its war with Putin.

 

(to be continued)

 

Putin's 'nuclear' threat against the world underscores his growing fears of defeat.

On the 4th May 2015 I wrote that,

"Putin may be basking in the sunlight of his sky-high popularity ratings at home, but these ratings are as a 'millstone around his neck' since it has shut off any earlier 'exit strategy' of his war with Ukraine from the tangled web of deception that he has so assiduously woven around himself, and by his voracious tapping into that Russian vein of nationalism over his war with Ukraine." (blog entry 4 May 2015)

Fast forward to the 29th February 2024 and, during his annual address to the Russian people,  Zahra Khaliq (right) reports that,

"Russia is fighting against [a decling birth rate] at every level of government and the authorities. It is our religion and our moral values which are to the fore here. Big families must become the norm. In the next six years, we have to achieve a sustainable birth rate," he said, as he announced [at his annual address] extra financial support for larger families." (Daily Mirror : 29 February 2024) (my emphasis) 

WION : January 2024 : YouTube

And as reported by Will Stewart (left),

"This is the cringeworthy moment a Russian state TV presenter announces her plan to get pregnant after Vladimir Putin's call for women [at his annual address to the nation] to give birth to stave off a demographic crisis.

Natalya Litovko, 43, announced she and her husband had been inspired by the Kremlin leader's call in his state-of-the-nation address to fulfil their patriotic duty and procreate." (Mail Online : 29 February 2024) (my emphasis)

Mail Online : 29 February 2024

Following on from Putin exhorting Russian women to have more than 7 children, as did their great-great grandmothers, Lipika Pelham & Lou Newton report that,

"Several Nato countries, including the US, Germany and the UK, have ruled out deploying ground troops to Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron said "nothing should be excluded".

Mr Macron said there was "no consensus" on sending Western soldiers to Ukraine." ( BBC News : 28 February 2024) (my emphasis)).

To which Putin responded,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned NATO against sending its troops to help Ukraine, in an explicit nuclear threat.

"There has been talk of sending NATO contingents to Ukraine. But we remember the fate of those who sent contingents [in the past]. Now the consequences for the interventionists will be much more tragic," Putin said in a speech to Russia's parliament.

"We too have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. This really threatens a conflict with nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilization," he added." ( Denis Leven (left): Politico : 29 February 2024) (my emphasis)

DW News : 29 February 2024 : YouTube

This latest "armageddon" threat of Putin comes close on the heels of, as reported by Nathan Rennolds (left) that,

"German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been criticized for a "flagrant abuse of intelligence" after he appeared to suggest British and French soldiers had been helping Ukraine fire missiles they had supplied.

Scholz made the comments while explaining his reluctance to send Germany's long-range Taurus cruise missile to Ukraine, which he said risked the country becoming directly involved in the war.
...
"What is being done in the way of target control and accompanying target control on the part of the British and the French can't be done in Germany. Everyone who has dealt with this system knows that," he said, The Associated Press reported.

"German soldiers must at no point and in no place be linked to targets this system reaches," he added.

Defense sources told The Telegraph that his comments had increased concerns over the safety of military and diplomatic personnel from the two countries.

Former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace accused Scholz of "not only dangerous use of facts but also often wrong facts." (Business Insider : 29 February 2024) (my emphasis)

As I wrote in my blog entry of 20 February 2015,

"As the Economist (May 10th 2014) pointed out many months ago,

"When Germans add the word Versteher (one who understands) to a term, they generally mix flattery with irony. So a Frauenversteher (one who understands women) is usually a man who boasts excessively about his knowledge of the opposite sex. The label is now being attached to so-called Russlandversteher or Putinversteher: members of the [German] elite or intelligentsia who gush with empathy for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, on talk shows, in journals and at dinner parties." (my emphasis)" (blog entry : 20 February 2015)

Nothing, it would seem, has fundamentally changed in the "Putinversteher" mentality of Germany's SPD political party, as evidenced by the current SPD Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz (left) 'falsely' suggesting that,

"...  British and French soldiers had been helping Ukraine fire missiles they had supplied."

 Is this 'timid' attitude of Scholtz an indicator of just how much German businessmen are trying to protect the billions of Euros that they have invested in Putin's Russia?

It is becoming more obvious by the day that Putin and his 'siloviki' are been forced to throw everything (short of the proverbial 'kitchen sink') at Ukraine to assuage their growing fear of their doomed war with Ukraine. 

Putin's reaction to Macron's threat of  NATO soldiers joining Ukraine in its war with Russia underscores just how great is his fear that his war with Ukraine is doomed.

UPDATE : 3 March 2024

 In a detailed article entitled "Germany’s elites run scared as Putin rains down death on Ukraine", Daniel Johnson (left) writes,

• Not only does Scholz show every sign of being susceptible to this kind of intimidation [i.e. 'nuclear' armageddon being threatened] by Putin, but he probably also believes that his own political survival depends on not angering the Russian bear.

•  Two thirds (66pc) [of Germans] still agree that Ukraine should receive military support, but of those only just over half (54pc) are in favour of restoring Ukraine’s lost territories, while 41pc merely want Russia to be held in check [according to the respected Körber Foundation’s latest poll]

•  Unlike the supine Berlin elites, [German Defence Minister] Pistorius grasps that the military vulnerability of Europe’s largest economy is an open invitation to Russian aggression.

•  A year ago Berlin’s Centre for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy revealed that public approval of pro-Russian narratives in Germany had increased “significantly”, particularly in the formerly communist East.

•  Last October a poll found that 40pc of all Germans at least partially believe Putin’s claim that Nato “provoked” the invasion of Ukraine. In the former East German provinces this figure rises to 59pc.

•  Faced with a fracturing country, Chancellor Scholz is paralysed by fear. Rather than seek to unify his people and provide leadership, he is shrinking. (Daily Telegraph : 3 March 2024) (my emphasis) 
  
  
  

                                                       Scholtz and Putin

 Daniel Johnson's article underscores the fact that the "Putinversteher" mentality detailed in the Economist article of May of 2014 is alive and thriving in Scholz's Germany, at the expense of the people of Ukraine being ruthlessly and continuously bombed by Putin and his 'siloviki'.

 

(to be continued)

The re-coronation of Putin as Czar will not stem the tide of his upcoming defeat by Ukraine.

Finally Putin's handpicked successor has emerged from behind the scenes. Non other than Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council and former head of the FSB (1999 - 2008).

As reported by Max Channon (left),

"Nikolai Patrushev, who is secretary of Russia's Security Council and has been tipped to one day succeed Putin, has previously issued a number of chilling threats aimed at the West.

He remains one of Putin's closest allies and has given multiple interviews justifying the invasion of Ukraine while providing his support to the Kremlin's hardline policies." (Express : 20 February 2024) (my emphasis)

As I wrote in my previous blog entry (02/05/2022),

"We now also learn that, as reported by IANS,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin may be forced to give up control of the war in Ukraine for days as he is set for cancer surgery, and will reportedly nominate hardline former FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev (right) to take temporary control of the invasion while he is under the knife, a Kremlin insider has claimed.
...

Such a move would be surprising since under the Russian constitution, power should pass solely to the Prime Minister [currently Mikhail Mishustin (left)], the Daily Mail reported." (Business Standard : 1 May 2022) (my emphasis) (cf. also :- Mail Online, The Mirror)" (Blog Entry : 2 May 2022)

In light of the increasing escalation of Putin's [Pu-truschev's] indiscriminate bombing in Ukraine, and his 'glove puppet' Dmitry Medvede's recent 'nuclear armageddon' threat, it would be dangerously foolish to assume that were Putin to become even more incapacitated than at present, that Patrushev would would draw back from continuing Putin's aim to restore the "imperial past" of Russia.  

As reported by the Associated Press (AP),

"Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday took a co-pilot’s seat in a nuclear-capable strategic bomber on a flight that appeared aimed at bolstering his image ahead of next month’s election he’s all but certain to win.

Putin’s 30-minute flight in a Tu-160M supersonic strategic bomber also seemed intended to send a reminder of Russia’s nuclear might amid soaring tensions with the West over the fighting in Ukraine." (AP : 22 February 2024) (my emphasis)

AP : 22 February 2024
 

Underlining the increasing tensions between Putin [Pu-truschev] and the West, and as reported by Ciaran McGrath (left),

"A close ally of Vladimir Putin has lashed out at the West, warning his  country was ready to take “revenge” in another deranged rant. Dmitry Medvedev (right), the former President of Russia, vowed this week that there would be no stopping until Ukraine's government was "destroyed."" (Express : 24 February 2024) (my emphasis)

More disconcerting, however, John Leicester reports that,

"Russian forces threatened to shoot down a French surveillance aircraft patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea, a signal of increasingly aggressive behavior from Moscow as its invasion of Ukraine struggles to make headway, French defense officials said Thursday.

“A Russian air traffic control system threatened to shoot down French aircraft in the Black Sea when we were in a free international zone where we patrol,” the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu (left), said on RTL radio." (AP : 22 February 2024) (my emphasis)

It is no wonder, as reported by Max Channon, that,

"Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (right) warned the West it was on the "edge of the abyss" of global conflict sending World War 3 fears soaring.
...
He said it was complete stupidity" to think Russia "is preparing to attack the Baltic countries". It comes just a day after Estonia's Prime Minister claimed the Baltic nation had thwarted a "hybrid operation" on NATO territory by Russian operatives." (Express : 21 February 2024) (my emphasis)

As I stated in my previous blog entry (19/2/2024),

"Putin and his 'siloviki' may have been emboldened by Ukraine's withdrawal from Avdiivka.

But, like his glove-puppet Dmitry Medvedev and his 'siloviki', this temporary euphoria of Putin belies a real fear that time is not on their side. (blog entry 19 February 2024)"

 This fear of Putin [Pu-truschev] and his 'siloviki' has been compounded by, as reported by Alexandra Brzozowski (left) that,

"EU member states on Wednesday (21 February) agreed to ban exports to three mainland Chinese firms and blacklist North Korea’s defence minister in new sanctions for the second anniversary of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
...
It also focuses much of its efforts on enforcing existing restrictions and targets some 200 hundred officials and entities, making it the largest package since the war started.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the agreement by the EU’s 27 countries and said it would further cut “Russia’s access to drones”." (EURACTIV:21 February 2024) (my emphasis)

 Further compounding Putin's [Pu-truschev's] fears, 

• Canada has signalled it's prepared to get behind a Czech Republic initiative to ship tens of thousands of artillery shells from different countries to Ukraine on an urgent basis. (Murray Brewster : CBC : 21 February 2024)
• Italy is set to sign a security agreement with Ukraine to help Kyiv strengthen its defence industry and fight hybrid threats such as cyber warfare, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday. (Angelo Amante : Reuters : 22 February 2024)
• The UK has announced more than 50 further sanctions against Russia ahead of the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions target individuals and businesses sustaining Russian President Vladimir Putin's war effort. (James Gregory : BBC News : 23 February 2024)
• The [US] Treasury Department plans to impose more than 500 new sanctions on Russia and its war machine on Friday as the U.S. vows to keep up its financial pressure on Moscow with the war entering its third grueling year. (Fatima Hussein and Ellen Knickmeyer: Associated Press : 23 February 2024)
• The UK will invest almost £250m in producing artillery shells for Ukraine as it pledges to stand with the country until the end on the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion. (Kate Devlin : The Independent : 24 February 2024)
• and, critically, "U.S. House of Representatives Democrats have begun laying the groundwork for a potential bid to sidestep Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and force a vote on a $95 billion security assistance package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, House aides said on Friday.
  Representative Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, filed legislation on Feb. 15 that could be used as a vehicle for a discharge petition, a rarely used procedural tool that eventually could force a vote on the bill if at least 218 House members - a majority of the chamber's 435 voting members - sign it. (Patricia Zengerle and Michael Martina : Reuters : 24 February 2024)

As Putin [Pu-truschev] is ramping up his indiscrimanate bombing of Ukraine, the US, EU, Canada, Italy, and Great Britain, are ramping up their support of Ukraine in its war with Putin [Pu-truschev].

Putin will, no doubt, be elected Czar of Russia in the 'rigged' upcoming presidential election in Russia.

But Putin's automatic crowning as Czar of Russia will not stem the tide of his defeat by Ukraine.

 

(to be continued)