Putins Schwäche ist tödlich – ich habe den Anfang vom Ende gesehen
Putin’s weakness is terminal – I saw the beginning of the end
Putins Schwäche ist tödlich – ich habe den Anfang vom Ende gesehen
Putin’s weakness is terminal – I saw the beginning of the end
7 Kommentare
Ranks of [Russia’s armed forces lined up before him](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/images-show-how-ukraine-war-going-russia-putin-4401230?ico=in-line_link) on Red Square, [Vladimir Putin](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/taken-putin-soldiers-16-saved-secret-mission-4389088?ico=in-line_link) reminded his audience that this was the nation’s “most important public holiday”. This year, though, with the risk that Ukraine’s forces might decide to strike during the ceremony, it was far less impressive – a scaled-down version of recent years’ grander displays of martial might.
The parade lasted little more than 45 minutes. There were no tanks or missiles.
[Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/deadly-black-rain-attacks-putins-important-industry-4397490?ico=in-line_link) with the skill of the comic actor he once was, even made an impudent attempt to steal Putin’s show. He issued a decree saying he would permit the parade to go ahead, and that Ukrainian weapons would not target Red Square while it did.
I first witnessed the parade in 1995, in a different Europe and a different world. It was the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The Cold War was also over. A new era of peace lay ahead. Leaders from all over the world came to join the ceremony.
Some 26 million citizens of the Soviet Union were killed in the Second World War, known more usually in Russian as the Great Patriotic War. In a country that lived through the fall of the imperial Romanov dynasty, seven decades of Soviet communism and a ruthless form of bandit capitalism in the last century, the defeat of Nazi Germany remains a source of unquestioned pride. No wonder Russians want to remember.
But in recent years, Victory Day has increasingly been about making a statement on contemporary politics: trying to boost patriotic pride at home and send a warning to the West.
I first went to Moscow as a journalist in 1991, in the dying days of the Soviet Union. In the decades that followed, I reported on the economic and political turmoil of the 1990s, Putin’s rise to power and his leading Russia into renewed confrontation with the West.
I watched the Victory parade in person as a correspondent, or via Russian state television’s lavish coverage, at least a dozen times to see what it told us about the state of the country and Putin’s thinking. This year, I made sure I watched, too.
Because this showed just how screwed he is. I don’t see him lasting past this year.
I’m surprised that with the headline that was chosen, the author didn’t mention his poor health.
biggest success, beyond striking oil refinery capacity not production, is a war-time parade?
Let’s see if this changes the tide on the battlefield!
Waiting for a passive end gives Putin too much latitude. Ukraine and the world needs guarantees of his end, and that takes action.
Well I was sutprised ny one stat in todays column by Phillips O’Brien – that in April the Ukrainians actually fired 7500 ranged weapons which was, for the first time more than the number that Russia fired (6500).
The Ukrainians were able to accurately strike long distance targets like a 60ft missile ship in the Caspian as well as specific critical parts of refineries.
The more interesting point that O’Brien made in an interview with Bill Kristol was to watch for inreasing ability of Ukr mid-range attacks of 150 to 300km which could really limit the ability of Ru to re-suplly their forces.
I know in my heart the overthrow Putin will not end well for Ukraine and perhaps Europe. Most people are very naive about how evil the human being can be when they’re desperate. Look at the fiend and ask yourself „would he just step down without pushing the nuclear buttons?“.