Of course the rumour he's dead is out there. Loads of links to it and even the New Statesman reporting it.
The mainstream media all reporting what Zelensky has said.
It's a not so subtle way of repeating the rumour.
Really hope it's true of course.
The end?
- Thread starter borolad259
- Start date
The mainstream media all reporting what Zelensky has said.
It's a not so subtle way of repeating the rumour.
Really hope it's true of course.
Druss_The_Legend
Well-known member
When Putin does die Russia will be very lucky if it avoids some form of civil war. What I have read he has been running the the country almost like a mafia boss, with different lower factions kept separate and untrusting of each other, with any of the faction leader getting above themselves then they seem to have fatal accidents. When he does die there will be several factions with nobody to control them and years of mistrust between factions.
The closest I can think of(off the top of my head) is The year of the four Emperor's in Rome, although Nero was toppled from power it still left four powerful factions to fight between themselves for who would be Emperor.
I am not sure if Putin is still alive or not, but I get the feeling that NATO know something is happening in Russia at the minute hence the huge upturn in support for Ukraine. I am getting similar vibes as this time last year when NATO knew Russia was about to invade.
It may be that it has been almost a year since Russia invaded Ukraine and Ukraine have more than proven that they can hold there own on many different battlefields so NATO are more willing to offer support in time for the Spring offensive, or it could be that something is in the wind politically in Russia.
**This is obviously just my opinion on things, I'm not a military man I am probably way off the mark on this, but I have always had an interest in the military and spent years learning about military and conflicts but mainly pre 20th century military history**
The closest I can think of(off the top of my head) is The year of the four Emperor's in Rome, although Nero was toppled from power it still left four powerful factions to fight between themselves for who would be Emperor.
I am not sure if Putin is still alive or not, but I get the feeling that NATO know something is happening in Russia at the minute hence the huge upturn in support for Ukraine. I am getting similar vibes as this time last year when NATO knew Russia was about to invade.
It may be that it has been almost a year since Russia invaded Ukraine and Ukraine have more than proven that they can hold there own on many different battlefields so NATO are more willing to offer support in time for the Spring offensive, or it could be that something is in the wind politically in Russia.
**This is obviously just my opinion on things, I'm not a military man I am probably way off the mark on this, but I have always had an interest in the military and spent years learning about military and conflicts but mainly pre 20th century military history**
I've told the story on here before of what happened to the family of a Russian friend of mine.
Her dad had a successful medium sized business in Moscow and one day he got a legal letter from an individual making a completely ficticious claim on his business. He was 'connected'.
It went to the courts which is basically just another arm of the ruling mafia and he lost.
They just took it over, everything, The lot.
Thankfully they got out and she's done really well, now a Senior Manager in an O&G organistion but here parents have never recovered from it.
As you say. It's just one huge Mafia.
How on earth would you ever be able to turn that around when it has so much become part of the culture and worse, just accpeted by the populace as normal.
I think I posted last week that part of the Chinese document for friendship with the EU was an undertaking to co-operate with the West in securing the Russian nuclear arsenal.
But it's certainly an issue if Russia breaks up and unpleasant factions can get their hands on it.
Ravs
Well-known member
Ingleby_Flash
Well-known member
The problem with an ‘ex Putin’ is that they may replace him with someone who is actually competent.
Ingleby_Flash
Well-known member
Doesn’t mean they’re not going
Our man doesn't care much for Germany. He titled this rant "Traitors".
"It is well known that the two previous German leaders was paid by Russia in the way of receiving cosy and high paid jobs directly after resigning in Gazprom and Nordstream. This is a fact.
There is good reason to believe that the same is true for the current one.
Among other NATO countries and EU-members it is becoming abundantly clear that Germany under the current leadership is a bad actor.
Germany today blocked transfer of any Leopard II tank indefinitely.
It is also unclear if Germany in the future will send any further military aid to Ukraine.
This has been a long going issue with Germany.
Something that we have known since 2014-02-27...
On that day armed Swedish Soldiers stormed the German owned ThyssenKrupp Kockum Shipyard in Sweden due to Germany on proven Russian instigation was blocking Sweden from purchasing new submarines.
Sweden took back all designs, tooling, and technology from ThyssenKrupp, and crushed the company permanently via financial means.
The shipyard itself was transfered directly to SAABs Naval Division, and submarine construction quickly commenced.
At the time this stunned the world.
The mistake we did back then was that we never stated exactly why.
The stalling and hindrance was done on direct orders of Angela Merkel.
Further investigations gave at hand that she was working on behalf of Vladimir Putin directly, and had been doing so for quite some time.
We informed the UK and the US about this.
It has seen soured the relations, and to this date Germany is not a part of the intelligence network.
I am stating this as a backdrop to what has been going on behind the scenes, and in the open, in regards of Germanys recalcitrance to send weapons.
This has caused among others Poland to seek other suppliers of tanks and other weapons systems, hence Polands orders of Korean K2 tanks and US Abrams.
It is also the reason that Germany no longer has any new defence equipment contracts.
This is why Poland has secured a contract previously with BAE Hägglunds for production of spare parts for their tanks, and with SAAB Bofors Dynamics for 120mm NATO tank shells.
They are thusly in the position that they can break the contract permanently with Rheinmetall AG.
Same is obviously true also for Sweden and Finland.
Others will obviously move rapidly into the same type of agreements now.
Abrams
There is a huge drawback to the Abrams, they use gas turbine engines running on Avgas, jet engine fuel.
Ukraine can't realistically handle that huge volume of a new fuel, this is why we fought to the bitter end to try to Free the Leopards from Germany.
Neither Poland, Sweden or Finland can let go of a larger number of tanks.
Poland is still waiting for the Abrams and K2s.
Finland has nothing on order.
Sweden is just starting a new development for Sweden and Finland.
A workaround is being negotiated as I am writing.
I am only partially privvy to the details.
One thing is clear, Poland is to immediately transfer 2 Leopard IIs just to **** on Germany and to break the contract.
What is discussed is that the US will transfer used Abrams on hand to Poland, but Poland can't send tanks at speed until their crews are retrained.
Same sorts of deals are also discussed with Sweden and Finland.
But... Time...
It has therefore been lifted that for a short duration US crewed Abrams tanks will take over the tank part of the Defence of these 3 countries.
That would free up rapidly hundreds of tanks that are free from Germany.
How bad is the situation with Germany?
Let me just say that it is closer that Germany will openly side with Russia in the war, than they are to freeing any Leopards for Ukraine.
The only good part is that we now have it in the open that Germany is a bad actor.
And Scholz is now as persona non-grata as Victor Orban... and Germany is about to be isolated from any military cooperation."
johnmfc
Member
Germany going to send patriots though.
I wonder if the marder with anti tank missiles is comparable to the CV90s don't think they really need the heavy armour if they have enough of the decent infantry support vehicles combined with the armour they currently have? Also these self propelled artillery look very useful too.
I wonder if the marder with anti tank missiles is comparable to the CV90s don't think they really need the heavy armour if they have enough of the decent infantry support vehicles combined with the armour they currently have? Also these self propelled artillery look very useful too.
TeessideCleveland
Well-known member
What about the Chinese weapons that were supposed to be going through Pakistan ?
As for Germany....what are they thinking of?
That was largely munitions. Still happening as far as I know.
Lefty
Well-known member
Must take a while to get from China to Pakistan and Pakistan to Ukraine.
The German people appear to have realised that their leaders are Russian assets.
Borotommo
Well-known member
Magnificent. This is solidarity
Druss_The_Legend
Well-known member
The thing is if(and it is a very big if!) Russia some how defeated Ukraine the chances of some kind of incident that could trigger article 5 are more and more likely, the closer the fighting gets to the NATO borders the chances of an incident which could trigger article 5 increase. Surely it is in the best interest of all NATO members to do as much as they can to stop any kind of escalation where an article 5 could be a likely scenario.
If Germany are so against giving there own tanks then give permission for X amount of tanks to be given from other NATO members.
Not only is it morally wrong having seen the evidence of war crimes commited in Ukraine not to give them the tools to defend themselves and push the illegal occupier's from Ukraine, but from even a selfish point of view in the West by pushing Russia out of Ukraine it lessens the chances of article 5 being triggered which would likely lead to A World war type conflict.
If Germany are so against giving there own tanks then give permission for X amount of tanks to be given from other NATO members.
Not only is it morally wrong having seen the evidence of war crimes commited in Ukraine not to give them the tools to defend themselves and push the illegal occupier's from Ukraine, but from even a selfish point of view in the West by pushing Russia out of Ukraine it lessens the chances of article 5 being triggered which would likely lead to A World war type conflict.
Well this one is a biggie. And a couple of gems for the fans of his Swenglish.
"Before going to the Russian Offensive that started today, I will make an addendum to Germany's problem.
We have presented evidence of the German Defence Minister Pistorius receiving payments to Russian sources to NATO this evening.
Germany stated today that they would give weapons to a value of 1 billion Euro. Evidence was rapidly presented during the meeting that this was just so much bogus.
The good thing is that the German population is waking up, and they seem to be quite miffed with having been turned into the cuckolds of the free world.
There are massive protests outside of the Bundestag in Berlin. The protestors have surrounded the building and there are bonfires where people are burning their membership cards of the Social Democrats. Many are crying, and they are all demanding the resignation of the government.
I think the Germans will solve their issues, and I am not mad about the people, I am though roaring ****-firedly hopping mad about their government.
Other governments are rapidly stepping up to the plate, and many of them have pledged substantial amounts of heavy weapons, and promised even more in the coming week.
France is working on clearing Leqlercs, and a coallition of nations are now working on circumventing Germany alltogether on the Leopards.
But, the Netherlands took the lead in a new and unexpected direction.
First they pledged a SECOND patriot system, this takes it to 3 (it would have been four, but as per usual the German one will not arrive). This was done to cover for the German one.
Secondly they promised to send F-16s, this opened the door in a completely differend and completely German-free direction.
Ukraine has been drooling after fighters and attack aircraft, but even they knew it was probably not gonna be, and that they would get tanks instead.
Remind me to hug a feckin' blue airplane, or something else of Dutch origin. Or bathe in Hollandaise sauce.
This is after all something that can be given in the hundreds if needed.
There is also some serious talk now of providing Ukraine with real long range capacity.
We sent a few Gungnirs to have them tested, and they worked very well.
So, we are talking about sending more of those, many more...
And there is now serious talk about providing Tomahawks.
Just a couple of hundred of G&T together with the large amount of GBSDBs will do a huge difference.
On top of that large quantities of Bradley's and CV90s and equivalents will be sent in future packages.
In reality with what has been pledged in the last few weeks, and what was pledged today, Ukraine will be in a far better spot to perform the spring offensive successfully.
Moscow
In a sign of confidence The Russian High Command is dumping Pantzir trucks all over, on top of, and around, Moscow.
We are talking about Dozens of them. One was put on top of the Defence Ministry itself, and the other on Medvedevs front lawn...
If your 3 day Special Military Operation ends up with you on the 330th day are puting Pantzirs all around to try to stop your enemy blowing up your capital, then something has gone spectacularly wrong.
Putin
I have extensively written that Putin had been poisoned and was being treated in Sochii, and that he has not left from there since.
We had this confirmed by different Russian sources.
Problem is that we have now not heard from Putin for more than two weeks. Not a single call has been made to any other ministers or department heads from Sochii. And we are certain he has not left the place.
This obviously answers why the messages from the "Putins" have been so disjointed.
We now believe that he is either in a coma, or is dead, with the latter being the working theory.
Ukraine is now openly claiming that Putin is dead.
Even Zelenskyy claimed it in an interview.
If he is alive he will by now have a huge honking problem proving that he is the real deal, and that he is indeed alive.
Before anyone would negotiate with, or meet a Putin, that Putin would have to provide DNA proof of being alive.
And yes, West has that on file.
The downside though is that we would not be seeing Putin staring in the upcoming trials.
Russian Offensive.
Calling it a spring offensive is a bit missing that it is still winter, so let us go with just offensive.
I would say that the Soledar/Bakhmut push was the start of the offensive, but that it was so limited that we did almost not notice.
Bakhmut failed as per usual, and Soledar was not a big win.
But, today the Russians roared forth from an unexpected direction, in Zhaporizhzhia.
After having been weakened for a couple of months by Ukrainian pinpoint artillery and Himars, and without receiving any reinforcements to speak of, Russia decided that it was a very good idea to run across fields with soldiers in the open, and limited amounts of BMPs and even fewer tanks.
So ran they did, mostly into surprised Ukrainian heavy units getting ready for their push. And they where amply reinforced and had a lot of gear.
Just on pure confusion Russia has taken 7 small villages, but rapidly the Ukrainians got the idea, and started making Vatnikstew of them.
The Russian offensive seems to have mostly stalled out, but more waves are seen coming.
It is turning into Bakhmut on steroids.
Why does Russia do this?
Well, I think they now understand that Ukraine will have a completely different level of equipment in a few weeks, complete with new classes of weapons.
So, we think that Russia jumped the gun on even their own planed offensive to try to gain some ground prior to the Ukrainian Spring Offensive.
Instead of the much touted massive 200 000 plus 500 000 men northern offensive, they instead seem to resort to a few smaller ones all over.
And the one from Belarus might even be cancelled, there are early signs that the Russians are packing up and moving out equipment eastwards. That one would only ever work if Belarus played ball, but that ball seems to be severely deflated.
We think those are going to Luhansk to produce a counter offensive before it is to late.
There is also the possibility that it is politically motivated, Russia trying to gain a little bit more before starting negotiations.
This would fit in well with Russia not having a President.
In the end, yes Russia will gain a little ground for now while Ukraine is building up their quite substantially more massive spring offensive.
It was due to be more massive before the weapons pledges in the last week, and it might happen prior to most even having arrived, but the new weapons that do arrive will make a clear difference.
Politics of Russia
I am still thinking about the Lavrov of yesterday that sat with Lukashenka.
It was quite the Lavrov of old, steel eyes, firm in how he sat, owning the room.
It was a far cry from the sickly hasbeen drunkard I met.
Something has changed, somehow he is relevant again.
Peskov emerging as a diplomat is also a huge change.
He is also acting like he has cast off a huge weight, and have a new purpose in life.
He is soon about to meet Kuleba again.
Naryshkin is smiling beatifically, not a pleasant sight indeed.
And he is about to meet Burns again.
And... why is there a Pantzir system on Medvedev's lawn, and none on Putin's a few kilometres down the road?
Not even pretending to protect an empty building full of "Putins" is kind of an interesting optic.
I say that something has changed in Russia.
"We do not even know who to talk to, we have clear indications that Putin is dead" (President Zelenskyy)
Kreminna/Svatove
Russia today tried to break through the encirclement to supply Kreminna with ammunition and new soldiers, it failed.
The fighting is very hard, but slow progress is being made.
My favourite colonel is happily waiting for her Command CV90, it is my old one, it is freshly painted, and I put a gift in it before it trundled away.
I arranged permission so that I could transfer my For Bravery in the Field in gold with swords to her.
I have also, together with 3 other command staff officers, recommended that she will become a Knight-Commander of the Order of the Sword from our King.
It is the highest honour that anyone can receive who is not an active head of government.
"For exceptional and brave defence of Swedish interests abroad".
There is nobody living that has been inducted into the Order of the Sword.
It has been received well by the Court.
What one does not do for exceptional students...
Now she better bloody survive."
"Before going to the Russian Offensive that started today, I will make an addendum to Germany's problem.
We have presented evidence of the German Defence Minister Pistorius receiving payments to Russian sources to NATO this evening.
Germany stated today that they would give weapons to a value of 1 billion Euro. Evidence was rapidly presented during the meeting that this was just so much bogus.
The good thing is that the German population is waking up, and they seem to be quite miffed with having been turned into the cuckolds of the free world.
There are massive protests outside of the Bundestag in Berlin. The protestors have surrounded the building and there are bonfires where people are burning their membership cards of the Social Democrats. Many are crying, and they are all demanding the resignation of the government.
I think the Germans will solve their issues, and I am not mad about the people, I am though roaring ****-firedly hopping mad about their government.
Other governments are rapidly stepping up to the plate, and many of them have pledged substantial amounts of heavy weapons, and promised even more in the coming week.
France is working on clearing Leqlercs, and a coallition of nations are now working on circumventing Germany alltogether on the Leopards.
But, the Netherlands took the lead in a new and unexpected direction.
First they pledged a SECOND patriot system, this takes it to 3 (it would have been four, but as per usual the German one will not arrive). This was done to cover for the German one.
Secondly they promised to send F-16s, this opened the door in a completely differend and completely German-free direction.
Ukraine has been drooling after fighters and attack aircraft, but even they knew it was probably not gonna be, and that they would get tanks instead.
Remind me to hug a feckin' blue airplane, or something else of Dutch origin. Or bathe in Hollandaise sauce.
This is after all something that can be given in the hundreds if needed.
There is also some serious talk now of providing Ukraine with real long range capacity.
We sent a few Gungnirs to have them tested, and they worked very well.
So, we are talking about sending more of those, many more...
And there is now serious talk about providing Tomahawks.
Just a couple of hundred of G&T together with the large amount of GBSDBs will do a huge difference.
On top of that large quantities of Bradley's and CV90s and equivalents will be sent in future packages.
In reality with what has been pledged in the last few weeks, and what was pledged today, Ukraine will be in a far better spot to perform the spring offensive successfully.
Moscow
In a sign of confidence The Russian High Command is dumping Pantzir trucks all over, on top of, and around, Moscow.
We are talking about Dozens of them. One was put on top of the Defence Ministry itself, and the other on Medvedevs front lawn...
If your 3 day Special Military Operation ends up with you on the 330th day are puting Pantzirs all around to try to stop your enemy blowing up your capital, then something has gone spectacularly wrong.
Putin
I have extensively written that Putin had been poisoned and was being treated in Sochii, and that he has not left from there since.
We had this confirmed by different Russian sources.
Problem is that we have now not heard from Putin for more than two weeks. Not a single call has been made to any other ministers or department heads from Sochii. And we are certain he has not left the place.
This obviously answers why the messages from the "Putins" have been so disjointed.
We now believe that he is either in a coma, or is dead, with the latter being the working theory.
Ukraine is now openly claiming that Putin is dead.
Even Zelenskyy claimed it in an interview.
If he is alive he will by now have a huge honking problem proving that he is the real deal, and that he is indeed alive.
Before anyone would negotiate with, or meet a Putin, that Putin would have to provide DNA proof of being alive.
And yes, West has that on file.
The downside though is that we would not be seeing Putin staring in the upcoming trials.
Russian Offensive.
Calling it a spring offensive is a bit missing that it is still winter, so let us go with just offensive.
I would say that the Soledar/Bakhmut push was the start of the offensive, but that it was so limited that we did almost not notice.
Bakhmut failed as per usual, and Soledar was not a big win.
But, today the Russians roared forth from an unexpected direction, in Zhaporizhzhia.
After having been weakened for a couple of months by Ukrainian pinpoint artillery and Himars, and without receiving any reinforcements to speak of, Russia decided that it was a very good idea to run across fields with soldiers in the open, and limited amounts of BMPs and even fewer tanks.
So ran they did, mostly into surprised Ukrainian heavy units getting ready for their push. And they where amply reinforced and had a lot of gear.
Just on pure confusion Russia has taken 7 small villages, but rapidly the Ukrainians got the idea, and started making Vatnikstew of them.
The Russian offensive seems to have mostly stalled out, but more waves are seen coming.
It is turning into Bakhmut on steroids.
Why does Russia do this?
Well, I think they now understand that Ukraine will have a completely different level of equipment in a few weeks, complete with new classes of weapons.
So, we think that Russia jumped the gun on even their own planed offensive to try to gain some ground prior to the Ukrainian Spring Offensive.
Instead of the much touted massive 200 000 plus 500 000 men northern offensive, they instead seem to resort to a few smaller ones all over.
And the one from Belarus might even be cancelled, there are early signs that the Russians are packing up and moving out equipment eastwards. That one would only ever work if Belarus played ball, but that ball seems to be severely deflated.
We think those are going to Luhansk to produce a counter offensive before it is to late.
There is also the possibility that it is politically motivated, Russia trying to gain a little bit more before starting negotiations.
This would fit in well with Russia not having a President.
In the end, yes Russia will gain a little ground for now while Ukraine is building up their quite substantially more massive spring offensive.
It was due to be more massive before the weapons pledges in the last week, and it might happen prior to most even having arrived, but the new weapons that do arrive will make a clear difference.
Politics of Russia
I am still thinking about the Lavrov of yesterday that sat with Lukashenka.
It was quite the Lavrov of old, steel eyes, firm in how he sat, owning the room.
It was a far cry from the sickly hasbeen drunkard I met.
Something has changed, somehow he is relevant again.
Peskov emerging as a diplomat is also a huge change.
He is also acting like he has cast off a huge weight, and have a new purpose in life.
He is soon about to meet Kuleba again.
Naryshkin is smiling beatifically, not a pleasant sight indeed.
And he is about to meet Burns again.
And... why is there a Pantzir system on Medvedev's lawn, and none on Putin's a few kilometres down the road?
Not even pretending to protect an empty building full of "Putins" is kind of an interesting optic.
I say that something has changed in Russia.
"We do not even know who to talk to, we have clear indications that Putin is dead" (President Zelenskyy)
Kreminna/Svatove
Russia today tried to break through the encirclement to supply Kreminna with ammunition and new soldiers, it failed.
The fighting is very hard, but slow progress is being made.
My favourite colonel is happily waiting for her Command CV90, it is my old one, it is freshly painted, and I put a gift in it before it trundled away.
I arranged permission so that I could transfer my For Bravery in the Field in gold with swords to her.
I have also, together with 3 other command staff officers, recommended that she will become a Knight-Commander of the Order of the Sword from our King.
It is the highest honour that anyone can receive who is not an active head of government.
"For exceptional and brave defence of Swedish interests abroad".
There is nobody living that has been inducted into the Order of the Sword.
It has been received well by the Court.
What one does not do for exceptional students...
Now she better bloody survive."