Not trying to insult any of the readerships intelligence and I assume most everyone gets what the post is saying but for anyone semi new here they mean that the Kremlins attempt to present Prigozhins villa as proof of his unique evil fell totally flat because everyone in Russia expected exactly this from both Prigozhin and the Kremlin. The FSB leaking the photos are working on behalf of people just like Prigozhin. They are trying to stir up the peasants against Prigozhin while treating him way better than they treat the peasants. Its total meltdown and just proving to the peasantry that their overlords are hapless idiots and hypocrites. If you are waging a war for antifa values than why is your Hitler walking free and having his loot returned?
As for Strelkovs anger I dont know anymore. What is this?
Strelkov is right about Prigozhin in principle but would Mozgovi have really rallied around the St Petersburg gang and advocated for shooting everyone in Wagner? By Strelkovs logic here shouldn't all the troops who stood aside for Wagner also be shot? How does the Shoigu clan and Kremlin who Strelkov is also at odds with here not win out and become further entrenched if we follow his advice? Doesn't this amount to rallying around Mozgovis murderers to spite Beregs murderers? Whats going on here?
Arent the peasants who are just making memes about the shit show and laughing at naked emperor more correct here than Strelkov even?
Strelkov isnt doing himself any favours with this sort of inconsistency, lots of people are recognizing it and its going to cost him allot of the capital he has built up as far as being incorruptible and trustworthy. Its seriously the Z version of the liberal/nationalist fiasco, tying the angry patriots to the novipops and Oligarchs for the greater good.
I'm telling you i think this inconsistency is because someone is yanking at his chain. That usually explains most such inconsistencies - someone is either being paid or coerced to be inconsistent.
I guess that would fall under promising him something. We promise White hats will arrest Shoigu and Nabiullina, deport the Churkas etc if you just demand the destruction of Wagner.
If its something like that than imo the real goal wouldnt be setting up a Russian Q-anon but rather an attempt to discredit Strelkov himself by getting him to White Knight for MoD while demanding the blood of Wagner. That has the potential to split the patriot/Nationalist community in Russia just like getting the 1488 crowd to White Knight for liberals split up the Russian WNs.
The Populist Delusion is a relevant, up to date and well written little book which explains much about the nature of power. Rolo might do well to peruse it before issuing a second edition of his own book.
As Barzoom tells us, that worked out sooooo well for the Red Indians!
Trump fever, Qanon, 'trust the plan', praising the Lord without having any ammunition to pass, that sort of thing has been the modern equivalent. Oh yes, and 'Vote Harder'.
I found a long discussion after his Ghost Dance article. It demonstrated for me that many Americans still believe they really can put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Rolo, I think maybe Simplicius has been reading your stuff. On his latest sitrep, he has a Russian public opinion poll showing that Shoigu has a 62% approval rating, while only about 20% hate him. "This should put to bed any specious narratives from the 2D bloggers that Shoigu is 'universally hated' by Russians".
I don't know why you even care what the peasants and peasant soldiers think, anyhow.
>What I had said was that amongst the regular populace, Shoigu is not really a controversial figure. He’s not particularly liked or disliked simply because he’s not a ‘loud’ personality who takes the limelight. He does his job quietly and rarely has any scandals other than the minor thing with his daughter, which is not even his own scandal.
Holy and moley.
Shoigu's son in law was a large scandal. It was barely surpressed by the Russian media.
Shoigu is an extremely LOUD personality. He was a voracious media hog. He went quiet during the SMO out of shame.
Again, does this idiot even speak Russian? Who defends Shoigu's honor who isn't being paid to do so? Need I even state the obvious that Tuvans are hated generally by Russians and for good reason? Do Russians approve of his huge mansions and all the money his MoD steals and spends on luxury goods in Europe?
And yet, the swine gobble his offering of disinfo down and beg for more!
I can't believe that this is the hill the ZAnons want to die on: defending the most corrupt and inept man in Russia's honor. Wow. They must be getting paid well to grit their teeth and pretend that they like the Tuvan gangster.
I also saw an internet poll that put him at 9% approval.
Seeing as old-timers who watch TV and believe it would like Shoigu and those with internet connection would not, this seems to explain a lot of the discrepancy.
Again, in my patriot milieu, NO ONE likes the plywood fake general.
Simplicius isn't Russian, doesn't speak Russian and is a former saker employee (a bullshitter).
Polling is never easy. In the USA, people (and especially Republicans) are more and more reluctant to admit their political views to random strangers on the phone. So when the polls disagree radically with election outcomes (as they almost always do), nobody knows for sure whether it's because the polls are bad, or because the elections are being stolen.
It must be a big problem in Russia too? Do people feel safe to admit if they don't like Shoigu, or Putin himself?
On the other hand, if you ask your 'patriot' friends, or post a poll on a website, you'll also get a biased sample. 91% of Strelkov fans hate Shoigu? Surprise surprise.
Maybe we can agree that nobody should like Shoigu, if they do their research? Although I would be curious what you think of Simplicius's other point, which is that however bad Shoigu might be, Serdyukov was a lot worse. Also (I think he would add): Shoigu's troops are holding the line against the Ukrainian offensive, at least for the moment; so again, the situation could be worse.
Damn , what a can of worms. I assume the Ukrainian side is also racked with all this oligarch warfare as well. The impression I got from watching RT a coup[le of years back , was that of a strong cohesive military/ government partnership in Russia. However with the start of the SMO it soon became obvious that there is as much hubris on the Russian side as the Western side. It is painful to think about how many people are losing their lives and limbs in this madness. Willy OAM has some great interviews with foreign fighters on the Uky side and also from the Russian side. It is clear that the UKY'S are getting flogged pretty badly and have a lot of the same issues as the Russian side. It seems from watching a few of the interviews that the Ukranians are being bled dry and Russia is slowly getting it's shit together on their supply and tactical issues.
I think it is the opposite. Ukraine is gaining a larger and more experienced army and getting more and more equipment while Russia has less strength than when the war started. This could be remedied by introducing a war economy of course, but Nabiullina would never allow it.
Have a listen to some of this, a professional Australian soldier describing his experiences advising and training in Ukraine , he is fairly pessimistic about Ukraine's abilities to survive.
One autocrat: how would you feel it he turned out to be Shoigu? Authoritarianism is totally compatible with corruption. As with most absolutes (here an absolute dictator), you should be careful what you wish for.
Justice for Mozgovoi.
I found this analysis of the Prigozhin drama to be spot on:
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘻𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘶𝘹𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘨𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘳.
𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 “𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴” 𝘢𝘯𝘥 “𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘴” (𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮), 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘸 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘴. "𝘐𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘥" 𝘰𝘳 "𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬".
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘛𝘝 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘻𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘳 (𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯), 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘥, 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵.
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵.
https://t.me/podled/9619
Not trying to insult any of the readerships intelligence and I assume most everyone gets what the post is saying but for anyone semi new here they mean that the Kremlins attempt to present Prigozhins villa as proof of his unique evil fell totally flat because everyone in Russia expected exactly this from both Prigozhin and the Kremlin. The FSB leaking the photos are working on behalf of people just like Prigozhin. They are trying to stir up the peasants against Prigozhin while treating him way better than they treat the peasants. Its total meltdown and just proving to the peasantry that their overlords are hapless idiots and hypocrites. If you are waging a war for antifa values than why is your Hitler walking free and having his loot returned?
As for Strelkovs anger I dont know anymore. What is this?
https://t.me/apwagner/9550
Strelkov is right about Prigozhin in principle but would Mozgovi have really rallied around the St Petersburg gang and advocated for shooting everyone in Wagner? By Strelkovs logic here shouldn't all the troops who stood aside for Wagner also be shot? How does the Shoigu clan and Kremlin who Strelkov is also at odds with here not win out and become further entrenched if we follow his advice? Doesn't this amount to rallying around Mozgovis murderers to spite Beregs murderers? Whats going on here?
Arent the peasants who are just making memes about the shit show and laughing at naked emperor more correct here than Strelkov even?
Strelkov's bizarre position on this makes sense if we factor in his FSB loyalty.
Strelkov isnt doing himself any favours with this sort of inconsistency, lots of people are recognizing it and its going to cost him allot of the capital he has built up as far as being incorruptible and trustworthy. Its seriously the Z version of the liberal/nationalist fiasco, tying the angry patriots to the novipops and Oligarchs for the greater good.
I'm telling you i think this inconsistency is because someone is yanking at his chain. That usually explains most such inconsistencies - someone is either being paid or coerced to be inconsistent.
Not disagreement but it means they either really have something on Strelkov, are paying him, or are promising him something. All bad news.
I think he's being psyoped into a "white hats working secretly in the gubmint" type Qanon/Operation Trust scheme.
I guess that would fall under promising him something. We promise White hats will arrest Shoigu and Nabiullina, deport the Churkas etc if you just demand the destruction of Wagner.
If its something like that than imo the real goal wouldnt be setting up a Russian Q-anon but rather an attempt to discredit Strelkov himself by getting him to White Knight for MoD while demanding the blood of Wagner. That has the potential to split the patriot/Nationalist community in Russia just like getting the 1488 crowd to White Knight for liberals split up the Russian WNs.
Oligarchs must always have a king, and king must be kept weak.
Nice one. Thank you Rolo.
Thanks for the great article.
The Populist Delusion is a relevant, up to date and well written little book which explains much about the nature of power. Rolo might do well to peruse it before issuing a second edition of his own book.
https://the-rdk.github.io/books/populist_delusion.pdf
One may wonder whether Belarus and Wagner may provide some opposition to the oligarchic managerialists of Russia.
Its a good book, but I haven't finished it.
Any good conclusions?
Page 68 shows why TPTB are so focussed on hating white people - although Schlomo's role is barely mentioned.
'The moment of truth for any regime will come at the moment in which
ideological ‘soft power’ is stripped away and it must use repressive force to
crush its opposition. Hesitancy on the part of Power at the hour of decision—
whether through a failure of nerve in the leadership or a failure in confidence
on the part of their generals—will seal their fate if rival aristocrats exploit
popular discontent.
What is the benefit of reading Jouvenel? What can he give us that we cannot
find in the elite theorists or in Schmitt? I believe he gives us a dynamic model
of change that is somewhat taken for granted in the other thinkers. Mosca
discusses the tendency towards feudalism or towards bureaucratisation but
does not explain how a society transitions from one state to the next, or
indeed, why; Jouvenel does. Pareto outlines his circulation of elites, and the
predominance of foxes or lions in the ruling class, but he does not give us the
exact mechanism through which this happens; Jouvenel does. Schmitt states
that every sovereign must declare its friends and enemies, but Jouvenel
provides a rationale for who might be the sovereign’s enemy at any given
point. For example, in 2021, the US Federal Government—the public face of
the aforementioned syndicalist nexus of finance, corporations, and NGOs—
has declared that ‘white supremacists’ constitute the highest terrorist threat to
the country; former President George W. Bush even argued they belong in
the same breath as ISIS and that, in a statement as Schmittian as any ever
uttered, ‘bigotry and white supremacy are “blasphemy” against the American
creed.’34 The media daily propagandises against ‘white privilege’, explains why
white people are ‘the problem’. But why would Power focus so heavily on this
group, ‘white people’? It is because it comprises people who are independent
of the state, would-be aristocrats, subsidiaries in potential, and even a few truly
independent institutions, and therefore represents the largest threat to its
hegemony. This was embodied in the hated figure of Donald Trump, but
since he was banished from the airwaves and social media, now it must take
the form of a direct attack on the disobedient people themselves, especially if
they have refused the vaccination against the pandemic which is a very
convenient proxy marker of ‘friend’ or ‘enemy’ to Power. Jouvenel as a guide
would tell us two things: first, one way or the other, the hour of decision will
come; second, whatever order exists after this hour of decision will grant no
more ‘liberty’ than what came before—the game stays the same, only the
players change.'
The answer for "what to do" is to do a white ghost dance.
As Barzoom tells us, that worked out sooooo well for the Red Indians!
Trump fever, Qanon, 'trust the plan', praising the Lord without having any ammunition to pass, that sort of thing has been the modern equivalent. Oh yes, and 'Vote Harder'.
you should see my note on this. the ghost man dance is a long discussion that ive been having with JC for a while now. seriously, read what i wrote.
I found a long discussion after his Ghost Dance article. It demonstrated for me that many Americans still believe they really can put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Rolo, I think maybe Simplicius has been reading your stuff. On his latest sitrep, he has a Russian public opinion poll showing that Shoigu has a 62% approval rating, while only about 20% hate him. "This should put to bed any specious narratives from the 2D bloggers that Shoigu is 'universally hated' by Russians".
I don't know why you even care what the peasants and peasant soldiers think, anyhow.
>What I had said was that amongst the regular populace, Shoigu is not really a controversial figure. He’s not particularly liked or disliked simply because he’s not a ‘loud’ personality who takes the limelight. He does his job quietly and rarely has any scandals other than the minor thing with his daughter, which is not even his own scandal.
Holy and moley.
Shoigu's son in law was a large scandal. It was barely surpressed by the Russian media.
Shoigu is an extremely LOUD personality. He was a voracious media hog. He went quiet during the SMO out of shame.
Again, does this idiot even speak Russian? Who defends Shoigu's honor who isn't being paid to do so? Need I even state the obvious that Tuvans are hated generally by Russians and for good reason? Do Russians approve of his huge mansions and all the money his MoD steals and spends on luxury goods in Europe?
And yet, the swine gobble his offering of disinfo down and beg for more!
I saw a poll putting Shoigu in the 40% range.
I can't believe that this is the hill the ZAnons want to die on: defending the most corrupt and inept man in Russia's honor. Wow. They must be getting paid well to grit their teeth and pretend that they like the Tuvan gangster.
I also saw an internet poll that put him at 9% approval.
Seeing as old-timers who watch TV and believe it would like Shoigu and those with internet connection would not, this seems to explain a lot of the discrepancy.
Again, in my patriot milieu, NO ONE likes the plywood fake general.
Simplicius isn't Russian, doesn't speak Russian and is a former saker employee (a bullshitter).
Polling is never easy. In the USA, people (and especially Republicans) are more and more reluctant to admit their political views to random strangers on the phone. So when the polls disagree radically with election outcomes (as they almost always do), nobody knows for sure whether it's because the polls are bad, or because the elections are being stolen.
It must be a big problem in Russia too? Do people feel safe to admit if they don't like Shoigu, or Putin himself?
On the other hand, if you ask your 'patriot' friends, or post a poll on a website, you'll also get a biased sample. 91% of Strelkov fans hate Shoigu? Surprise surprise.
Maybe we can agree that nobody should like Shoigu, if they do their research? Although I would be curious what you think of Simplicius's other point, which is that however bad Shoigu might be, Serdyukov was a lot worse. Also (I think he would add): Shoigu's troops are holding the line against the Ukrainian offensive, at least for the moment; so again, the situation could be worse.
my fans hate strelkov for being a spook actually.
Damn , what a can of worms. I assume the Ukrainian side is also racked with all this oligarch warfare as well. The impression I got from watching RT a coup[le of years back , was that of a strong cohesive military/ government partnership in Russia. However with the start of the SMO it soon became obvious that there is as much hubris on the Russian side as the Western side. It is painful to think about how many people are losing their lives and limbs in this madness. Willy OAM has some great interviews with foreign fighters on the Uky side and also from the Russian side. It is clear that the UKY'S are getting flogged pretty badly and have a lot of the same issues as the Russian side. It seems from watching a few of the interviews that the Ukranians are being bled dry and Russia is slowly getting it's shit together on their supply and tactical issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QGaKhiOCTo&t=1211s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKZpYglZrW4&t=3686s
I think it is the opposite. Ukraine is gaining a larger and more experienced army and getting more and more equipment while Russia has less strength than when the war started. This could be remedied by introducing a war economy of course, but Nabiullina would never allow it.
Have a listen to some of this, a professional Australian soldier describing his experiences advising and training in Ukraine , he is fairly pessimistic about Ukraine's abilities to survive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKZpYglZrW4
One autocrat: how would you feel it he turned out to be Shoigu? Authoritarianism is totally compatible with corruption. As with most absolutes (here an absolute dictator), you should be careful what you wish for.