Ukraine: Unsubstantiated rumours and speculation

[alex_]

Like the plot of a B-movie from less enlightened times, Russia is facing an existential threat from US-funded queer nazis, according to Russian telly. They have the evidence.

Yes - you couldn’t pick something everyone is the US is more in favour of than homosexuality.

All joking aside this shows how much of this messaging is for Russians.

 

[The39thStep]

The Manchester Evening News , whose reporting on transport issues in Greater Manchester is second to none, branches out into new and uncharted territory due to public demand

 

[magneze]

The other leg perhaps?

 

[cupid_stunt]

The Manchester Evening News , whose reporting on transport issues in Greater Manchester is second to none, branches out into new and uncharted territory due to public demand

TBF, MEN is part of 'Reach', the Daily Mirror group, so they are just copying over what had been published on the Mirror's site a few hours earlier.

Putin set to vanish for cancer surgery, mystery Russian Telegram account says

Vladimir Putin has secretly nominated Nikolai Patrushev, a former KGB counterintelligence officer who once headed the FSB, to take “control” of Russia while he is incapacitated.

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[The39thStep]

TBF, MEN is part of 'Reach', the Daily Mirror group, so they are just copying over what had been published on the Mirror's site a few hours earlier.

Putin set to vanish for cancer surgery, mystery Russian Telegram account says

Vladimir Putin has secretly nominated Nikolai Patrushev, a former KGB counterintelligence officer who once headed the FSB, to take “control” of Russia while he is incapacitated.

www.mirror.co.uk

Manchester leads , The Mirror follows

 

[King Biscuit Time]

If Vlad really does have cancer. Who is he going to trust enough to knock him out and cut him open? If I was him I would have been making my own tea and sandwiches years.

 

[two sheds]

He'll operate on himself obviously like all REAL he men.

 

[WouldBe]

The Manchester Evening News , whose reporting on transport issues in Greater Manchester is second to none, branches out into new and uncharted territory due to public demand

Can they save the tumour and bin Putin?

 

[weltweit]

If Vlad really does have cancer. Who is he going to trust enough to knock him out and cut him open? If I was him I would have been making my own tea and sandwiches years.

His FSB buddies will probably have the surgeons families as collateral in case Putin doesn't wake up afterwards.

Assuming the rumour is true of course.

 

[alex_]

His FSB buddies will probably have the surgeons families as collateral in case Putin doesn't wake up afterwards.

Assuming the rumour is true of course.

This sounds like a bad job !

 

[bluescreen]

His FSB buddies will probably have the surgeons families as collateral in case Putin doesn't wake up afterwards.

Assuming the rumour is true of course.

That's what his FSB buddies are saying.

 

[The39thStep]

"Studies from 2008 and 2011, commissioned by the Pentagon and revealed by USA Today through a freedom of information request, suggest Putin has “an autistic disorder which affects all of his decisions” and may be Asperger syndrome. "

Brenda Connors of the US Naval War College (USNWC) in Newport, Rhode Island. Connors, a “movement patterns analysis” expert, is a former State Department official and professional dancer who has been described, by a psychologist from the University of Chicago, as a “dancer and diplomat”.

Pentagon thinktank claims Putin has Asperger's – has Putinology gone too far?

‘Movement patterns analysis’ expert lead studies in 2008 and 2011 which suggested Russian president has ‘autistic disorder’ as gleaned from video footage

www.theguardian.com

 

[kabbes]

The very use of the phrase “Asperger’s Syndrome” already identifies that story as 10 years out of date versus contemporary views

 

[platinumsage]

I read somewhere that he's avoiding getting cancer surgery because he's so scared of catching covid because if he does then it will likely prove fatal for him as he's on so many cancer drugs. Apparently this explains the long tables so must be true.

 

[weltweit]

.. Apparently this explains the long tables so must be true.

Indeed, I concluded the tables are his version of social distancing also.

 

[maomao]

Indeed, I concluded the tables are his version of social distancing also.

Just paranoia about being powerful and alone. My first thought when I saw the tables was Qin Shi Huang the great unifier (ie. despotic murderer) of China (249-210BC) who wouldn't let anyone within 50 feet of him for fear of assassination.

 

[Sue]

Just paranoia about being powerful and alone. My first thought when I saw the tables was Qin Shi Huang the great unifier (ie. despotic murderer) of China (249-210BC) who wouldn't let anyone within 50 feet of him for fear of assassination.

 

[steeplejack]

The Manchester Evening News , whose reporting on transport issues in Greater Manchester is second to none, branches out into new and uncharted territory due to public demand

Well the Bury FC match reporter had to be given something to do after "the Shakers" went bust...

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

The Manchester Evening News , whose reporting on transport issues in Greater Manchester is second to none, branches out into new and uncharted territory due to public demand

Jennifer Williams, their now former political and investigations editor, recently left and joined the FT as their northern editor. She did much of the brilliant political and transport reporting.

 

[Cid]

Just paranoia about being powerful and alone. My first thought when I saw the tables was Qin Shi Huang the great unifier (ie. despotic murderer) of China (249-210BC) who wouldn't let anyone within 50 feet of him for fear of assassination.

Hopefully Putin also has similar taste in medication.

(mercury)

 

[tim]

The other leg perhaps?

Actually, the other Oleg.

 

[Ming]

Just pondering on which way the PR rhetoric is going on both sides.

It appears to be escalating. Russia is nuclear sabre rattling ( I know they do that regularly but as they’ve started a major land war in Europe which they’re bogged down in and that makes things a bit more worrying).

On the other side Biden has called Putin a war criminal, war crimes have been mentioned and genocide has been mentioned.

So not a lot of wriggle room for diplomacy. Putin is backed into a corner and he knows what happened to Ghaddafi (he watched the video of his torture and execution a few times apparently).

I think the rhetoric is preparing both sides for further escalation. Where ever that takes us.

 

[bluescreen]

<snippage>
I think the rhetoric is preparing both sides for further escalation. Where ever that takes us.

Where do you think that takes us?

Not feeling too confident myself.

 

[xenon]

Just pondering on which way the PR rhetoric is going on both sides.

It appears to be escalating. Russia is nuclear sabre rattling ( I know they do that regularly but as they’ve started a major land war in Europe which they’re bogged down in and that makes things a bit more worrying).

On the other side Biden has called Putin a war criminal, war crimes have been mentioned and genocide has been mentioned.

So not a lot of wriggle room for diplomacy. Putin is backed into a corner and he knows what happened to Ghaddafi (he watched the video of his torture and execution a few times apparently).

I think the rhetoric is preparing both sides for further escalation. Where ever that takes us.

If you’re worried about the nuclear thing in particular. I just watch this. It might help.

 

[Ming]

If you’re worried about the nuclear thing in particular. I just watch this. It might help.

I’ll watch that definitely.

 

[Ming]

If you’re worried about the nuclear thing in particular. I just watch this. It might help.

I’m a big fan of Mark Blyth (wrote the book Austerity: History of a Bad Idea). He’s an institute professor of political economy at The Watson Institute at Brown university. This is a great presentation from Watson on the same issue (Blyth’s not on it but that’s how i found the lecture).



Slightly off topic here’s a great lecture by Blyth at Glasgow University (he’s from Dundee). Start from 1300 after the introduction). He was originally a bass player in bands for ages (years) before he went into academia so he knows how to work a stage.

 

[dilute micro]

Just pondering on which way the PR rhetoric is going on both sides.

It appears to be escalating. Russia is nuclear sabre rattling ( I know they do that regularly but as they’ve started a major land war in Europe which they’re bogged down in and that makes things a bit more worrying).

On the other side Biden has called Putin a war criminal, war crimes have been mentioned and genocide has been mentioned.

So not a lot of wriggle room for diplomacy. Putin is backed into a corner and he knows what happened to Ghaddafi (he watched the video of his torture and execution a few times apparently).

I think the rhetoric is preparing both sides for further escalation. Where ever that takes us.

There's no room for diplomacy anyway. This is a zero sum game. Negotiating with nice words or compromise will not resolve the situation. And I doubt the words used really change anything with Putin.

 

[two sheds]

No that's harsh. I'm sure anyone negotiating with Putin would come back with peace for our time.

 

[bluescreen]

WaPo article

In Ukrainian villages, whispers of collaboration with the Russians
Rumors about traitors run rife as invading forces have seemed to know in advance which residents have guns and which are said to be wealthy

<snippage>
Ukraine’s armed forces declined to share how many Ukrainians accused of collaborating with Russia have been identified or apprehended. The Associated Press reported that about 400 people in the Kharkiv region suspected of collaborating have been detained and could face prosecution under new laws that make any action aiding Russian forces that results in deaths of Ukrainians punishable by life in prison.

Dmytro Ivanov, deputy head of the Chernihiv regional civil-military administration, said security services are investigating cases of alleged collaborators marking Ukrainian positions with phosphorus, which can be identified from the sky and has helped Russians target artillery fire on Ukrainian positions. He said others led Russians to food and supply storehouses. In some cases, he said, collaborators had accepted food or cash from Russians in exchange for information.

Paywall busted:

archive.ph

 

[bluescreen]

Interesting long thread on possibility of 9 May declaration of war/conscription, with a good digression on the liberal-Moscow-centric focus of western media when reporting on anti-Putin sentiment. Kamil Galeev is no fan of Navalny. He talks of the lack of agency and the lack of sense of any possibility of agency of ordinary Russians.
Like Alperovitch, he thinks mass mobilisation unlikely, because unlike the USSR, Russia lacks the command structure and training infrastructure to support a sudden upsurge in army numbers. And like Alperovitch, he thinks it would increase the likelihood of revolt from its present state of near zero. Conscription would be a dumb move, which doesn't rule it out entirely.