This is why Putin will fail

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Here is a great article from the Time Magazine explaining why Putin made a mistake when he invaded Ukraine: It is already clear, however, that he cannot emerge as the winner of this conflict, at least not when the damage is weighed against the gains. It will at best be a Pyrrhic victory, and at worst an utter catastrophe. Here’s why:

At home, this intervention looks to be one of the most unpopular decisions Putin has ever made. The Kremlin’s own pollster released a survey on Monday that showed 73% of Russians reject it. In phrasing its question posed in early February to 1,600 respondents across the country, the state-funded sociologists at WCIOM were clearly trying to get as much support for the intervention as possible: “Should Russia react to the overthrow of the legally elected authorities in Ukraine?” they asked. Only 15% said yes — hardly a national consensus.

That seems astounding in light of all the brainwashing Russians have faced on the issue of Ukraine. For weeks, the Kremlin’s effective monopoly on television news has been sounding the alarm over Ukraine. Its revolution, they claimed, is the result of an American alliance with Nazis intended to weaken Russia. And still, nearly three-quarters of the population oppose a Russian “reaction” of any kind, let alone a Russian military occupation like they are now watching unfold in Crimea. The 2008 invasion of Georgia had much broader support, because Georgia is not Ukraine. Ukraine is a nation of Slavs with deep cultural and historical ties to Russia.

Read more:

TOEIC listening, photographs: On the lake

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Oh, good old rabble rousing again? Sloppily poor propaganda. ( that sounds like 73% of the Russian are dumb. )

Feeble propaganda even for a low IQ me.

Putin’s won. Accept the fact.

Have fun.

Oh well, let’s wait and see the happy ending.

If Putin wins, you owe me a salute? And Vice versa. My word.

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What has he won? He has shown once more that he is a blatant cowardly liar.

TOEIC listening, photographs: At the marina

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I would say in a “C O N T E X T” of Syria and Ukraine it would be a common perception that the bold Vlad is “Winning” against Obama. (if it were ever that simple)

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BTW, did you know that Putin has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
I’m serious! Look it up.

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Just a reminder: in 1937, The Time magazine announced Hitler man of the year. Shall we wait 8 years?..

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The question is if any country can lose by ‘fighting against’ another. At this point it’s hard to tell what exactly Russia has gained by its actions against Ukraine. How are the ordinary Russians benefiting from this? Maybe Crimea will soon look like this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/rbth/features/8034368/Abkhazia-picture-gallery.html

TOEIC listening, photographs: A well maintained garden

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“The question is”? - Torsten lets be clear “This is why Putin will fail” is not a question.
But imo even if it was its certainly not about fighting or any such hypothesis.

If there was a question I would put it more along the lines of “who is winning the game of Brinkmanship between Obama and Putin” and at the moment a lot of people would say Putin although I dare say you’re probably not one of them Torsten. :slight_smile:

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You can only win if you work with others, not against them and if you think running a country is a game you should get another job.

TOEIC listening, photographs: A harbour view

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Here is some interesting information on Russia and how they use Zersetzungs strategies and techniques:

TOEIC listening, photographs: A pick up truck with plants

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Here are some reasons why Putin will fail eventually, it’s just a question of time. Unfortunately, the Russians have not been beaten enough yet. The Russians have suffered for hundreds of years and it takes very long until they finally stand up and fight for their rights. In Russia, the ordinary citizen’s life is worth almost nothing:

TOEIC listening, photographs: A one horse carriage

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Torsten, you think in the US the situation is better?
I don’t think so:

youtube.com/watch?v=_TPucQHtHZs

youtube.com/watch?v=gLlwXaAhok4

Police brutality is a scourge in America, the blue code of silence lets American police officers get away with abusing ordinary citizens.

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Hi Torsten,
if my humble opinion matters anything for you, from my experience of interacting with our police I can say that as long as you are adequate they are more or less harmless. It’s often the case that people themselves provoke the police to be violent.

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Oleg, how often have you been to a demonstration? Did you ‘interact’ with your police there? We’re talking about freedom of speech here, which is a basic and fundamental right in any democracy.

TOEIC listening, photographs: In the country

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Torsten, you think in the US the situation is better?
I don’t think so:

Hi OTS,
you know, it’s quite a feeble consolation. My attitude is that the police is part of the society. I think it’s much fairer to say ‘Each nation deserve their police’ than government. Policemen don’t come from Mars and they’re much much closer to us than government. They’re our sons, brothers, friends, neibougrs etc. To change the police we first have to change ourselves.

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I can’t speak for the US but in Germany the police primarily protect the citizens instead of abusing them.

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This isn’t about just Ukraine and Russia any more. This is becoming an international threat. WTF is Putin doing? Is the guy even stable? Apparently he wants to fuck up Russian and isolate it.

So what now? Get in and do whatever they want to do, then get out fast? Fast enough that the world has a short memory and forgets about sanctions? If that’s what they are thinking it will probably work.

Sanctions always end up hurting the people, not the politicians. The Russian and Ukrainian people deserve better than this.

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Both Ukrainians and Russians are Slavs with a long common history and similar languages. However, the main difference is that the Ukrainians have a real president, while the Russians have made a warmonger and corrupt criminal their “president”.

The Germans made the same mistake about 100 years ago, and now the civilized part of humanity must get its act together and stop Putin’s aggression, much like the world got together to finally stop Hitler. This time, however, we need to act faster. Putin will end up like any other dictator. His years are numbered.

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also @Torsten I’m sorry I was so inconsiderate and harsh towards you.
Putin has won nothing at all and he doesn’t realise that he will lose everything in the end, especially after reading the mail of Torsten. I can only say this: someone who is destructive is also self-destructive. I feel for the people of Ukraine and those 73% Russians who are against the war. We’re almost rid of corona and now Putin decides to become a predator. How very wrong he is, because he knows he cannot defeat Western Europe and the United States. But since 73% of the Russians are against Putin’s war policy, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone assassinated him one day. He goes far too far.

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There are many people right now who are arguing that Putin has somehow changed/lost it/gone mad and is not the man he used to be.

I couldn’t disagree more. They have simply not been paying attention. This is who he has always been:

This is the man who ordered a second invasion of Chechnya in 1999, only 3 years after Russian military suffered a humiliating and devastating loss there,
which nearly ended Yeltsin’s presidency - a highly risky move with uncertain outcome at the time.

This is the man who almost certainly ordered the use of radioactive polonium in an assassination of a critic in central London in 2006, leaving radioactive traces all over London (and on 221 flights of contaminated aircraft).

This is the man who ordered a risky takeover of Crimea in 2014, redrawing borders in Europe via military force.

This is the man who ordered a highly risky military intervention in Syria to save Bashar Assad in 2015, at the time when many (wrongly) thought it was a futile endeavor and one that would drag Russia into a quagmire.

This is the man who almost certainly ordered GRU to interfere in US elections in 2016 and French elections in 2017, operations that could have backfired badly for him.

This is the man who almost certainly ordered the use of chemical weapons to assassinate a former GRU spy in Salisbury, UK in 2018, killing an innocent bystander in the process.

This is the man who almost certainly green-lighted an assassination of a former Chechen militant in broad daylight in the center of Berlin in 2019.

This is the man who almost certainly ordered the use of chemical weapons to assassinate his political opponent in 2020 (and perhaps a few times earlier too).

This is just a short highlight reel of a long list of examples I could cite…

This is a man who has always been a reckless risk-taker, one who is not afraid to make big bets. And he has been exceptionally lucky and mostly avoided any significant consequences… until now.

With that success his appetite has only grown which led us to this disastrous invasion of Ukraine…

In summary, this is not a man who has somehow changed and all of a sudden has become reckless. He has always been this way. Many for decades just tried hard not to notice.

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