Bernardo de La Paz
Bernardo de La Paz's JournalPutin is losing the oligarchs
Five have spoken out including Deripaska:
Radio Free Europe
https://www.rferl.org/a/deripaska-oligarch-ukraine-russia-war/31734624.html
...
Deripaska, who has been sanctioned by the West, warned of a possible nuclear accident at any of Ukraine's nuclear power facilities during the fighting, which would endanger, Russia, Ukraine, and Europe as a whole.
...
Deripaska is one of several Russian billionaires to call on the authorities to stop the full-scale military attack against Ukraine launched on February 24.
Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven, Oleg Tinkov, and Aleksei Mordashov -- also billionaires who have been targeted by Western sanctions -- have already publicly called for a cessation of hostilities.
Little more at link, only two sentences.
When Putin loses more oligarchs, as I think he will, he will no longer have their confidence as Da Capo. They will ask him to retire, one way or another.
Russian Oligarch Deripaska Calls For End Of War Against Ukraine
Source: Radio Free Europe
Russian billionaire tycoon Oleg Deripaska, known for his close ties with President Vladimir Putin, has called for an end to the war in Ukraine.
...
Deripaska, who has been sanctioned by the West, warned of a possible nuclear accident at any of Ukraine's nuclear power facilities during the fighting, which would endanger, Russia, Ukraine, and Europe as a whole.
...
Deripaska is one of several Russian billionaires to call on the authorities to stop the full-scale military attack against Ukraine launched on February 24.
Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven, Oleg Tinkov, and Aleksei Mordashov -- also billionaires who have been targeted by Western sanctions -- have already publicly called for a cessation of hostilities.
Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/deripaska-oligarch-ukraine-russia-war/31734624.html
Two more sentences at the link, not much.
Ego leaves him no choice
He wants the two things all Rs want: money and to be relevant.
Democrats and progressives want the same things too. But they also want something else, which they balance with the other two and which sometimes becomes uppermost: helping people. Not some abstract notion of unity or helping the oligarchs. Practical actions and approaches that help actual people of all kinds. All kinds.
Putin is a mob boss. Controls but depends on the oligarchs. Mob bosses only are mob bosses while
Mob bosses are only Da Capo while they are producing. Putin isn't producing any more. He controls oligarchs through state apparatus including threats of violence (via subordinates of course) but if push comes to shove and they unite, then that apparatus and threats won't work very well, particularly if the populace feels the same way.
They won't assassinate him but they will convince him to retire to his $1,000,000,000 palace (yes, billion dollar palatial estate) he is building.
The question is, how soon will they act and how long will it take to convince him.
Yes. This great analysis by Kamil Galeev goes into multiple aspects of the myths
This amazing Kamil Galeev analysis explains many geopolitical things including the training.
The twitter thread has images I've never seen before and is worth looking at for its own merits.
https://twitter.com/radiofreetom/status/1498098992386772997
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216413169
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1497993363076915204.html
Putin knows prosperous free Ukraine casts heavy shade on him. Putin owns Russia failures
Putin has been in charge, been dictating in Russia so long, that he owns all of Russia's failures.
Putin is a failure.
Zelensky's success, because and with Ukrainian efficiency due to freedom and democracy, ... his success, the comedian's success leading Ukraine has made Putin's failure all the more glaring since he is supposed to be the professional. Certainly Putin has had a free hand, but all he manages is a kleptocracy.
"Putin Wouldn't Have Invaded Ukraine Under a Beefy Piece of Man Meat"
Republicans Claim Putin Wouldnt Have Invaded Ukraine Under a Beefy Piece of Man Meat Like Trump
The GOP insists a strong man like Trump wouldve been able to stop Putin, unlike the supposedly weak Biden.
Bess Levin
February 22, 2022
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/02/republicans-donald-trump-joe-biden-russia-ukraine/amp
Echoing those comments on Monday was Marco Rubio who, incidentally, has reportedly been happy to accept political donations from Len Blavatnik, a billionaire with longstanding ties to oligarchs close to Putin. Without referring to the president by name, though the reference was more than clear, the senator from Florida tweeted: Weakness always invites aggression. And weakness in response to aggression always invites others to be aggressive as well. Senator John Barrasso told Fox News last week that Biden talked tough but Putin doesnt respect statements, he only respects strength, claiming the president of Russia views President Biden as weak and ineffective and indecisive. In January, Senator Tom Cotton blamed Putins aggression on a year of Joe Bidens impotence and incompetence towards Russia in particular and in foreign policy more generally, somehow forgetting that Trump spent four years passionately kissing Putins ass.
Of course. Rs might not get what they are litigating for w Palin: lowering bar about malice
If they are victorious, I think they would receive more grief from injunctive relief and remedial recovery in courts than they ever bargained for.
Fox's, Epoch Times, and ONAN's misinformation would be subject to much greater scrutiny and would have much weaker defense than the mainstream media.
Lower the bar and Hillary can stroll over it to receive damage awards.
At the same time, the cretins on the right are so low they would have great difficulty slithering over it.
Thugs are on it for what they have done. Terror suspects are on it for suspicion.
If anyone should be on it, that would be thugs, because there is evidence and public evidence of their unsuitability to fly.
They DID something egregious.
The suspects on it? Maybe, maybe not. Many are there through no fault of their own, including Senator Ted Kennedy, for a bit while he was alive.
What RepubliQonners understand but refuse to acknowledge is that unruliness in the air does terrorize and greatly inconvenience passengers. It is bullying and intimidation.
Thugs use bullying and intimidation to extract concessions, just like terrorism, except in the case of thugs it is in a solo self-centered narcissistic snowflaky way.
And now the RNC has laid it out in the open: their "legitimate political discourse" is nothing but bullying and intimidation.
Dems do nuance. Rs don't. All caps is not screaming, it' SHOUTING. Attention seeking race to bottom.
We selectively and sparingly use all caps in places where it is the only mode for EMPHASIS, such as Democratic Underground Reply titles, but not the body (generally) because there the bolding tool is available for use. Most in these forums are tool users.
So, if some self-centered person wishes to gain attention they MIGHT PUT THE WHOLE REPLY TITLE IN ALL CAPS. EVERY WORD.
No if about it. It happens from time to time.
If it were not "frowned upon", socially, among DU members, then there would quickly ensue a race to the bottom where all the titles would be all caps. Or even if it is half, the ugliness would be unignorable and all nuance would be lost.
Even Republican and RepubliQonned sites don't make that mistake. (Oops, I used an internal capitalization for effect.)
Leave the shouting or the no-caps to the lowest-common denominator media.
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