Best insight into Putin yet - Fareed Zakharai interview with Russian ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsk

[dwayneb]

On April 3, Fareed Zakharia interviewed Russian ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky who explains why Putin miscalculated in his invasion of Ukraine and why he is still so dangerous.

He explains his criminality and utter lack of humanity and confirms what I suspected all along - Ukraine is just a stepping stone on Putin's path to rebuilding the Russian empire. He confirms my suspicion that the Baltics will be next.

This has a lot more credibility than most of the "experts" we hear - because Khodorkovsky was an insider who knew Putin well.

He believes that Biden's condemnation of Putin is absolutely the right thing to do, and that Putin will never stop until the West steps up with a military response.

CNN video:

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/04/03/exp-gps-0403-ukraianian-resistance-drove-putin-mad.cnn/video/playlists/intl-ukraine/

[TreasonousBastard]

1. This is not the only such reading of Putin. I've been seeing.. .

a lot of such analyses of Putin.

Seems everyone who knows him says he's looking to put the Soviet empire back together.

Just what we need. At least the White House doesn't look orange any more.

[dwayneb]

3. Yes that's true

What gives this interview credibility is that Mikhail Khodorkovsky was directly under Putin for years. It's not just speculation by someone in the West. I think what makes this compelling is the cold direct assessment of where Putin is going and the utter brutality of his mindset.

One statement he made that I thought was interesting - that Russia really isn't an oligarchy. It's a dictatorship. And Putin has absolute total power within Russia.

Here's another interview with Khodorkovsky (Erin Burnett)

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/03/23/mikhail-khodorkovsky-putin-russia-ebof-sot-vpx.cnn

[Buckeyeblue]

2. I wonder what plan B is since plan A hasn't worked

Putin has destroyed the infrastructure of Ukraine and committed war crimes against the people. But he's not winning the war. His military has been weak and its tactics poor.

And Russia will probably be broke soon.

So what's next?

[Sherman A1]

4. When your Plan A is a three day

Special Operation I suspect that there’s no Plan B .

[dwayneb]

5. Next steps - bringing in foreign fighters; help from China?

Russia’s army has 280,000 personnel and its armed forces have 900,000 overall, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, with 190,000 in Ukraine. About 210,000 are in Ukraine’s armed forces. So Putin still has a significant force at his disposal.

Even so his next step will be to bring in foreign fighters, like the Syrians.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/03/10/does-russia-have-enough-troops-to-take-ukraine-heres-where-its-manpower-stands---and-why-its-recruiting-foreign-soldiers/?sh=7c97ad1d4d82

And China has certainly not said "no" to Putin's request for military aid.

Would Putin resort to using WMDs? I would not put it past him. Someone as insane as Putin might risk using those weapons. He has an enormous arsenal at his disposal, chemical, biological and nuclear.

[smb]

13. That Doesn't Seem To Be Going So Well

Link to tweet

[brush]

6. Exactly. Putin miscalculated big time and overestimated his...

rotten army. NATO through its support of Ukraine with weapons has put a stop to Putin's dreams and he knows it by now. He's just trying to find a way out...and it looks like his shift of forces to the east/Dunbas is what he wants to settle for and declare victory as if it was what he was after all along.

We'll see what happens but I think Putin knows his plans for future conquests will not work. Just the opposite as he's strengthened NATO.

[dwayneb]

8. Putin has the great equalizer

Pushed into a corner this is a man who would certainly consider using WMDs. We don't like to think about it because we are rational. Putin is a criminal who is willing to play those cards, just like any gangster.

He has biological, chemical and nuclear at his disposal. He has already used sarin gas in Syria, so it would not be surprising to seehim do the same in Ukraine.

[brush]

9. I agree that he's a bit cray-cray. Biden/NATO has called his bluff though.

If he's going to use them one would think he'd have done it by now as the world has seen his failure and the rotten state his army is in.

It's his move. He knows he not the only one with nukes. Let's see if he has the nerve.

[uponit7771]

7. +1, attack Ukraine from West Russia ... Bout it

[JHB]

11. Plan B is "keep throwing troops into the meat grinder" and try to use numbers...

...to make up for ineffectiveness. Since he seems to be a True Believer, it seems more likely he'll go hunting for internal enemies (real or imagined) instead of recognizing what a shit show the Russian Army has shown itself to be under his management.

[The Jungle 1]

10. A response of hit and leave.

Go in blow the shit out of them and pull back. If they stick their head up, blow um up again. Presion bombing of tanks,
fuel and supply lines
Russia only has one carrier and it is in dry dock. They are a paper dragon. We can blow up those antique tanks day or night. In the day using tanks is like going to war with a trebuchet.
The decision is at what point do we engage russia or do we let the rest of the world respond this time. My hope is that we do not commit to full scale involvement if we must go in. Just smack them around some until the russian people say enough.

[wanda4rafi]

12. If the Ukraine situation has shown anything, it is that additional attempts by

Putin to add other countries to his list to bring back into the "Russian empire" have no chance. The Russian military has shown that it is overmatched already by a much smaller force and is certainly not prepared to fight additional wars. No doubt he harbored these ambitions a few months ago, but reality is setting in quickly.

[Chautauquas]

14. Another person with insight into Putin

is Masha Gessen, author of The Man Without a Face - The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. The book, available on Kindle for 15 bucks, was published in 2014. I'm about half-way through the book and I grow more disgusted with Putin and his sordid history every day.