Saturday, March 19, 2022

Is Vladimir Putin Losing His Marbles?

In my last post, I suggested that Vladimir Putin wasn't looking very healthy.

But was looking instead like a man who had bitten off more than he could chew, and was now suffering from a bad case of indigestion.

After his six-day war turned into a month-long nightmare, with no end in sight.

But now he's mutated again, from a deathly looking vampire to something even worse.

Now he's a bloodthirsty maniac trying to reduce some Ukrainian towns and villages to rubble.

And he doesn't seem to care how many men, women, and children he kills, injures or leaves homeless...

It's not too hard to figure out why Putin is so agitated.

His mighty army is stalled, his tank legions are getting chewed up.

And he must have absolutely hated this video...

For it showed the whole world the scale of his barbarism.

And although Zelensky didn't get the no-fly zone he wanted, he got a lot of other deadly weapons.

That will make Putin's claims that he is winning, look even more ridiculous... 


But while that is simply pathetic.

What can explain this insane rant, aimed not at Ukraine and NATO, but at his own people who have been protesting against his murderous war.? 


For it is truly deranged. 
And along with everything else, can only make people wonder whether the dictator is losing his marbles. 

And as if that wasn't bad enough, the epic failure of this Nuremberg-style rally yesterday,  must have really embarrassed the man who would be Russia's Fuhrer.

   

As well as making people wonder what kind of monster would party at a time when so many are suffering and dying? 

And even more ominously how much more humiliation will the malignant fascist dwarf be able to endure before he lunges for the nuclear button?

The Economist is right, we are living in dangerous times. 


And nobody can afford to take their lives for granted anymore. 

But despite that, I thought I'd end on an optimistic note. 

By reminding everyone that not all Russians are evil, and that with Russians like these cosmonauts all is not lost. So we can still dream that his own people will take him down. 

Before his madness kills us all.

And still hope that the heroic people of Ukraine who have suffered so much, will survive to live in peace again...



16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Word is that it was mandatory for universities to attend Vladolphmir's ego boosting rally so one has to wonder how many people there actually wanted to be there. And something tells me that him being cut off on TV was not an accident. Just like that brave woman going on camera, I believe a lot of people know what's really going on and are doing something about it and that scares the shit out of Putin. So much so that he's basically saying anyone opposing him and his arbitrary crimes against humanity is an enemy, scum, or as Conservatives in the west call us, liberals. There's not really much difference between Putin and the GOP/CPC other than our fragile democracies are still holding. However, think about what life would be like if Trump had stolen the election and he had unfettered power?
Putin, with his turtle neck shirt, trying to pass himself off as a warm, cuddly leader reminded me of a once wannabe dictator, Harper, in his sweater vest, cuddling a kitten in his chair. Fuzzy and warm, like a fresh pile of goose shit. Both their best before dates have long since passed yet Putin corruptly still leads his country while a defeated Harper is still trying to destroy ours from the shadows. Treasonous is a word that comes to mind.

The sooner Putin is put down the sooner the war ends and Ukrainians can begin to rebuild their shattered lives. And when Putin does go down, those in the shadows who enabled him and benefited from their unholy alliances will soon follow. Sunlight is after all the best disinfectant.
JD

Jackie Blue said...

Everyone should watch Arnold's video where he pleads with Russian troops to surrender and defect. He is very popular in Russia (Putin actually follows him on Twitter even though he'll never be a fraction of the man Arnold is).

He tells them that they are being spoonfed a steady diet of lies and that if they don't turn back they will regret it for the rest of their lives -- as his own father did when he was conscripted into the Nazi military.

https://twitter.com/Schwarzenegger/status/1504426844199669762

All it takes is one brave soul to give Vladimir Sonovabitch Putain the one-way ticket to hell that he so richly deserves. The bastard is putting the people of Mariupol on trains to camps. Gee, who does that sound like? When will he be given a proper burial in a pile of rat feces where he belongs?

Dan said...

I think Putin will realize that his catastrophic error is by destroying your food supply and ability to import food. Russia is going to suffer a food shortage.

Almost 2/3s of Ukraine's grain harvest goes to Russia.
The rest go to China and the Middle East.

There will be no grain harvest this year or for at least a couple minimum.

Thanks to the destruction of the Russian economy, Russia can't afford to import from other places like Canada or Argentina (and can't.) This is why Western sanctions have worked.

If Russians think that sugar shortage is bad then wait till the fall when Ukrainian grains won't show up.

I think we're about to see a food crisis we haven't seen in years. I hope I am wrong.

Anonymous said...

Autocrats typically seize power by exploiting conflict, once in power they change the rules to eliminate challengers and use division, fear and various types of loyalty programs to keep the population in line. People are ingenious and over time develop shadow systems to keep their true motivations hidden leaving the autocrat in the position of being a paper tiger. A smart autocrat needs to shock the system every so often in order to re-establish their grip. Wars are a great way of doing this by first exposing the disgruntled and then accusing them of attacking the state rather than the autocrat. Putin is playing this aspect by the book but times have changed and it is considerably more difficult to establish a propaganda shield than it was in the past as everything is more interconnected.
Perhaps he a can use a neutrality pledge combined with a territorial acquisition treaty to boast about reclamation of border territories where Russian is the natural language but this does not really cement in his position of power. For that the needs the hearts and minds of a majority of his subjects emotionally bound by nationalism, revenge, disgust or tangible fear. How and if he can achieve it without his deadly charade escalating out of control is the question. A younger Putin would stage the martyrdom of his own people to achieve that goal but as he has no heirs and at 70 hopefully he will be content to scale it back just enough buy a few more years before fading into the trash bin of history. Meanwhile he is a dangerous man, dangerously cornered in a catastrophe of his own making.


Uninspiring crusade type propaganda where even the broadcast failed. Hopefully not a precursor to rage and fear as desperation mounts.

Putin told the tens of thousands of people that Russians “have not had unity like this for a long time”.
“We know what we need to do, how to do it and at what cost. And we will absolutely accomplish all of our plans,” Putin, 69, told the rally.

RT

jrkrideau said...

No Putin is not losing his mind. He has been warning NATO since 2007 that what they are doing is unacceptable and NATO finally blew it.

Russia has pretty much, baring a miracle, won the military conflict. Whether he can pull off a political settlement is another matter.

Simon said...

Hi JD….Several people who attended the rally have told reporters they were forced to attend, so the whole thing was a farce, in addition to being in really bad taste. It’s truly pathetic to see Putin trying to make it look like the Russian people love him, when anyone to protests against the war faces a possible 15-year jail sentence. But Putin’s time will come. Sooner or later Russians will understand how much harm he has done to his country, and hopefully he will end up at The Hague charged with crimes against humanity….

Simon said...

Hi Jackie….I’ve never been an Arnold fan, but I must say I’m impressed with his message to the Russian people. So many of them are brainwashed by their own media, anyone who can reach out to ordinary Russians can really help the Ukrainians. I find the whole situation so depressing I’m finding it hard to blog, and Twitter has lost much of its appeal. I think it might be time to take a long break and try to find some thing to do where I can make a difference. Or maybe just focus on living and enjoying the small things in life, before they too are corrupted and destroyed….

Simon said...

Hi Dan….Unfortunately I think you’re right. I think millions of people all over the world are going to find it harder to feed themselves and their families because of this insane war. Even in Canada there are signs of what could soon be happening. T food prices are soaring and even in my major supermarket there are all kinds of shortages, and the butcher’s shop doesn’t open until Wednesday. Between Covid and the war I honestly don’t know how many Canadians are going to survive the next year or so. And let’s not forget that climate change will only make things worse. I’ve always been an optimistic person, but it’s hard to be optimistic the way things are going….

Simon said...

Hi RT...I think that an agreement that Ukraine will never join NATO and even some kind of neutrality pledge might have been a good way to end this insane war. But the more innocent civilians the Russians kill will make it almost impossible for a Ukrainian government to agree to that kind of deal. So I'm afraid that we will see a long war of attrition where Russia now reduced to the status of a pariah nation will be the loser. I have been inspired by the resistance of young people in Russia who want a new and modern Russia, not the ghastly Cold War relic Putin is offering them. I hope more and more Russians will embrace their young for only they can save their country before Putin totally destroys it, and maybe the rest of the world...

Simon said...

Hi jrkrideau...No I can't agree with that. I do agree that NATO has been too pushy at times, but Ukraine was never a threat to Russia. And nothing can justify Putin's murderous war on civilians, including women and children, in an attempt to terrorize the Ukrainians into accepting his terms. It was completely unnecessary, and while the Russians may be able to claim victory considering the size of their army, it won't be a real victory. Russia will be seen as a pariah nation, it will be seriously weakened, and its troops will eventually revolt, and hopefully bring down Putin. Unless of course his paranoia causes the Third World War, and then we all lose....

Steve said...

The truth as in most wars will be told by the victors. Napoleon coined that phrase.
The Russians may be brutal authoritarians, but the Ukraine's are not pillars of democracy either.
The shopping mall blown up in Keiv, the Russians show a very convincing, but could be manufactured video of it being used as an arms depot. The fact one missle blew up a city block makes the Russian claim credible.

Jackie Blue said...

At least there are some small but tender mercies to be tentatively positive about at home, Simon.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeu-jagmeet-singh-working-together-1.6392756

Looks like Jagmeet finally got the message to stop being an obstructionist git. Con heads will explode as Trudeau gets to stay prime minister longer than daddy Harper. And since he has made it very clear that, despite the wishcasting of useless pundits like the effectively indistinguishable Chantal Martin and Don Hébert, he's going to be running in a fourth election, perhaps even come close to his father's tenure once Skippy goes down for an undignified defeat.

So what kind of lame attack ads will the Cons make when Trudeau is still PM as his hair turns grey? "Just not ready, nice grandkids though"?

Anonymous said...

Hmm, the Russian cheerleaders are gonna cheer, I guess. "Da da, siss boom ba! Killing children?! Blah, blah, blah!" Russia has NOT won this conflict and blaming NATO for this is complete rubbish. First of all, Herr Putin has zero credibility and has earned no right whatsoever to deem what is or isn't acceptable. His entire tenure has been nothing but one horrendous deed after another. Whether it's atrocious war crimes, murdering/poisoning his rivals, or causing division/meddling in western elections/democracies via fake news. And lest we forget the many useful idiots/Russian assets at his disposal. I guess the complete destruction of Mariupol was due to it being a massive arms depot? Especially the buildings with hundreds of citizens and their children taking cover from the bombs? Or maybe the seesaw at the playground was actually a rocket launcher? Sure, comrade. Fact is, facts will be disputed but there's no fucking way I'll take Putin's narrative over what my eyes are seeing from a multitude of embedded western reporters. And this fact is indisputable. Putin went in to Ukraine, again, unprovoked and Ukrainians said fuck you, Vlad. He stole Crimea and they said no more. And I hope soon, as happened with Afghanistan, Russian wives and mother's will unite in their grief over their losses and will start a revolution that will topple the Putin regime once and for all. Or more fittingly, a nice hot cup of Polonium-210 tea or Novichok coffee would do quite nicely as well. Fingers crossed.
JD

Anonymous said...

You're absolutely right, Jackie. Con heads will be exploding faster than MAGA Barbie's move into Stornoway. And the irony that Skippy has deemed it legal to smile in Ontario today is just... I'm thinking he's not too smiley right about now. Suck it up, buttercups! Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ain't goin' anywhere anytime soon, mooahaha!
JD

jrkrideau said...

Jagmeet seems to have the political smarts of lemming. Brill/iast move on Trudeau's part.

Pierre D. said...

Even if Ukraine survives this, and it will, in some for or another, the damage to multiple generations will be incalculable. Vladmimir Putin is done. His oligarchs are leaving him, his army is deserting him, his people are being swept off the street by his thugs for protesting him.
And all this for what? To resurrect a failed system that stifled freedom, creativity and expression. I watched the whole video from Zelensky because it's the least I can do as a Canadian safe at home. And I wish Zelensky heart and courage in his fight ahead.

As for today's announcement, I will wait until Mr. Simon puts up a new blog post to comment it... :-)