Russian invasion of Ukraine

When I watched the Alexei Navalny documentary about Putins' massive villa I kept on having somewhat similar thoughts - he's so loaded already, has way more than he can spend on anything, pretty much even toilet brushes are made of gold in that villa - why can't he just keep status quo and enjoy it?

These wars are to boost his ratings, I get it, but it doesn't feel like he's losing grip on power anytime soon. All the oligarchs would probably be interested in keeping the status quo.

As of dictators retiring - not sure but it struck me a little bit that Gorbachev and Yeltsin who were prominent figures of the Soviet Union were (edit - sorry, Yeltsin is no longer alive) still alive and just casually chill somewhere in Russia. They probably were not as evil as their predecessors but they were still strongly involved with the whole evil empire.

Yeltsin practically handed power to Putin and everyone supported him back then because they thought it's finally a leader that will lead them to bright future.

P.S. this is the documentary by Alexei Navalny about Putins' villa for the ones who haven't seen it and got time. English subtitles and dubbed versions are also available https://youtu.be/ipAnwilMncI

Gorbachev and Yeltsin who were prominent figures of the Soviet Union are still alive and just casually chill somewhere in Russia.

Yeltsin died in 2007.

why can't he just keep status quo and enjoy it?

Because the wealth is a happy accident from the thing he actually enjoys doing - running the show.

Also managing a load of money is a massive ball ache - better to run the show and have the show manage your money for you

If he just maintained the SQ he would be deposed and probably killed or at least hobbled / isolated and his legacy would come to nothing - his story would be that of a sad ( in his eyes) end.

or something

Yeltsin died in 2007. Gorbachev is a very old man now and was instrumental in the peaceful end of the Cold War, so I think he is owed some gratitude.

All the oligarchs would probably be interested in keeping the status quo.

This is probably our best hope.

Gorbachev is still alive?!

Yes

Yeltsin died in 2007

Ahh, indeed. Sorry for misinformation, edited my post.

Doesn’t Gorby live in New York?

FFS Truss. Russia have just said the nuclear escalation alert was in direct response to comments made by Truss.

Tell me again that Boris is worse than Truss in the role / climate.

The worst possible people in charge at the worst possible time.

^^

https://twitter.com/DominicWaghorn/status/1498260827807404033

Honestly think it is for the best if the UK government just sits this one out and lets the grown-ups in the room do the talking.

Do you think anyone takes Liz Truss seriously enough to drop a little bucket of sunshine on London?

Unlikely, but if you need an excuse you can always use something she said...

How they worded it made me lol (in a sad way)

"There had been statements by various representatives at various levels about possible conflict situations and even collisions and clashes between Nato and the Russian Federation," said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Vladimir Putin.

"We consider such statements absolutely unacceptable. I will not name the authors of these statements, although it was the British foreign secretary."

I will not name the author, but it was the British foreign secretary.

"For the sake of privacy let's call her Liz T... No that's too obvious, let's say L. Truss."

What did she say?

She endorsed anyone going from the UK to Ukraine to fight the russkies.

Tell me again that Boris is worse than Truss in the role / climate.

Boris did do a lots of the same thing, like Iran.

"We consider such statements absolutely unacceptable"

Yes because their feelings are so important right now.

A bunch of butthurt kleptocrats.

Butthurt by Liz Truss.

Fucking hell.

Now they are complaining about censorship.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/russia-limit-facebook-access-response-media-censorship-2022-02-25/

That's the long held assumption of how the civil service works

Roman Abramovic being invited by Ukraine to assist with setting up negotiations was unexpected.

Pray for Kharkiv. It looks like they have decided to raze it with artillery.

Not seeing that in the news yet... do you have a link?

Meta's head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said in a statement on Twitter: "Yesterday, Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labelling of content posted to Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services."

What do you reckon... will Facebook use this as some sort of proof that they're on the right side of history rather than having facilitated Trump, Brexit, genocide etc?