“Virtually the whole world is against us,” is the message to Russian-speaking social media users by a former officer in the Russian military. The Russian people have been kept in the dark, it goes without saying. All they know is that everything from plane tickets to their pensions, to McDonalds, to sugar has been vanishing since the war that Vladimir Putin assured them would take three days to win started three months ago.
Mikhail Khodaryonok laid it out recently on Russian TV. He described a military situation on the ground faced by Russian troops “far removed from the patriotic take usually given on the state-run channel Russia-1.”
Khodaryonok is a former air defense commander turned military commentator. He received the “Merit to the Fatherland” medal in 2020. In this clip he lays out the simple fact of the matter that, according to Lenin and Marx, at least, the army that is the most motivated to win, does. And that ain’t Russia. Take four minutes for this, it’s worth it.
In an extremely rare moment of candour on Russian state TV today, defence columnist Mikhail Khodaryonok gave a damning assessment of Russia's war in Ukraine and his country's international isolation. It's fairly long but worth your time so I've added subtitles. pic.twitter.com/0mr7WAgSx6
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 16, 2022
Also from a former soldier and FSS officer: https://t.co/eVTBqiymnG
— ворог Росії ???✊? (@jeanniedm) May 16, 2022
It’s virtually impossible to read here, but click on it and read it off of Twitter and it’s easier.
One thing in reading the words of Igor Girkin, in black, is that he’s positioning himself for high office after Putin dies, supposedly. You need to know that to know whose asses he’s trying to kiss.
A turning point is being reached slowly. If we could talk to the flies on the wall at the Kremlin they would probably tell us that Putin’s aides are trying to figure out how to frame a withdrawal from Ukraine as a win. Once they figure out a way to placate the maniac and convince him he’s had a victory, then this madness can finally cease.
Girkin wanted to be the leader of Donbas, before the war started.
Funny story about Khodaryonok: he was putting up his objections to the invasion on FEBRUARY 3RD. Let that sink in…at a time when damn near everyone was writing off Kyiv, he accurately predicted the course of this war. Him being allowed to say this now still is significant.
Also retired Col.-General Leonid Ivashov, in January, a highly respected military veteran.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/02/ukraine-crisis-putin-military-opposition.html