The Peanut Gallery: Russian Separatists Seize Tetikino - Kremlin Rushes to Avert Civil War
March 12, 2024
Welcome to the Peanut Gallery! Today might just be the first day of a civil war.
Please remember that I know nothing.
The All-Russian pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR), and Siberian Battalion conducted a limited cross-border incursion into Belgorod and Kursk oblasts on the morning of March 12.
LSR forces reportedly seized Tetkino, although Russian sources claimed that Russian airborne conscripts repelled all the assaults in Tetkino.[4] ISW has previously observed reports that Russia uses conscripts to defend its border with Ukraine against limited incursions and assessed that this is likely due to Russia’s unwillingness to transfer forces away from the frontline elsewhere in Ukraine.
Folks, if RDK holds onto Tetkino, if at minimum they advance and seize Popovo-Lezhachi, then things might have just changed.
Don’t believe me? Think this is some hit of hopium? Perhaps, but check it: if the RDK dig in (or press) then technically that means this is a civil war. They are Russian partisans, citizens turned rogue, who have formed a rival government with the intent of overthrowing the Tzar. Or something.
Honestly we probably shouldn’t glorify them. They’re a gang of Russian ethnonationalists, real scumbags by the looks of things; but these skinheads hate Putin for some reason, so tally-ho, gents.
Next week Russians go to the polls to select between Putin and. Will that shock of these attacks be enough to jolt them out of their eternal state of learned helplessness? Maybe. We’ll have to wait and see. But if this doesn’t do it then the fucking tax hikes might.
The Kremlin is reportedly considering raising taxes, likely as part of an effort to increase federal budget revenues to fund its war in Ukraine. Bloomberg reported on March 11 that Russian authorities are considering raising the personal income tax from 15 percent to 20 percent for people earning more than five million rubles (about $54,000) annually and raising taxes from 13 percent to 15 percent for those who earn less than five million rubles, according to sources involved in the discussions.
Hot damn! You can’t just drop something like that on someone. Five percent tax hike on the middle class? Two percent on the poor? That’s going to cause a noticeable depreciation in the average Russian’s quality of life, to the point where they might start divorcing themselves from the system entirely. Cash under the table is untraceable, after all. Not even prison can crush the universal applicability of a handjob-based currency. And how you going to tax a half-dozen chickens in exchange for a keg of beer?
I’m just saying that there are options. I encourage the average Russian to consider them.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced an emergency military aid package valued at $300 million for Ukraine on March 12.
Accounting tricks, huh? Must’ve been some pretty damn fancy accounting which managed to produce $300 million in spare munitions. I wonder if that fancy account has anything to do with the Czech plan to source artillery shells from a supplier “outside Europe”
...nah, it’s probably just a coincidence.
Still, it was pretty odd how ISW’s source kept mentioning this package was a, “One time thing”. Also apparently the House started the Discharge Petititon. Awful convenient timing, that, almost like it was an attempt to show we're fixing the problem.
Current number of signatories stands at 169 (/213D) signatories out of 218 needed, all Democrat. Not one GOP Congressman has crossed the aisle yet, but don’t think they aren’t eyeing that petition. If Johnson doesn’t bring the Ukrainian Aid resolution to the floor, then eventually a Republican will sign...and all hell will break loose.
Lithuanian and French authorities are expected to meet in Paris in the coming days to discuss accelerating support for Ukraine.
Seems like there’s a lot of these kinds of talks going around lately.
Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia would leave the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) if the CSTO fails to meet certain Armenian expectations, as Armenia continues to distance itself from Russian security relations.
There ISW goes burying the lede again: Armenia notified Russia it needs to gather its shit and get the fuck out by August 1st 2024. They then presented the above ultimatum: either Russia fulfill its commitment and defend them from Azerbaijan, or Armenia was leaving the CSTO. They did not specify a date, though with a deadline like August 1st already defined, that seems like a good point to fix our expectations.
Russian authorities in Moscow Oblast created “training programs” for people potentially considering adopting illegally deported Ukrainian children in Russia.[80] The program reportedly falsely conflates Ukrainian and Russian culture. The program reportedly tells participants that their main objective is to create a “second homeland” for Ukrainian children in Russia and that they will need to overcome “difficulties in international differences.” Participants of the training program must undergo interviews in which Russian authorities ask if they have Ukrainian friends and relatives. ISW continues to assess that the forced deportation and adoption of Ukrainian children likely amounts to a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Please give Ukraine what they need to bring this war to an end.
‘Q’ for the Community: /r/TheNuttySpectacle
Man, that discharge petition is long overdue. Do you think a Republican will sign it?
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