The Peanut Gallery: Yes, Actually. Putin Abuses His Soldiers - Serbian Mercenary Speaks Out.
January 13, 2024
Welcome to the Peanut Gallery! Your daily dose of unfounded speculation.
Please remember that I know nothing.
Howdy Folks,
Happy Saturday!
Today’s video is Anders Puck Nielson’s recent release. He goes into detail as to US House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (his son monitors his porn use. (Yes, you read that right.)) request for a concrete US strategy is an impossibility. It’s interesting you’d like to watch an intelligent expert express perplexion at the inanity of American politics. He carries the same confused energy as the parents filming all those videos on /r/KidsAreFuckingStupid.
Now let’s get to it, shall we?
A recent video appeal by a Serbian mercenary addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin has unleashed discussions about an ongoing “clan war” within the Kremlin and the Russian information space against the backdrop of the Russian presidential campaign.
Man, this Serbian thing isn’t going away, is it? Mostly I’ve been ignoring this drama because I expected Putin to take care of it relatively quickly. One to two days? Not a big deal. Three days and no resolution? Now I’m beginning to ask what’s taking so long.
These Serbs, right? They’re serving under a VDV regiment, ostensibly elite, yet they’re complaining about mistreatment, lack of weapons, and suicidal assault orders. They requested transfer to a Chechen unit—keep in mind these are foreign volunteers—and were denied. Sort of. And when these foreign volunteers decided that enough was enough, Russia pointed guns at them and declared them guilty of treason.
This is how the Russian army treats its foreign volunteers. Those considering signing that contract, beware. It isn’t worth the paycheck.
I find this drama fascinating because of what it reveals about Kremlin politics, as well as the logistics situation on the Russian side of the line. Apparently these VDV units are sponsored; as in, an oligarch chooses a unit, funds its supplies, and its success or failure dictates their position within Putin’s pecking order. It’s honestly a clever twist on cruelty, simultaneously democratizing the expense of the war, while solving the critical question of corruption.
Gee golly gosh, this sounds familiar. Where else have I seen keys to power responsible for supply, fielding, and maintaining a housecarl for contribution to the state in times of war?
In-fighting and factional dynamics within the Kremlin are not new phenomena and do not indicate the imminent collapse of Putin’s regime, particularly because power verticals are the foundation of Putin's regime.
You’re damn right they are. Feudalism is an ancient system but a stable one. When one is king, one must be strong, yes, but how strong? The answer is always proportional to the strength and quantity of the vassals. Keep the vassals fighting, keep them too weak to dream of the throne, yet strong enough to be effective. This is the basic tenant of The Prince.
Robert Baratheon explains nicely the flaw in Putin’s foundation of power.
Putin needs to play this game every moment of every day. Each of his decisions considers this dynamic, so we can use this knowledge as a predictor of future behavior.
A fire destroyed a large warehouse in St. Petersburg belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries on January 12.
Burn baby, burn.
At first glance I thought this was a result of Ukrainian Intelligence, yet that doesn’t seem to be the case. The story the Kremlin is releasing is that a fight broke out between several hundred laboring migrants, escalating to the point where military police needed to intervene. The fight apparently resulted in the warehouse burning and most of the work crew drafted to Ukraine.
Things must’ve been pretty shit to have escalated to this point.
Russian forces are reportedly increasingly using chemical weapons in Ukraine in continued apparent violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Russia is a party.
Those mother fuckers.
This is Russia putting its toe into the water. They’re using non-lethal chemicals, yet this is clearly to test the West’s response. How much pushback the Kremlin receives will likely dictate whether they decide to unleash the lethal stuff. The more desperate Putin gets, the more likely the chances he’ll unleash the truly horrific shit in the Soviet’s vaults.
Russian forces made confirmed advances near Kreminna and Avdiivka amid continued positional engagements along the entire front line.
There’s been a marked decrease in Ukrainian offensive activity around Bakhmut recently. Avdiivka remains active, and the buildup continues in Kup’yans’k.
ISW reports around Krynky Ukrainian drones are so dense the RF MoD needs to preannounce when their drones are active so their own soldiers don’t try to shoot them down. Tacitly admitting, of course, that Russia is not capable of flying drones at all hours of the day and night.
Russian forces launched a medium-sized drone, missile, and air attack against Ukraine on the night of January 12-13 using a strike package similar to recent Russian strike packages.
Good and bad news here. Bad news first: twelve missiles out of forty got through. No idea what they hit.
Good news: Ukraine neutralized twenty-eight missiles, twenty of which through electronic warfare.
Yeah, apparently Ukraine has a new EW system that can neutralize inbound missiles. We knew this thing...whatever it is...could knock down drones, but this is the first time we’ve seen it deployed against a missile. Most of today’s knockdowns are attributed to this device, something domestically produced and not dependent upon the West’s largesse.
Well done.
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko confirmed that Russian authorities have deported over 2,100 Ukrainians, including 500 children, to Russia for medical reasons in 2023.
Please give Ukraine what they need to bring this to an end.
'Q’ For the Community:
What in your estimation are the strengths and weaknesses of a feudalistic power structure?
Join the conversation over on /r/TheNuttySpectacle.