Putin Gets Desperate

He has ordered a partial mobilization. In a speech this morning, he ladled out his standard lies about his war of aggression.

I wonder if anyone in Russia is going to ask why they need to call up over a quarter-million men in order to replenish the less than 6,000 KIA that the Russians claim to have suffered.

The number is certainly much, much larger. According to StrategyPage, a leaked budget report calls for a level of spending on survivor's pensions that equates to close to 49,000 killed, which is close to the Ukrainians' estimate of 54,000 KIA.

The tide in the world is shifting against Russia. Putin, who has famously kept other nations' leaders waiting for him, has found that the shoe is on the other foot.

Tells a lot about new perception of Russia by other countries. Putin is one who waits. pic.twitter.com/9XhwWhJMFa

— Sead Turčalo (@sturcalo) September 17, 2022

Here is Mick Ryan's analysis:

The speech from Putin today is a careful balancing act of a leader under pressure, who is trying to: 1. please hardliners and Russian milbloggers; 2. not displease the general populace; 3. appease the military; 4. give the impression he is not losing a war. 1/20 🧵

— Mick Ryan, AM (@WarintheFuture) September 21, 2022

There is one thing that I think is underpinning the sham referenda in Russian-occupied areas: As I understand it, the Russian Army is prohibited from sending conscripts to fight outside of Russian territory. So if the Russians proclaim that the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts are part of Russia, they can send conscripts there to be ground into hamburger. They can send the reservists being called up to fight there.

No matter what Tuckyo Rose and his team of Putin-sycophants may spew, the war is not going well for the Ruscists. This is when the free nations of the Earth should be giving the Ukranians every type of weapon that they can use which does not have a CBR warhead.