Putin & Xi are both on tigers they can’t climb off.
For Putin, it is the war in Ukraine which most analysts now agree will grind on well into next year…
Putin still wants most of Ukraine, war outlook grim -U.S. intelligence chief
Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to seize most of Ukraine, but his forces are so degraded by combat that they likely can only achieve incremental gains in the near term, the top U.S. intelligence officer said Wednesday.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, outlining the current U.S. intelligence assessment of the more than four-month war, said that the consensus of U.S. spy agencies is that it will grind on “for an extended period of time.”
…for Xi it is China’s zero covid stance that the CCP now see as essential after boasting endlessly of how they had conquered Covid while the weak West struggled with it…
Alarm in Beijing after announcement zero-Covid policy may last five years
Authorities in Beijing have sparked confusion and alarm after announcing the strict zero-Covid policy could be in place for the next five years, including mass mandatory testing and travel restrictions.
…both despots face existential crisis.
Putin can not risk losing in the Ukraine and I fear will use a battlefield nuke in a sick attempt to cauterize his self inflicted wound by vaporising it. His reign of damage will not end with the Ukraine, and the longer the war goes on, more economic pain for the West, pain I think Russia will strategically see as vital if they want to try and drag themselves out of this blunder.
Xi has staked his reputation on beating covid and have endlessly boasted their superiority in dealing with the pandemic as opposed to the West.
The pain the people of China have endured starts becoming a threat to a paranoid and authoritarian regime and their urgent need to invent an external enemy to fight to take domestic attention away from their own blunders starts becoming necessary.
Putin and Xi have climbed high on their tigers, now they need to try and get off them without being clawed to death.
The rest of us will be forced to live with their attempts to dismount.
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Ah yes, if only China jettisoned its citizens at most risk in favour of continuing commerce, if only they would sensibly jettison all those who might later suffer from disability through long covid, in favour of our insatiable demand for their supply chains
And Putin, he should have endorsed the Minsk accords, he should have been more patient in negotiating security agreements with the west, he should have refused the Donbas when they applied to join the Russian federation in 2014,he should have counselled the 2 rebel republics to remain within Ukrainian borders, he should have stood by between 2014 and 2022 while Ukrainian forces battered and killed their own citizens in the Donbas, he should have raised matters at suitable venues like the Munich security conference and the UN
Ummm, He did all those things
Who’s riding the tiger ?Who’s digging in the spurs?
From where I’m standing its nothing but escalation from Nato and the collective west.
While NATO and the West certainly played a substantial role in creating this conflict, this notion that Putin is somehow protecting the people of Donbass is bullocks! Just so you realize the scale of this lie- in the last two years there were about 7-8 civilian deaths in the Donbass region. Since 24th of Feb this year, there have been about 30k soldiers killed on both sides, and about 10k civilians- mostly Russian speaking in the cities, like Kharkiv, Mariupol etc. Plus 5-7 million refugees created, mostly Russian speaking also. Meanwhile, the citizens of Russia itself pretty much lost or about to lose- civil aviation, civil car manufacturing, modern drugs, access to free information etc etc.. Does that sound like protecting anybody from anything???
patience grasshopper, the war isn’t won in a day
You’re hilarious. There were more than 7-8 THOUSAND civilian deaths at the hands of Maidan coup forces in the Donbass- deaths of civilians that Zelensky and Poroshenko claimed to be ‘Ukrainians’.
You’re right that someone is losing… it’s the supporters of the dictator Zelensky. You are losing everything.
Nato is not bombing apartment buildings in Russia.
The undeniable fact is; The aggressor here is the Russian Federation.
Maybe you would like to repeat your blatant lie Francesca that the Russian Federation’s genocidal war against Ukraine is a response to Ukraine killing 14,000 ethnic Russians in the Donbass.
Ethnic Russian speakers of the Donbas identify the real fascists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgmKygmkqSA
Check out the friendly actions of NATO bombing in the Yugoslavia civil war.
I’ll trade you that video for this one in 2014(how the villagers welcomed the Ukrainian soldiers in 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48MPQwuOdac
The Russian invasion is a last ditch response to Nato and the collective west ‘s refusal to
come to the negotiating table re the security concerns articulated by Russia since at least 2007
If the Ukranian nationalists had not been simply spoiling for a fight, then a negotiated settlement may have been reached before the invasion started – Biden gave them plenty of warning that an invasion was immanent – and a lot damage avoided. Of course, a good part of their bravado was due to the belief that they would receive assistance from the US.
When not appeasing nations seeking regional hegemony (and seekign defence alliances) is spoiling for a fight – like the Czechs and Poles of the 1930’s …
as the poles had a pact with the nazis they probably felt safe, whil;st denying the czechs soviet support forcing stalin into the arms of adolf….so architects of their own misfortune applies in many ways.
That is true.
Hi Ivan
Ted – do your parents know you are on the computer unsupervised?
Given that apartment buildings/schools/hospitals/shopping centers are of zero military significance, I’m pretty sure they are only being targeted because Russian intel will have informed them that Ukraine is using these locations to store weapons/munitions – remember Ukraine are getting literal billions $ worth of equipment from the West and need to store it somewhere for eventual distribution. All the large military sites are already gone, so using shopping center warehouses or (presumably abandoned unless Zelensky is a monster) schools/hospitals/apartment buildings makes perfect sense. Also keep in mind that a lot of people (e.g. Russians) support Russia in Ukraine and will be leaking intel.
China certainly has followed a much more strict policy on lockdowns …It’s almost as if they know more about the origin’s and what exactly the virus is…….Perhaps there is more to this Chinese flu than meets the eye….
When this began lockdowns was a measure to eliminate community spread in the absence of a vaccine – because of the obvious risk to the health system of the original strain and delta. But there is a risk of too much lockdown (deferring treatment for health conditions will have impact over time).
So even nations who chose lockdown ended/moved to end that policy with vaccines. That the omicron variant gets around the vaccine is unfortunate, but does not change that reasoning.
Xi Jinping and yourself might see the widespread infection and risk of long covid as enough reason to stay with lockdown policy (the extent of risk of long covid with omicron is still to be identified). Or he may just be playing for time, adding to the western supply chain inflation problem to assist Russia in destabilising and undermining the West, while not doing anything overt and obvious.
Who manufactured the rebellion in the Donbas because Ukraine decided they would rather be in the EU than a Russia satellite?
That the people of Ukraine wanted to follow the Baltic States and the Warsaw Pact nations into the EU was more than Putin’s Russian one party to rule them all/white race eastern Tsar regime pride could handle.
Francesca you make it sound like the Chinese administration is looking after the health of its people rather than pursing economic interests, because it cares for its people. You may well be right but it also could be linked to the CCPs 20th party Congress taking place in the not too distant future( September/October?). Once that is taken care of there may well be a change of approach.
Chinese people are happy with COVID policy, outside a few liberalized cosmopolitan cities that could use cleaning up, and which through bad leadership caused outbreaks.
Those bad branches will be cut off.
Chinese bot self identifies again.
Excuse me John White but Chinese people are not happy with the lockdowns that are so severe that people starve to death.
lol, some loser expats whinging that they can’t get daily deliveries of white bread aren’t “the Chinese people”
I’m pleased John the Chinese people are happy with the Covid policy they are following…they do not have any choice on the matter…..if you know what I mean…
Always glad to meet a fellow supporter of our last patriotic PM.
I suggest reaching outside the controlled corporate media. The Chinese people are quite capable of making their discontent felt. In a nation of more than a billion people, protests and riots against inefficient local governments do occur on the reg, and are usually handled by the state or national party coming down with an iron fist and sorting out the local officials involved.
China has a government structure that is far more responsive to the concerns of reasonable working people than ours. This is what happens when your government is organized in such a way that government employees- rather than being responsible to noone- are responsible to their supervisors, and so on upwards and upwards to the Central Committee and the President.
Righto Johnski
ted wowsers adding ‘ski’ to a word to make it russian sounding how crashingly original never seen that before ….and insulting to many poles.
In Soviet Russia, cold war relics think they have scored Glorious Victory by adding ‘ski’ onto you.
Comments outweigh the article.
Facts out weigh the trolls.
Partisan ardour seems to be the winner on both sides..
The Russian Federation commits another atrocity against civilians, this time in Odessa.
The thing about smashed apartment buildings, they are hard to deny.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10971627/Russian-missile-strike-apartment-block-Odessa-kills-ten-Ukrainians.html
Whereas using residential apartments as firing posts are very easy to deny in the partisan western press
Again with the pro-war propaganda, Francesca?. Since you have a long proven record as a liar and blood thirsty apologist for Putin’s invasion and war
How about some evidence, if you have any, Francesca, that Ukraine has been using residential apartment blocks as firing posts.
Nothing?
Of course not, you just make things up as you go along, Eh Francesca. Anything to deny the disgusting dirty war tactics practiced against civilian populations by the Russian invader. Tactics honed in Chechnya and Syria and continued into Ukraine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J1gqCp6C0s
This ignores the ability for Putin to define what victory is for his populace.
They went in with the goal of demilitarization of Ukraine which is such a vague goal that he could probably withdraw at any point and claim the goal was achieved.
As for tactical nukes, this is incredibly unlikely as it would not necessarily achieve the tactical goals but would be a strategic blunder the likes of which the world has never seen.
China et al would be forced to sanction Russia lest they face secondary sanctions from a completely united rest of the world.
Read ‘The Duran’ (Youtube and Telgram) to get a WAY MORE balanced and honest view of the Ukraine situation.
The western media is utter P.R and propaganda media, on this topic (at least). If you’d only judge the Western countries (esp USA) by the same rules as you condem Putin, you’d realise he is the better of the two definite evils, w.r.t. Ukraine.
Putin IS bad. War is horrific. BUT the west ‘started this’ and Russia will finish it and clearly win. The wests agression in the world is WAY worse than Putins agression in the Russian ‘sphere of influence’.
Russia have ONLY committed about 20% of their forces in this is a ‘Special military operation’. If they wanted to create a stone age country, which is a western speciality, they’d end this is a week or so. BUT they want a chance of friendly relations after they’ve removed the Nazi element running the Ukraine (since 2014), set up and backed by the USA/NATO.
Some comments on here are naive or just propaganda trolls at worse.
Wake up to the realities sheeple.
The “west started it and resistance is Nazi” parrot was supposed to have died with communist rule of the USSR. That Putin’s white race Christian regime gets the same support, as a different “international cause” of a past era, just demonstrates that some of the oldies have a western guilt and judgement complex (their religion).
1. are still bitter about the one party state left losing (and see hope in Russia because it is allied to China) against the West (liberal democracy/capitalist economics).
2. see western defeat as an opportunity for political chaos they can exploit (a bit like Hitler did the decline of the Weimar Republic).
3. just wanted to be seen as loyal to some greater power than democratic national government (and hope to be rewarded when it is taken power by some new world power).
And they say the Americans waiting for rapture and voting Trump are out there.
The sheeple here won’t even consider it. Stupid Jingoism is winning again.
Sad to see how badly our education system has failed:
no chance of sitting back to do critical evaluation
Suggest that, and some idiot like tedheath will call you ‘Ivan’.
Oh, the tragedy!
Until they allow RT back on the TV/YouTube…everything they say about the conflict…I will not accept at face value.
Exactly. If you we’re not allowed to hear Russian propaganda to balance out our Western propaganda then we’re only getting one-sided propaganda /sarc. You know what would actually be good, non-corrupt MSM news media that is willing to speak the truth even when it’s highly inconvenient for the host country. It’s why I just can’t watch/listen to any MSM right now; we’re getting 24/7 news coverage that is at best useless to be informed and at worst is slowly brainwashing you.
You won’t believe who said this! But it’s true!
“Ukraine is the new Iraq wrapped up with a pretty little NATO bow, with a nuclear present inside,” she wrote.
“The American people do not want war with Russia, but NATO & our own foolish leaders are dragging us into one. We should pull out of NATO.”
Have a guess which American congressman/woman nailed it!
Loved Putins comments on western leaders being fat, unfit and drinking too much
Yeah, it’s not only our leaders.
NZ should jump off the Chinese bandwagon right now. The constant lockdowns in China are screwing our exporters and supply chains. We can no longer rely on their ports or trading infrastructure. It is better for us to jump off the Chinese horse by choice than have China push us off at the worst possible time.
Thanks, communism!
The scapegoat that keeps on giving.
Well said In Vino – Even after both China and Russia embraced capitalism still the corrupt US-led system had to continue demonising them. That’s a better example of “a paranoid and authoritarian regime’s urgent need to invent an external enemy to fight to take domestic attention away from its own blunders becoming necessary,” than ever China has produced.
Yes – I was wondering what the USA would do after the USSR dissolved.
USA always needs an external enemy to demonise. After WW2 there was nobody for a while, but soon Communism filled in that void. I think I remember reading that Truman said he was going to scare the shit out of Congress..
A haitus for a while after 1989-90. But then we had the twin towers, and with the war on Terrorism that external enemy was again available, and exploited multiple times.
Now some idiot is going to accuse me of being anti-American, n’est-ce pas?
CCCP died 30yrs ago freda do try to keep up.
Neither country would be authoritarian dictatorships now if they hadn’t gone through communism first
and your basis for that assertion other than neanderthal xenophobia is…..freda
Freda – you are totally wrong.
Both countries already had a strong culture of authoritarian dictatorship long before they tried communism.
That is precisely why communism failed in both countries: they reverted to that, destroying the communist principles.
Learn some history, for heaven’s sake.
Fair point.
I agree entirely with you on this, Martyn. Dictators are vile, at best a necessary evil. Yes, I wonder if Bainimarama wasn’t the best option in Fiji. Given, democracy and reason are my big things …