Wagner Group declared treasonous; declares war on Russia

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Earlier today, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group, declared that the invasion of Ukraine was unjustified, and that the Russian defence ministry had been falsely telling Putin that NATO was planning on using Ukraine to attack Russia.

This was surprising. I mean, we've all known that the war was unjustified and based on false pretences, but the shocking thing was one of the war's biggest cheerleaders coming out and saying that the emperor has no clothes. He did give himself a little bit of cover by blaming advisors and generals rather than Putin himself (realistically these people would just have been telling Putin what he wanted to hear).

He then announced that Russia had killed large numbers of Wagner fighters in a rocket attack, and he was declaring war on the Russian military leadership. In response, the Ministry of Defence declared that Wagner had committed treason.

Rostov and Moscow are being locked down, especially Rostov (which is just east of Ukraine). Both cities have security personnel on the streets, but Moscow seems to be a few roadblocks with forces on high alert, while Rostov is in full-on lockdown.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... be-stopped

Thoughts with the people of Moscow and Rostov right now, but god, it feels good to see two awful groups of people fighting each other rather than killing innocent Ukrainians.

Funny, we knew the war would result in regime change, but I'm sure I sounded crazy when I've suggested it's Russia who's at risk of that outcome more than Ukraine.

Waiting for Russian state TV to cut to Swan Lake audio. Between Prigozhin and Putin, someone is going out a window soon.

Holy s**t.

This is awesome.

Prigozhin is now claiming control of Rostov. Wagner forces are heading north to Moscow.

Didn’t have this one on my 2023 s**tshow bingo card!

I've been waiting for it to happen (russian political implosion) - I just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Putin built a regime and a culture of iron fists and long knives. He's also 70 years old now, and can't fend off "unfortunate accidents" forever. It was only a matter of time before he sacrificed enough russians in the name of his personal power goals, that he inevitably sacrificed someone with clout - essentially "killing john wick's dog", as it were.

I think he's just as much of a bully, if not more than Putin.

The entire government and armed forces need a good clean out.

Prigozhin has called it off after speaking to Lukashenko (President of Belarus).

This has damaged the Russian war effort as well as infrastructure. Roads to Moscow have been dug up.

Remains to be seen what the long term impact will be.

Damn it!

I was hoping for a lot more.

Yeah.

I thought that he would be like Caesar crossing the Rubicon, and that "the die was cast".

Anticlimactic.

Very interesting that the locals in Rostov were asking the Wagner fighters if there would be a civil war, and one of them said 'no, everything will be fine, don't worry.'

So was the whole thing a set up or play acting? WTF is going on? That question applies to life in general these days doesn't it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdGNwxfX4AI

Here's to a proper Working Class revolution aimed at restoring sanity to Russia and its People

Revolutions nearly always end up badly - look at France or Haiti. In any case, the Russian working class are even more bigoted than the American working class. A new revolution would look more like the storming of the Capitol than the Velvet Revolution.

There's not much hope for Russia becoming a good place. Probably the best we can hope for is St Petersburg gaining self-governance and joining the EU and NATO, maybe bringing a few other cities with it, while Russia transitions to Polish-style democracy. "Rump Russia" probably shouldn't exist, but also probably has to exist - the Caucuses will descend into a horrible ethnic conflict that makes the Balkans seem like a beach holiday if Moscow ever loses its grip.

Poland isn't a good place, but it's probably the best Russia can hope for. Maybe I'm being optimistic and Hungary is actually the best. But a generation or so of democracy resulting in constant Putin-like governments will probably lead to young people adopting a liberal worldview and eventually booting them out.

A lot of people died in the French Revolution but they got rid of the monarchy and started a republic. I think they see that as a success.

70 years the USSR held strong, 60 or so years China's still going (arguably, I'll give you that), Cuba and Vietnam are still there, same for Laos and Cambodia... who else?

just sayin'