Invasion of Ukraine • Page 48

I'm not quite sure how much to buy into what a self-described "conservative/libertarian" who "fell down the crypto rabbit hole" has to say, but obviously war leads to massive crackdowns and repression no matter how "virtuous" one side may proclaim to be. None of it is particularly surprising, unfortunately, although propaganda from both directions would make you think otherwise (the smear campaign against Amnesty International simply doing their jobs being one of the more egregious examples of this from the Western side).

All the more reason why peace deal, as opposed to "weakening Russia" should have been a priority from the beginning before it became too late and it got to the point where neither side had any interest in negotiating. I'm hoping the current offensive and Russian military collapse indicates that we're nearing an end soon-ish, but that still feels mostly like a pipe dream at the moment

 

https://ukrainetoday.org/2022/09/12...ximalist-war-goals-as-russian-lines-collapse/

 

Did I just miss it, or did he not get into why he's calling for an end to sanctions against Russia by the collective West...?

I heard them ask him about it as a question, and he mentioned how countries all around the world don't support them because they don't find them effective, they don't like the idea of the US govt or European govts sanctioning anyone they don't like, and they don't support their interests. Was that his answer, as in he was saying that's how he himself feels as well...?

 

thank you. How is Stuart?

 

“And the most important thing: coups d’etat are always the handiwork of the elite, and the elite in Russia are millionaires and billionaires, people who got used to working and earning their money in Russia until Thursday, but on Friday, we’re already off to London or Nice, or wherever. All their kids are there, in the West, getting an education. All their wives are there, and, most importantly, what are they going to do about their young mistresses?

Then there’s the fact that all the crypto markets are closed to them, and all the F.S.B. guys had a ton of money in crypto. There were the domestic mutual funds that had 7 trillion rubles invested in them because in 2019 Putin told everyone to bring their money home and invest in these mutual funds and now they’ve gone tits up.

All the oligarchs who have been sanctioned, they’re weeping because they have absolutely no idea how they’re going to go on with life. Before they thought, Oh, all the proles can live in dirty Russia, but we’ll live in the big civilized world. That’s over now. After 2014, they still managed to travel on two passports because the British authorities closed their eyes to it. But not anymore. It’s all over for them. One of these oligarchs called me to complain that he literally can’t buy groceries abroad because his accounts are all frozen. Even Putin’s oligarchs—their yachts have been seized, their villas in Italy, too. Viktor Vekselberg is having his American property searched. When I ask them, what percentage [of the oligarchs] support the war? They tell me at most 30 percent support it. That means at least 70 percent are against it. Those are the people who understand their lives are simply over.

That’s why I think this can’t last too much longer. This will be a long, hard winter.”


Fear and Loathing in Moscow

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-happens-to-russia-after-it-loses

 

Great summary of recent events

 

They are just starting to scratch the surface in uncovering the atrocities and horrors these people endured for 6+ months.