Russia's War Against Ukraine

[ArizonaTank]

More seriously, the false flag inciting incidents might or might not be ratcheting up:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/zelensky-warns-of-russian-escalation-as-putin-ally-s-daughter-is-killed/ar-AA10TKTQ?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=e19dc8c3c1bb4fbbb77d775332396d35

(A relatively lengthy article, not mostly about Ms. Dugin being assassinated.)

A shadowy, not before heard from anti-Putin group calling themselves "The Nationalist Republican Army" is taking responsibility.

Who knows if these guys are real. They may just be small group of political hacks opportunistically taking responsibility. The bomb might be the work of an internal power struggle, or just plain old gangster style catching up on old grievances.

But I also think 'internal power struggle' maybe not so much. Defenestration (word of the day...:) ), poison underwear and door handles are more the MO of the guys in power. Bombs have been just too messy for these guys.

I find it hard to believe that the Ukrainians did it just because they would not want to give Putin an excuse to run his own assassination plots, or even drop a nuke on Zelensky's house. But I guess I could see the Ukrainians giving some "Russian Partisans" a little help. As in; 'I know I left that plastic explosive around here somewhere...but it must have fallen off the back of the truck....oh well.'

On the other hand, if all this ends as many of us have said, with Putin going away, then a "Nationalistic Republican Army" is one way it happens. 

From Newsweek:

"Former Russian state deputy Ilya Ponomarev, in an appearance on his Russian-language opposition TV channel "Utro Fevralya" in Kyiv, alleged that Dugina, 30, was killed by Russian partisans from the NRA. He said both Dugin and his daughter were targets. ....

According to Ponomarev, the anti-Putin group, which had been unknown before Dugina's death, authorized him to issue their "manifesto" via his Telegram channel "Rospartisan." The group describes itself as consisting of Russian activists, military members, politicians who are "now fighters and partisans." ....

"We have established contact with NRA fighters via our Rospartisan [Telegram] channel, which covers the rising tide of resistance in Russia. Today the NRA fighters authorized me to read their manifesto," he said, ...

The NRA declared Putin "a usurper of power and a war criminal who amended the Constitution, unleashed a fratricidal war between the Slavic peoples and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless death." It also called officials of the Russian government and regional administrations as well as security officials "accomplices of the usurper.""/i]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/what-is-russia-s-anti-putin-national-republican-army/ar-AA10VA7A?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a858bc323cd44464e95e1f0816a40453

[Gusington]

Poison underwear??  :o

[ArizonaTank]

Poison underwear??  :o

Yep, it is a thing.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/21/navalny-russian-agent-novichok-death-plot

[JasonPratt]

Interesting. If it's a false flag op designed to sacrifice Dugin's daughter to goose support against Ukraine, per se (which is how Russia's government is marketing the attack, of course), it's a subtly unexpected one: Ukraine AND the partisan/terrorist group disavow Ukraine having any knowledge or action of the attack, which Ukraine kind of condemns. ("We don't do that kind of thing; we aren't terrorists.")

From a pragmatic standpoint, at least symbolically (pragmatic symbolism, heh), going after the author of Russia's current "national socialism" ideology does... feel... a lot like an internal civil war move.

Possibly connected to the upcoming expected catastrophic collapse of Russia's industries and key businesses, due to their 6-month reserves running out...? Should be starting about now.

[MengJiao]

More seriously, the false flag inciting incidents might or might not be ratcheting up:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/zelensky-warns-of-russian-escalation-as-putin-ally-s-daughter-is-killed/ar-AA10TKTQ?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=e19dc8c3c1bb4fbbb77d775332396d35

(A relatively lengthy article, not mostly about Ms. Dugin being assassinated.)

A shadowy, not before heard from anti-Putin group calling themselves "The Nationalist Republican Army" is taking responsibility.

Who knows if these guys are real. They may just be small group of political hacks opportunistically taking responsibility. The bomb might be the work of an internal power struggle, or just plain old gangster style catching up on old grievances.

But I also think 'internal power struggle' maybe not so much. Defenestration (word of the day...:) ), poison underwear and door handles are more the MO of the guys in power. Bombs have been just too messy for these guys.

I find it hard to believe that the Ukrainians did it just because they would not want to give Putin an excuse to run his own assassination plots, or even drop a nuke on Zelensky's house. But I guess I could see the Ukrainians giving some "Russian Partisans" a little help. As in; 'I know I left that plastic explosive around here somewhere...but it must have fallen off the back of the truck....oh well.'

On the other hand, if all this ends as many of us have said, with Putin going away, then a "Nationalistic Republican Army" is one way it happens. 

From Newsweek:

"Former Russian state deputy Ilya Ponomarev, in an appearance on his Russian-language opposition TV channel "Utro Fevralya" in Kyiv, alleged that Dugina, 30, was killed by Russian partisans from the NRA. He said both Dugin and his daughter were targets. ....

According to Ponomarev, the anti-Putin group, which had been unknown before Dugina's death, authorized him to issue their "manifesto" via his Telegram channel "Rospartisan." The group describes itself as consisting of Russian activists, military members, politicians who are "now fighters and partisans." ....

"We have established contact with NRA fighters via our Rospartisan [Telegram] channel, which covers the rising tide of resistance in Russia. Today the NRA fighters authorized me to read their manifesto," he said, ...

The NRA declared Putin "a usurper of power and a war criminal who amended the Constitution, unleashed a fratricidal war between the Slavic peoples and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless death." It also called officials of the Russian government and regional administrations as well as security officials "accomplices of the usurper.""/i]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/what-is-russia-s-anti-putin-national-republican-army/ar-AA10VA7A?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a858bc323cd44464e95e1f0816a40453

  Yeah, this is pretty hard to get a handle on.  There is some kind of "resistance" in Russia, but there seems to be no way for anyone to guess at its actual nature.  I suspect (with no real evidence)
its one faction -- probably in the army -- that would like to have more influence on policy so why not blow up some of Putin's cronies or their daughters?  It would be easy for them
to blame the NRA just as it is easy for the Putin crew to blame the Ukrainians.  I see no obvious way to get to the bottom of the reality behind the "resistance" in Russia.

[ArizonaTank]

Interesting. If it's a false flag op designed to sacrifice Dugin's daughter to goose support against Ukraine, per se (which is how Russia's government is marketing the attack, of course), it's a subtly unexpected one: Ukraine AND the partisan/terrorist group disavow Ukraine having any knowledge or action of the attack, which Ukraine kind of condemns. ("We don't do that kind of thing; we aren't terrorists.")

From a pragmatic standpoint, at least symbolically (pragmatic symbolism, heh), going after the author of Russia's current "national socialism" ideology does... feel... a lot like an internal civil war move.

Possibly connected to the upcoming expected catastrophic collapse of Russia's industries and key businesses, due to their 6-month reserves running out...? Should be starting about now.

I have no way of knowing of course, but I just think a political bombing in Moscow makes Putin look weak...and therefore a false flag to blame the Ukrainians is not something he would have chosen. Unless of course he wants to start going after Zelensky personally, or to use the bombing as a pretense to drop a few nukes.

As far as sacrificing his buddy's daughter? I don't think so. Not because Putin would care for her, but because it kind of breaks gangster rules (and in my simplistic way, I've always seen Russia as what it would be like if the mafia ruled a country). By that I mean, Dugina was one of his captain's daughters, and killing her would cause a break with Dugin. 

Still, pretty much everything the Russians have said has been a lie. So on that evidence alone, I think we can guess that it wasn't the Ukrainians.   

[JasonPratt]

It's been literally gangster rule since the Red October, so that analytical framework makes as much sense as anything else to go on!

Having said that, it would only cause a rift with Dugin if Dugin knew who really did it. Would he, though? ....surely he'd be suspicious in any case, and for him suspicions might be enough? (Or, was Dugin starting to edge toward coup-ville and this was a warning shot?) Does literally ANYONE know why it happened at this point?? In a government that has lived by lies for so long, so endemically, so thoroughly permeated in the governmental levels themselves (for their own self-protection and competition for power), too much truth may have been sacrificed for power for any possibility of reality to be distinguished anymore. Except the reality of another death.

[GDS_Starfury]

it took years in the making to happen but Pratt finally posted a short, clear and concise post about something!

[ArizonaTank]

OPSEC rule number 127: "Don't let tourists post pictures of your air defenses on social media."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/russian-vacationers-inadvertently-expose-air-defenses-research-suggests/ar-AA10VPPI?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a3c4f8a2d3344df090d4a93e4f08a72b

[Gusington]

Another timeless image

[Sir Slash]

The vehicle in that image is a massively overweight huge-tubed thing with giant spare tires. And the other one is an Air-Defense System.

[GroggyGrognard]

VERY much doubt this was Ukraine.

The thing is Dugin is a threat to Putin as far as his ideology would justify a mass mobilization of Russians and an outright commitment to the destruction of Ukraine. This would be a dangerous path for Putin to follow if his sole interest is preserving power. Seems like an internal struggle.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

"Some Russian opposition activists have speculated that the murder may have been orchestrated by forces inside Russia keen to discourage ultra-nationalists like Dugin from criticising the Kremlin for being, in their eyes, too soft on Ukraine. The killing could serve as a pretext for another crackdown on people regarded as internal enemies, they said."

[GroggyGrognard]

Another timeless image

The Russian kit problems don't seem to be improving.

[Uberhaus]

The vehicle in that image is a massively overweight huge-tubed thing with giant spare tires. And the other one is an Air-Defense System.

You forgot badly burnt.

[MengJiao]

VERY much doubt this was Ukraine.

The thing is Dugin is a threat to Putin as far as his ideology would justify a mass mobilization of Russians and an outright commitment to the destruction of Ukraine. This would be a dangerous path for Putin to follow if his sole interest is preserving power. Seems like an internal struggle.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

"Some Russian opposition activists have speculated that the murder may have been orchestrated by forces inside Russia keen to discourage ultra-nationalists like Dugin from criticising the Kremlin for being, in their eyes, too soft on Ukraine. The killing could serve as a pretext for another crackdown on people regarded as internal enemies, they said."

  In a Scooby-do episode, Dugin would have blown up his own daughter.  After all he did get out of the vehicle that was blown up just before it got blown up.  "Sherriff Dugin!  It was you all along
in the Grubby Ghost Suit!"  His quotes about her and her utterances sound so ludicrous as to make you wonder if she said something like "Dad, maybe we could do something else?"  So he blew her up
before she could mess up his message. Rutrow!