Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain why these people are being targeted?
The oligarchs are putting pressure on Putin because the war with Ukraine is straining the economy (to include the oil industry). The oligarchs have a lot of money, which translates to power. Putin is going to assassinate anyone who attempts to wield power.
New armchair QB.
Kind of. I don't really know what's going on over there, but I have traveled and seen how their neighbors think. I have a slightly different take based upon how I see Communist Official logic working.
Remember that the only real injection of large amounts of hard currency into the country right now are petro dollars. The only account separation between petro dollars and the war effort are via the bankers. Why waste time transferring funds here and there when patriotic Russians should just make it all available at once? And it helps if the BRIC friends help with the laundry. Why bother with troublesome account sanctions, when the BRIC buddies can help out? It's the Easy Button. Problem solved! Plus, if anyone had any last minute travel plans, it always helps to have a friend.
And it's not just the war effort that needs funding.
Party officials are sad - sadder than the grumpyness depicted by the monument to N.N. Muravjov-Amursky and the embankment in Khabarovsk (on the 5,000 ruble note). Shelves are emptying, so there's not much to buy. Pregnant widows and babushkas tell them sad things. The ruble isn't stretching as far as it used to nowadays. Paying in Rubles is troublesome when its value changes so much. What can turn that frown into a smile? There are a lot of happy faces printed on other nation's currencies - hard currencies. But if that paycheck ever stops.. well.. it would make the dacha less fun, and no one wants to be that sad. To who and for what would Russians transfer funds to? Who knows. The only place Russians are still welcome is China? Putin could cash out, hole up in some Chinese mountain range palace (like the one he built), and no one would be the wiser. Why would he do that? Is that a win-win for Putin?
Maybe. China would most likely be the big winner out of any U.S.-Russian conflict. To get rid of his enemies within and NATO at the same time? Is that calculus something a former-KGB agent would think of? When the lower level party officials are threatening nuclear war, they are usually parroting someone above them. Medvedev, Ryabkov, Kiselyov.. “Why do we need a world if Russia is not in it?”
https://www.newsweek.com/russian-official-issues-stark-nuclear-warning-us-chess-game-death-1739674
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russia-warns-us-off-sending-long-range-weapons-89225498
https://worldnewstimes.com/why-do-we-need-a-world-if-russia-is-not-in-it-state-tv-presenter-opens-show-with-ominous-address/
Now, where would this leave all of his loyal foreign staff, deep-cover secret agents, bodyguards, communist officials? Well, I'm sure they can all fill in the blanks themselves.
It's interesting to speculate, isn't it? This would make a great fiction book!
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