Some key takeaways :
The Kremlin struggled to cohere an effective rapid response to Wagner’s advances, highlighting internal security weaknesses likely due to surprise and the impact of heavy losses in Ukraine.
Putin unsurprisingly elected to back the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and its ongoing efforts to centralize control of Russian irregular forces (including Wagner) over Prigozhin.
The Lukashenko-brokered agreement will very likely eliminate Wagner Group as a Prigozhin-led independent actor in its current form, although elements of the organization may endure under existing and new capacities.
Prigozhin likely gambled that his only avenue to retain Wagner Group as an independent force was to march against the Russian MoD, likely intending to secure defections in the Russian military but overestimating his own prospects.
The optics of Belarusian President Lukashenko playing a direct role in halting a military advance on Moscow are humiliating to Putin and may have secured Lukashenko other benefits.
The Kremlin now faces a deeply unstable equilibrium. The Lukashenko-negotiated deal is a short-term fix, not a long-term solution, and Prigozhin’s rebellion exposed severe weaknesses in the Kremlin and Russian MoD.
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The whole operation does have an air of incompetence around it. Either coup or don’t coup, don’t half-ass it. The guy seems like a loose cannon, and I’m surprised that they’re essentially going to let him go. Maybe they’re just happy to have him out of the way.
I’d argue that’s how you know the CIA wasn’t involved. They’re better at coups than this.
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The West doesn’t actually want a destabilized Russian Federation. Could you imagine a rabid dog like Prigozhin in possession of nuclear weapons?
In terms of US agencies expecting it, yeah anyone following exploits of Prigozhin could see there was a probability of something like this happening. It was only somewhat surprising, but a scenario that’s been considered.
I think the stance on Putin and the Russian Federation is like Batman’s stance on Ra’s al Ghul. “I’m not going to kill you, but I don’t have to save you either.”
A coup on Putin may result in the collapse of the Russian Federation just as the coup on Gorbachev resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union. While a collapse of the Russian Federation isn’t really in the best interests of the West (because keeping nukes under one roof is preferable) at this point Putin is proliferating nukes to Belarus, and it seems Russia is just behaving in a self destructive way in general. We’re at a point where trying to prop up the Russian Federation for the sake of nuclear security may not be worth it anymore. It may not even be possible.
At any rate It’s very doubtful the CIA or any other Western intelligence agency had a hand in this. Ukrainian intelligence is possible. Given Ukraine is under threat of nuclear attack anyway, the’ye more willing to gamble. If this were the case Western intelligence probably were aware and just let it happen.
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Who goaded Russia into a war? Do you consider Ukraine existing as a sovereign democracy to be a provocation?
Haha please tell me you’re joking. The only reason Russia avoided a coup is because they gave into the demands of the rebels.
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Chomsky LOL. An old communist that doesn’t know what decade it is anymore.
Why not give me Henry Kissinger’s take on it too?
Here’s a fun fact: Anyone less than 32 years old wasn’t even alive when the Soviet Union existed. How time flies, huh?
Only people middle-aged or older actually care about all this cold war spheres of influence bullshit. And this is extremely relevant when you consider the age group that actually fights the wars. In fact many of the people fighting this war were either children or not born when most of this stuff you quoted were said.
In the world of today, Ukraine is a sovereign democracy. Ukraine has the right to determine whether it wants to be part of the EU, NATO, or any other organization, alliance, or treaty it wants to be a part of. Ukraine has the right to self-determination, and doesn’t need to ask Russia’s permission for anything it wants to do. And as a democracy they enjoy the support of other democracies in the world.
I grant you Putin was probably going under the decades old and obsolete logic you are. In the world of today, Putin is sending young men to die to restore a map that hasn’t existed in their lifetimes. Meanwhile Ukrainians are fighting to defend their country from foreign invasion. They’re fighting for their independence and freedom.
This is why Russia can’t win. It’s why Putin was stupid to even attempt this. Too much time has passed and the world of the Chomsky and Kissinger just doesn’t exist for the people that are actually fighting this war.
The “you kids don’t understand!” doesn’t really work when there’s a war on. Because in a war, the kids that “don’t understand” are the people with weapons in their hands.
I haven’t been following closely but the Kremlin obviously thought the physical threat was credible enough to effectively move the capital. He stopped because a deal was struck, and we know some of the terms of that deal.