Analysis | Kremlin response to Kursk incursion shows how Putin freezes in a crisis

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/08/18/vladimir-putin-kursk-crisis-reponse/

by Barch3

13 comments

  2. Say Kursk incursion 5 times fast. My mouth stumbled over this 😂

  3. I still remember watching the Kursk submarine disaster unfold when I was about 15 or so, and I didnt understand why Putin wouldnt accept outside help, immediately. And then Beslan.

    Watch the movie called, ‘The Command’, if you havent seen it. Quite dramatized and depressing, but it focuses on the Kursk disaster.

    I was young but was interested in geo-politcs and warfare. Tactics and strategy came later, but I always remembered how Russia reacted to such crises, and it really doesnt seem that Putin has changed at all.

    What has changed, is his totalitarian grip over Russia. Anyone who paid attention could see it coming, as each year, especially after about 2010, laws were slowly introduced to increase his power.

    In my estimation, Russia has been at war with the west for well over a decade. Most just didnt see it coming, or are in denial. Others, are more open to an authoritative type of government. Its all about power.

    In 1936, after the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy, the ruler of Ethiopia had this to say:

    “I did not wish for war, that it was imposed upon me … and in that struggle I was the defender of the cause of all small States exposed to the greed of a powerful neighbor.” – Haile Selassie

    He has a lot of other powerful quotes as well, if one cares to look into the roots of WW2.

    As we know, the war grew and grew. Its just beginning now.

  4. Putin is scared shitless- and the western leaders are unreasonably scared of him for some weird reason

  5. Who is going to tell Putin (one day) that the Kerch bridge has been destroyed?

    I want to see video of that meeting.

  7. There’s an anecdote from Putin’s childhood in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), as recorded in a book by a couple of Russian journalists in March 2000. (It’s been translated to English with the title *First Person*, and can be purchased on Amazon for about $10.)

    >There, on that stair landing, I got a quick and lasting lesson in the meaning of the word *cornered*. There were hordes of rats in the front entryway. My friends and I used to chase them around with sticks. Once I spotted a huge rat and pursued it down the hall until I drove it into a corner. It had nowhere to run. Suddenly it lashed around and threw itself at me. I was surprised and frightened. Now the rat was chasing me. It jumped across the landing and down the stairs. Luckily, I was a little faster and I managed to slam the door shut in its nose.

    This little “cornered rat” story has become a major part of how people, especially in the West, analyze Putin’s motives and expected responses. If you Google “putin cornered rat” you get thousands of hits, many of them long and detailed articles about Putin’s psychology, all based on this tiny little anecdote from Putin’s childhood.

    The strange thing is that almost all these articles are based on the assumption that Putin’s expected actions in situations where he might feel cornered are based on the response of the rat. The idea is that if/when Putin feels he is “getting cornered”, then he will lash out and attack, just as the rat did.

    Why? Isn’t a more obvious lesson to be learned from this story the idea that when Putin is attacked, that he’ll back down and run away, just as he did when he was a child?

  8. I think the real pressure on Putin will be economic. Things are just going to keep getting worse for the population.

  9. That’s been Putin’s motto since… well, at least since he got into the spotlight. Freeze and ride out problematic situations, and back out when his bluffs are called. He’s only ever “good” at this game when he _knows_ he can exploit a weakness. Then, he’s ruthless. Then, he doubles down to mere pushback.

    If he loses the upper hand, he seems to fold, very reliably.

  10. It’s a time honored tradition, I’m pretty sure Stalin hid when the Nazis invaded and it took a while before anyone heard from him

  11. Just like he froze when Wagner rolled on Moscow. He knows he’s holding in to power by a thread. If only the Russians would recognize it and depose his ass already.

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