Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Russia in March 2024. In accordance with electoral law, the first round will be held on Sunday, 17 March. If no candidate receives more than half the vote, a second round will take place exactly three weeks later on 7 April 2024.
According to retired U.S. Army general Barry McCaffrey and other sources, "Choke Out" was a young Yevgeny Prigozhin's first commercial venture. The famed Wagner Group magnate was just a teenager, prowling the nighttime streets of Leningrad (now St Petersburg), when he encountered a young, stylishly dressed woman. One of Prigozhin's accomplices approached the woman, courteously asking her for a "light", while Prigozhin slipped around behind her and grabbed her throat with his hands, restricting the airflow to her lungs until she became unconscious. Prigozhin and an accomplice deftly removed the woman's leather boots and earrings, with a mind to strategically redirecting the merchandise towards the second hand fashion market.
Buoyed by this first commercial success, the enterprising young Prigozhin was soon busily burglarizing Leningrad apartments, already exhibiting the trademark ambition and savvy that would later serve him so well as Putin's "chef" and eventually, the CEO of Wagner Group.
During World War Two, neither the United States or Great Britain went so far as to shut down all party and electoral politics, but neither the United States or Great Britain had to fight on their home soil against invading armies.
What kind of a doofus thinks that Ukraine should be expected to have party and electoral politics at a time when its major cities are the targets of intermittent missile and drone attacks, its military is fully engaged in fighting against Russian invaders, and millions of Ukrainians have become refugees in other countries or have become internally displaced from their homes and neighborhoods?
The only Orthodox churches that were shut down or restricted were churches with clergy that were seen to have pro-Russian leanings.
The dictator is Vladimir Putin, not Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to retired U.S. Army general Barry McCaffrey and other sources, "Choke Out" was a young Yevgeny Prigozhin's first commercial venture. The famed Wagner Group magnate was just a teenager, prowling the nighttime streets of Leningrad (now St Petersburg), when he encountered a young, stylishly dressed woman. One of Prigozhin's accomplices approached the woman, courteously asking her for a "light", while Prigozhin slipped around behind her and grabbed her throat with his hands, restricting the airflow to her lungs until she became unconscious. Prigozhin and an accomplice deftly removed the woman's leather boots and earrings, with a mind to strategically redirecting the merchandise towards the second hand fashion market.
Buoyed by this first commercial success, the enterprising young Prigozhin was soon busily burglarizing Leningrad apartments, already exhibiting the trademark ambition and savvy that would later serve him so well as Putin's "chef" and eventually, the CEO of Wagner Group.
Rinse, I am very much enjoying the fact that the left on Twitter was fawning over Prigozhin last weekend. He was their new hero.
... was to emphasize how thrilled the left was with Prigozhin... and yet also emphasizing what I've known all along... the left believes supporting Ukraine is somehow an attack on Republicans. Which that post was... a dig to Republicans... HA HA... look, the good people will win, take that Republicans. No one except the Communist Party USA (who is very quiet lately) wants Putin to win. Everyone... I mean everyone, wants Putin to lose.
But it was very hilarious to me how quickly the left was willing to immediately fawn over LITERALLY the person responsible for the Internet Research Agency, because they believed the propaganda (which he's known for) that something was going to happen. It didn't even last an afternoon.
But those 3 hours were rife with fantastic stories like... "Putin has fled Moscow..." or, "Putin is preparing a statement from his bunker..."
I can enjoy this, because this moment encompasses pretty much everything I've been expressing is wrong with the left, and how quickly they're willing to follow anything so long as the media-led narrative tells them to. Absolutely no critical thought.
I wasn't ecstatic about Choke Out pioneer Yevgeny Prigozhin or the prospects for his "March for Justice" from Rostov-on-Don towards Moscow when it first started to break as a news story. Just hopeful. I'm still hopeful that it augurs something better for Ukraine, and better for the decent people in Russia. Obviously, that is still very much to be seen.
I don't "do" Twitter. Sometimes I will go to Twitter to follow a link from a news story, or a link that someone posts on this forum.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 06-29-2023).]
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s "March on Moscow" has not enhanced his overall standing with ordinary Russians, according to the Levada Center, an organically Russian research group, not directly controlled by the Russian government, that conducts research on Russia.
"Poll reveals Prigozhin’s approval rating slashed in half in aftermath of insurrection, while Putin’s reportedly remains unchanged" Meduza; June 29, 2023. https://meduza.io/en/news/2...ly-remains-unchanged
This photo of a smiling Yevgeny Prigozhin is from 2022, and almost a year before the Wagner group maneuver inside of Russia that now coincides with a 50 percent nosedive in his popularity among ordinary Russians, according to the Levada Center.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 06-30-2023).]
"Kremlin says Wagner chief Prigozhin met with Putin after attempted rebellion" Anna Chernova for CNN; July 10, 2023.
quote
Wagner private military company chief Yevgeny Prigozhin met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin after his short-lived mutiny at the end of June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
Putin held a meeting with more than 30 military commanders on June 29, and Prigozhin also attended, said Peskov during his daily call with the media.
Peskov was responding to a report in the French newspaper Liberation, which said Prigozhin had been to the Kremlin since his abortive mutiny.
“Indeed, the President held such a meeting. He invited 35 people, [including] all unit commanders and the leadership of the campaign, including Prigozhin himself.”
“This meeting took place in the Kremlin on June 29 and lasted for almost 3 hours. Its details are not known. The only thing we can say is that the President gave an assessment of the actions of the campaign at the front during the special military operation, as well as of the events of June 24,” Peskov said, referring latterly to the short-lived uprising during which Wagner troops marched towards Moscow.
“Putin listened to the explanations provided by the commanders and offered them further options for deployment and of further combat use," added Peskov.
Last week, Peskov said the Kremlin had neither "the ability nor the desire" to track Prigozhin's movements.
There has been widespread speculation about where the Wagner leader has been since the aborted mutiny on June 23-24.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered an agreement for him to move to Belarus, but said last week Prigozhin was not in the country.
"Abominable Showman: the rise of Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin"
A good one, eh? I love those newsroom-style witticisms. Come up with a good "teaser" and I'll sit still just to watch paint dry. Like a famished man, wolfing a dinner plate's worth of flavored-up cardboard.
