BBC News
3 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2022
1:47 · 4.7M views · Feb 23, 2022
A BBC News clip of Putin pressing Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin to speak clearly during a televised meeting on recognizing the rebel-held Ukrainian regions in February 2022.
HN cites it as a glimpse of a fearful, disorganized Russian leadership just before the invasion of Ukraine.
3 comments from Hacker News
(I'm Russian). This war was started by a single madman. If not him, it would never happen. Even his spy chief was fucked up [0] when he realized what's going to happen. Yes — at least 70% support whatever he does — and I tried hard to disprove this painful fact to myself. But couldn't. The only excuse is the 20 years of hardcore TV brainwashing — but it's not too great of an excuse. Better than in nazi Germany, but not enough. All that cultural banter the article mentions never caused any actual sense of war — it was more like a Texan joking about a Canadian. I don't know how to live with this shame. Can't even post in Russian, at local forums. All those stupid faces in the 'do you support the war' Youtube steet interviews… Yes, there are others — Navalny was poisoned, and is now behind the bars. Nemtsov was murdered in front of Kremlin long before the war. Kasparov, Nevzorov condemned this crime. Hundreds of thousands of IT left the country — unable to fight unarmed. But still… Trying to drown myself in English, jokes, work to keep the sanity. Doesn't work half of the times. Jokes clumsy, work fucked. Ukraine is now a moral leader of Europe. It will be restored — every single broken window. And people will live free and proud. It's my only bright cloud now. [0] Fucked up spy chief — this video
Don't underestimate the reliance a dictator has on his cronies. There's a really good video about this by CGP Grey that talks about dictatorships: [LINK] And then think about some of the latest updates: - nuclear threat - increasing embassy protests - seemingly total reliance on a new actor with a yet unknown trust wordiness ( i don't think anyone wants to be associated with Russia currently) - travel restrictions for the rich + family ( superyacht, flights, ... ) - real estate seizure - money seizure - reduced currency value - halved bank reserves ( because of seizure) - potential family issues ( a lot of Russians have Ukraine ties/origin) - family protests on the streets, civilian unrest ( anti-war), as I think most Russians don't want to be related as an aggressor - neglect of his cronies worries - booting off Swift/Switzerland and large expansion of targetted individuals Something really seems off internally: eg. this video
Even this recent video, which presents a bad look for their leadership, they were alright with it being public; it must be the best case, and it subtly presents a leadership structure within the Russian government that is both disorganized, and systemically fearful of Putin. [1] this video