Putin seems truly desperate.
The young & well-educated are fleeing as fast as they can, so Putin calls them "fifth column" & "national traitors.
He announces that he will seize the firms and real estate of emigres.
He mobilizes convicts and prison guards to Ukraine.
He dares not declare a state of emergency and close the borders.
Running out of soldiers in Ukraine, he is trying to recruit Syrian mercenaries against purported Slavid brothers.
Lavrov & Peskov talk about possible agreement with Ukraine, but Putin denies that (just like Hitler).
The Western sanctions have become devastating to the Russian economy, which is now quickly becoming as isolated as North Korea.
Russia's losses in Ukraine are enormous, and the Ukrainians now forecast that they can clean out the Russians in two weeks if not nuked.
Whatever Putin does, he does not look as if he can survive for long after he has revealed how great his madness is. Why fight for a mad loser without values or ideology?

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More from @anders_aslund

Mar 17
Putin's meeting with officials on economic issues on March 16 records his greatest madness to date. Putin made a 15 pages speech, which would make Hitler look like a moderate until the bunker.
Conclusion: Putin is in the bunker.
en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
Putin devoted the first four pages to repeat all his lies about Ukraine: "our diplomatic efforts were in vain. We have been left with no peaceful alternative to settle the problems that developed through no fault of ours...we were forced to begin this special military operation."
"The operation is being carried out successfully, in strict conformity with the approved plan.
...encouraged by the United States and other Western countries, Ukraine was purposefully preparing for a scenario of force, a massacre and an ethnic cleansing in Donbass."
Read 14 tweets
Mar 15
Tough new EU sanctions on Russia for Ukraine, 4th package:
1. A full prohibition of any transactions with certain Russian State-owned enterprises across different sectors - the Kremlin's military-industrial complex.
ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…
2. An EU import ban on those steel products currently under EU safeguard measures, amounting to approximately € 3.3 billion in lost export revenue for Russia.
3. A far-reaching ban on new investment across the Russian energy sector.
4. An EU export ban on luxury goods (e.g. luxury cars, jewellery, etc.) to directly hit Russian elites.
5. More oligarchs and business elites linked to the Kremlin & companies active in military and defence areas & actors active in disinformation sanctioned.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 15
Russia has started an illegitimate, unprovoked & unjustified war against peaceful Ukraine. The West had better provide all kinds of arms since 2014 to help Ukraine DEFEND itself. Instead, the West has been afraid that it would be PROVOCATIVE to deliver defensive arms to Ukraine.
Today, we should have overcome the idea that the delivery of any defensive arms to a country attacked by Russia's army would be provocative. RUSSIA has already started its war against Ukraine. Decent people stand up for the poor and weak. And the West?
Today, Ukraine demands three things from the West:
1. A new fly-zone (as in Iraq)
2. Stronger air defense.
3. Fighter jets.
There is no reason for the West not to deliver all three since it is Russia that is the blatant & ruthless aggressor.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 12
I have repeatedly claimed that Putin is today's Hitler. For long, it was not accepted to compare Stalin with Hitler, but then Lord Bullock published his outstanding book "Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives" in 1993 & we got a decent comparison. We need to start now with Putin.
Hitler & Putin have many similarities. I stay out of their simple backgrounds, but they were both racists, neo-imperialist, anti-democratic, alien to human values, furious & not very rational, though Hitler was fast & Putin rather slow.
Their defining moments were for Hitler the start of World War II against Poland on September 1, 1939, & for Putin the start of World War III against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. These were two unjustified & unprovoked wars of aggression, the worst international war crime.
Read 9 tweets
Mar 12
The three main sanctioning jurisdictions, the US, EU & UK should coordinate their personal sanctions of Russian oligarchs, as an oligarch sanctioned in one jurisdiction can thrive in another. Let me review the top 8 Putin oligarchs.
1. Arkady Rotenberg: sanctioned by the US & EU in 2014.
2. Yuri Kovalchuk: sanctioned by the US & EU in 2014.
3. Gennady Timchenko: sanctioned by the US in 2014, but only now by the EU & UK, Finnish citizen.
4. Boris Rotenberg: sanctioned by the US in 2014, & now by the UK, but still not by the EU. He lives in Finland & is a Finnish citizen. He owns the ice-hockey stadium in Helsinki, so US diplomats are not allowed to visit it.
Read 7 tweets
Mar 12
There is one cause of the current Russian assault on Ukraine: Vladimir Putin. Everything that he has said to justify this unjustifiable act is a lie. Since he says nothing but lies, we can ignore what he says. He is daily committing crimes against humanity.
By all accounts, Putin qualifies as a terrorist. The US set a bounty of $25 mn on the heads of each of Osama bin Laden of Al-Quaeda and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of ISIS, and they were duly executed.
Furthermore, Putin has threatened, planned and attempted to kill Zelensky (with Kadyrovites) so he is worse than bin Laden and al-Bahgdadi.
Read 5 tweets

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