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Moscow’s grinding offensive in eastern Ukraine that is claiming around 1,000 casualties a day for minimal territorial gains could make it dip further into its pool of human resources.
“The Kremlin appears to be setting conditions for potential mobilization and is preparing for possible civil unrest in Russia resulting from mobilization,” the US-based think tank said in its latest assessment.
Wow, this is incredible.
Why?? What does Ukraine have that they'd so desperately want that they'd send so much population to die and risk a civil war for it?
It's partially due to Putin's fear of admitting they can't win.
Why fear? You can just say oopsie, we didn't expect the whole Europe and the west to throw their military might behind Ukraine, obviously we can't fight them all. We did our best! Here are your sons back.
Probably would be fine. Great even. I'm sure people would love their family back in one piece.
Being able to do that without losing face is one possible theory to why he keeps provoking NATO countries even while his three day special military operation is stalling at day 1609 with no end in sight - if they retaliated and joined in properly, he gets an excuse to stop as to not "continue" to WW3.
Yeah, that doesn't account for his loss in the opening days, when the NATO nations were clearly preparing to write off the conquest of Ukraine as a terrible thing but do nothing substantive about it.
Putin wanted to be cemented in history as bringing back a powerful Russia, and now he has an embarrassment. Dude is 73 and knows he has fewer years ahead than behind and it is now or never for his legacy.
He might not be afraid for his safety or his people, but for his legacy.
Ukraine is resource rich and seen as Russia's soft underbelly. Kremlin is also insecure that their access to Sevastopol is only on a leased basis. That's why they took the entire Crimea.
I think putin also wants to reassemble the USSR territories.
Far as I have heard, Ukraine was the industrial and agricultural backbone of USSR.
Beyond that, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics, notably on Ukraine. They see Ukraine as a key political necessity for resurrecting the power structure that they see as having been lost in the early 90s. Read about UK and US and you'll see a lot of familiar material there in terms of what Russia has actively worked toward.
Putin has a psychological need to take things that aren’t his. He once walked out of the Guggenheim with one of the exhibits just because he could.
Russia's conservatives believe Ukraine harbors elite Nazis who are leading NATO's active attack on Russian sovereignty. It's not unlike American conservatives believing there's a caravan of Mexican migrants coming to rape their women and steal their jobs. If A.) Russia loses in Ukraine or B.) the lie falls apart, the people might wake up from their amygdaline stupor just long enough to realize how much Putin has stolen from the people and destroyed their economy and will string him up Mussolini-style.
Resources, land, workforce and, probably, to resurrect the USSR back by conquering most of neighboring countries similar to collecting infinity stones for the Thanos glove.
make it dip further into its pool of human resources.
Remember, HR is there to protect the ~~company~~ Kremlin, not you!
From what I'm hearing, the Russian people are kind of pissed he's been lollygagging, rather than finishing it.
Russian incompetence in this war quite frankly exceeds the level of Soviet collapse by an order of magnitude. I like to think Trump is being played by Putin, but it sure does seem like they’re on pretty much the same level strategically.
What a perfect example of Soviet-style fascism. Putin needs a lead lobotomy.
I disagree that they're on the same level strategically. This is only bad for Putin if he cares about Russian people. He doesn't, so it's not a failure. This was/is about legacy building. He's a modern emperor fighting an endless war because admitting defeat would look bad. Ironically, it's exactly what led to the last Russian emperor to be removed by the people.
It might even be intentional cultural and ethical cleansing, by disproportionally sending out the non-white non-“Russian” population to the meat grinder..
He does not care about the people, he cares about what those people might do to him. His legacy is now one of the worst leaders, like we are talking about in 50 years having a good chuckle reading about his massive failure that called itself an "empire".
I have been saying for years that Putin’s intelligence is mediocre at best. People kept telling me he had The Big Brain (even those who hate him).
Compared to Trump he's a genius, but that's mostly because Trump could probably be diagnosed with a serious intellectual deficiency if any honest doctor got the chance to examine him.
In terms of real intelligence, Putin's no mastermind, though. Americas problems can't be blamed on Russian manipulation, since any manipulation on their part is inept at best. You got yourself into your current mess all by yourselves.
He embraced ~~neonazism~~ liberalism, which the architect of Liberal Shock Therapy has said repeatedly is a mistake, so maybe he's not unintelligent, but like the rest of the Good Guy Liberals©, is just doing Kabuki theatre until he, too, can get to his bunkers.
The assessment of Putin is quite accurate. He could only do low intensity conflicts and he has a habit of starting something but is never able to finish. Even Georgia is an unfinished business.
He's the J. J. Abrams of world leaders.
"soviet style"
hurr hurr scary gommunism
putin is literally a liberal who was brought to power by the backing of liberal west, he has nothing to do with soviets, dont take name of soviets from your mouth.
This comes shortly after them cancelling bond auctions. This is a desperate move. Its success is going to depend on the response of the Russian people
Edit: source on the bond auctions
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/07/21/russia-halts-bond-auctions-as-government-debt-selloff-complicates-budget-financing-a93297
Penal companies! Welcome back to the meat grindr! (I did that on purpose)
You couldn’t make this shit up
Putin is on his way out. He's losing his grip. 2014 and 2022, were bad calls, that are now coming for him.
Putin needs to read Russian history… especially the part about how WWI ended for Nicholas II.
No wonder his family tree is kept in secret, connections obfuscated. The last I've heard rumors on that, one of his daughters was in medical research facility exploring life longetivity (you wonder) but bordering obvious grift schemes and fund eating; this girl, or the other one, was spotted as a student in EU, probably Netherlands. I'm absolutely not for repercussions affecting family members, BUT I would like journos to dig and keep a track of them and their money transfers always signed in someone's blood. And I find it terribly unconsequental that the meathead proposing trad values himself has a fall out with his legal wife, a highly suggested romance with a top figure skater, and there is just no pictures of him with his own kids who are likely in their 20s now. His image is not one of a person but one of a symbol, shadier than Kim, and even more fragile.
Putin is old and generally well hidden. He likely doesn't see that he has that much to lose, when it comes down to it.
Putin was brought up in a communist household. He didn't embrace liberalism because he liked it, but he does now because he does now.
Haven't prisoners had the "opportunity" to shorten their sentences by serving for a while now? Or was that specific to Wagner units?
Or the citizens could just stand up to Putin, finally. If they're going to lose citizens to this war, you might as well make your own war as a war against Putin. More worth the effort and you'd get rid of that asshole.
But unfortunately, Russians would rather fall in line and blindly follow what they're told to do. Even if it means sending them to the meat grinder, losing your sons, father, brothers, etc. and for what? Donbas? Seriously?
Just keep being a good worker, Russia.
Sounds like another country I know of
Merica, fuck yeah!
Revolution almost always requires the participation of the elites, so until a group of Russian oligarchs decides they've had enough, Putin will get his way.
And the participation of military.
Not necessarily. Usually elite participation will result in at least parts of the military defecting, but failing that it's entirely possible for a revolutionary coalition not to include military elements. If it's really necessary, it's always possible for rich oligarchs to just buy a military.
A lot of people would argue you still need the military or armed forces to side with revolutionaries, or at least not shoot at protesters. The Berlin Wall fell when the border guards did not raise their arms at the Germans. The coup against Gorbachev by communist hardliners did not succeed when the armed forces did not join the latter. And the Gen Z protests in Bangladesh few years ago succeeded when the military refused further orders from the corrupt government.
I mean at some point the military is going to have to refuse orders (otherwise you get a civil war), but that's different from siding with the revolutionaries. As for Bangladesh specifically, the military wasn't involved in the protests on either side; the uprising succeeded when Sheikh Hasina realized she couldn't get the country under control.
ML's are gonna be wild here again...