Friday, June 30, 2023
I’m following analyses of The Wagner Group’s leader’s recent march on Moscow. The extremely complex situation obviously stressed Putin. Although he still appears to be in charge, he’s embarrassed and stressed. There’s no telling what an intensely focused, threatened (and I’ll add crazy) individual might decide to do.
There’s a long history between the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and Russia’s President Putin. They grew up together on the same St. Petersburg streets, very ambitious individuals and long-time collaborators. They have a history of teaming that’s complicated and which recently culminated in Prigozhin’s march on Moscow. That apparently caused Putin’s sudden disappearance.
Prigozhin, after quickly quitting his march, was exiled to Belarus, a country where Putin stores nuclear weapons under the protection of its leader, Lukashenko (a puppet to Putin). Prigozhin’s exile is creating a trio of stressed and perhaps failing leaders with a cache of nuclear weapons.
Has this happened accidentally or because of a plot among that leadership trio? Were Prigozhin’s moves a decision to rebel, as analyses suggest, or a way of becoming more threatening to Ukraine and the world?
Even remotely, like here in Central Oregon, what happens in the battle for Ukraine feels close. Any threat of releasing a nuclear weapon frightens. It ties everybody, everywhere, near to what’s essentially a world battle.
Dear Friends: My rant comes on the heels of America’s increasing shift to the right. Diana
Diana's Morning Blog 