as to putin, he's loosing his war (he "owns" it, totally), and he has very little way to fob the loss off onto someone else in russia. russia is rocked by riots and calls for putin's ouster, and that is just not the normal way of things for russian dictators. or, for russia, for that matter.
in the ukraine, ukrainian forces are getting very close to forcing russia's ouster. except, that is, for russian forces in the crimea. as to crimea, the russian presence there is not a given, as the "garrison" there is showing signs of incipient "feets don't fail me now" as things turn to poop all around them.
if the ukraine takes back control of luhansk oblast & city, and severs the logistics/supply lines to kherson and crimea, things will look pretty dour, indeed, for putin. i expect to see him dead, and he has fled moscow for his private retreat, all the while prominent supporters are dropping like flies, oddly enough, in stairwells and the like, and rather unexpectedly. little hints, making big thuds, as they hit the floor.
we'll know, more or less, by thursday. that's when putin is scheduled to be "back in town."
as to xi, no one has seen him in a bit, and the news people are saying that china is alive with intrigue and threats directed to xi. this is also not the normal way of things being done in china.
xi is not involved in any idiotic wars, at least for the moment, but china's economy is doing poorly and headed for the same recession/depression that russia is falling into. at least the russians can partially blame western europe and the u.s. for the harm to its economy caused by the sanctions over the war in ukraine, but xi has no one to fob the economic woes besetting china onto anyone else. xi's rule, and his life, apparently, are in some serious jeopardy.
who knows? maybe both of them end up in cuba, or venezuela, with a nice comfortable flat and their favorite dogs to keep them comfy.
as i consider this, i don't think i've seen the present situation (russian and chinese dictators in trouble at the same time) in my lifetime. and, i've never seen the rumors/news/events happening so openly. (lots of yapping by excited dogs, that's for sure.) it's all pretty amazing, and a bit hard to digest and comprehend.
hang onto your hats.
john jay @ 09.27.2022
p.s. as to china, who knew? who ever knows.
as to russia, the events are entirely explicable and expected. (except the riots, ... , that is damned "novel.") putin's war is an embarrassment to russia, and putin has no way out of it, and no way to avoid the stigma of "loser." this is a bad situation for an "all powerful" tyrant.
i expect him "dead," anytime soon.
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