Oh, I forgot to mention: a friend of mine has a son living in Kyiv, and the latest nighttime raid made a huge impression on him—even more so than his very first night in the city.

Now, on top of that, there’s been a strike on St. Petersburg… It’s terrifying to think what might happen next.

It seems to me that civilians here are going to suffer far more now. These new strikes will impact the civilian population much more heavily.

It gets pretty loud here at night, too… and during the day. Every now and then, through my open window, I hear the buzzing of drones in the distance—and the sound of fire being directed at them.

Similar to the soviet experience, Chinese workers are holding their heads high in new stages in socialist construction, with simiarly rapid levels of development.

Comrade, that line only worked in the USSR of the 1930s—when work was a source of pride, and nothing more! In the 1960s, however, people in the USSR derived genuine physical enjoyment from the fruits of their labor—a time when store shelves were overflowing with goods. A kilogram of black caviar cost $10 back then; today in Russia, it costs $500 per kilo.

Imagine: you work as a fitter at a factory, come home, and eat black caviar by the spoonful. Of course, nobody actually did that—but a working man could easily afford to buy himself some black caviar to go with his sandwiches for breakfast.

Had it not been for the war, this reality would have arrived as early as the 1950s. The task of rebuilding the country took an immense amount of time.

Comrade, if not for the war—and if Stalin had lived longer—China would be nervously smoking on the sidelines right now… )))

I’m not denying that China has shortcomings. I believe you are magnifying them beyond their actual levels.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I am basing my arguments exclusively on historical facts—the vast majority of which have been verified against sources from both the West and the East.

If you have any specific questions regarding this, please point them out to me.

As for me, watching documentary footage of the events that took place in China during those years sometimes makes my hair stand on end…

We are not discussing modern Chinese history right now; we are talking about the post-war era in China.

Oh, I also forgot to add something. The USSR handed over complete technical documentation for 1,500 major industrial enterprises to Mao. The USSR provided all of this free of charge. Can you imagine what Mao would have managed to build there without it? He probably would have forced peasants to engage in mechanical engineering and metal rolling right in their vegetable gardens.

I recall you claiming that Mao built things—or something to that effect—without any involvement from the USSR… yeah, right.

To me, Mao is akin to Castro or Che Guevara—certainly not to Stalin in the 1930s. Mao was a professional, iron-willed revolutionary; Mao was a warrior. He succeeded in uniting the Chinese people and leading them. Mao established a robust state system—one that subsequently withstood the onslaught of capitalism.

As for Mao Zedong Thought, some aspects have applicability elsewhere. The Mass Line is a generally useful tactic, Protracted People’s War can be useful in largely agrarian countries with high peasant populations and smaller urban centers, and so forth. It isn’t universal, but Mao Zedong Thought works well for China and tactics from it have seen success in the global south, including in Vietnam.

This is the first I’ve heard of the Line of Masses—very interesting.

This is the first I’ve heard of the “Line of the Masses”—very interesting.

Is this connected to those leaflets that were pasted on the wall? I’ve forgotten what those walls are called.

Excessive luxury is being cracked down on

I would like to understand the mechanisms of this process.

Any “double-standard” you see with Deng Xiaoping’s Reform and Opening Up as a result of problems with the late Mao era

You’ve probably misunderstood me again, Comrade.

What you call Deng Xiaoping’s “openness,” Mao called Khrushchev’s “revisionism.”

Deng did exactly what Khrushchev had attempted to do—only later. Or do you consider it a mistake on Mao’s part that he didn’t beat Khrushchev to the punch and establish relations with the West first?

Regarding the Gang of Four, they were largely an extension of Mao’s incorrect lines towards the end of his life, without most of his positive lines. Deng Xiaoping corrected the course for the new era of development, having inherited a basically industrialized economy but with widespread poverty and backwards technology.

I don’t understand why you—a man with the mindset of a dialectical materialist—are always prone to idealizing things. It is still a Party, and the same internal Party struggle is at play.

Let me tell you how it all unfolded in the USSR. When Gorbachev came to power and launched Perestroika, a great many members of the Central Committee were opposed to it. This was the so-called “Old Guard”—or, if you prefer, you could call them the “Gang of Four.” These were Brezhnev’s people. Within a very short timeframe—and very quietly—these individuals were either removed from their posts or sidelined for one reason or another; some were compromised and forced to step down. It wasn’t as loud, brutal, or theatrical as the affair involving the original “Gang of Four,” but the result was the same: the entire Old Guard—that “Gang of Four”—simply dissolved into the ether of existence…

To suggest that the “Great Helmsman” Deng was thinking about the people or about reforms back then—much as Gorbachev supposedly was during Perestroika while simultaneously purging his rivals—is, at the very least, naive, Comrade! At that time, they were thinking about one thing and one thing only: power.

And I recently told you something untrue. Gorbachev did have a plan. It was the “Acceleration” plan—a concept originally conceived by Andropov. Andropov had entrusted its development to three individuals: Ryzhkov, Gorbachev, and… well, I’ve forgotten the third one. This “Acceleration” plan concerned exclusively economic reforms—there were absolutely no political or ideological components to it!

Over the course of two years—largely thanks to Ryzhkov—the plan was fully developed, and in 1985, Gorbachev officially launched it. He immediately presented it during the very first plenary session of the Central Committee. It was Andropov’s “Acceleration” plan.

It was a plan for economic reforms!

Then, in 1987—when Perestroika truly began (that is, when the term Perestroika first started appearing in the newspapers)—the scope of the reforms expanded to encompass not only economic matters but also state-level and ideological issues. Ryzhkov opposed this expansion and subsequently resigned. This comes from the memoirs of Ryzhkov himself, who passed away not long ago.

Yakovlev—who at the time served as the USSR’s chief ideologue—bears the entire blame. It was he who persuaded Gorbachev to undertake ideological reform. This was a fatal error!

However, to this day, I still cannot determine whether or not the CIA had a hand in it.

This is because Yakovlev spent a great deal of time working at the Soviet Embassy in Canada. Gorbachev, too, traveled there at Yakovlev’s invitation—long before he became president. Yakovlev arranged a meeting between Gorbachev and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau—presumably, the modern-day Trudeau is his son or grandson. While in Canada, Gorbachev also met with representatives from the United States. This took place in the early 1980s. It would be fascinating to know what exactly they discussed there. I do not rule out the possibility that Yakovlev was working for the CIA—perhaps even unwittingly.

As for China outmaneuvering the west, I agree. This is pretty plainly what happened, despite what the west thought they could get away with, China maintained a dictatorship of the proletariat and maintained political control in the socialist market economy.

Yes, I agree that retaining political control is to Mao’s credit, as he built the foundation of the state apparatus.

So far, Lucas has not been spotted in Ukraine.

There is a big reserve Russia hasn’t committed yet, and people have been wondering why for a long time. I’m also not really sure Ukraine can overwhelm anything with drones. While you get pictures and videos with lots of fire, there’s no systemic effect from this. The whole drone campaign is just meant to produce propaganda videos to keep the money flowing.

As you can see, exactly what we discussed recently is now unfolding.

Russia seeks to avoid escalation and continues to absorb the blows. Zelenskyy and Europe—having crossed yet another “red line”—have dealt an even more painful strike against St. Petersburg. This comes just ahead of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum—an event that will feature delegations from various nations (including the U.S.) and be personally attended by Putin. Right now, the entire city of St. Petersburg is shrouded in smoke, and it is unlikely the fires will be extinguished anytime soon. Furthermore, video footage has captured drones flying directly in from the direction of the Gulf of Finland—most likely launched from airspace over Estonia. By now, everyone is aware of this.

Russia continues to remain silent—but things are only going to get worse.

And the war is absolutely the catalyst here. It’s what severed relations between Russia and Europe forcing Russia to look to Asia.

Yes, you may recall from the recently published transcripts of Putin’s conversations with Clinton: Putin stated that he did not want to deal with Iran or North Korea. China, too, would not have been a priority—just as it isn’t now.

Russell actually had a great essay on the whole extraction mechanic https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/

I’ve never heard of this guy. But having read his work, I can say with absolute certainty that he has never done physical labor in his life; he views physical work as the worst punishment imaginable. I don’t know—perhaps he is a highly revered and famous figure—but he hasn’t the faintest clue about the mindset of a working man. He describes the psychology of a slave, not a worker.

I have interacted with hundreds—if not thousands—of workers throughout my life. I can state unequivocally that what he writes is simply untrue! I have seen countless workers who derive genuine pleasure from their jobs; in fact, I’d go even further and say that they live for their work. And his assumption that, given an abundance of free time, they would suddenly start painting pictures or writing poetry just makes me smile! A working man feels lost without his work. And when a working man feels lost without work, he doesn’t head off to the theater or the opera; he drinks vodka. To draw a worker toward art, science, or a mind-expanding hobby, he requires a foundation of systematic knowledge—the kind that enables him to survey the full range of options and select the one that best suits his personal tastes. As for his anarchic notion of abolishing universities—I consider it utterly utopian.

However, I do partially agree with his core premise. And this is precisely the point—the one you and our Chinese comrade seem to miss—that I am constantly trying to articulate: a person who works more than eight hours a day will very quickly devolve into a Neanderthal, regardless of how much money they earn. Their intellect dulls; they lose the capacity for independent thought because they simply have no time to think—life rushes past them like a hurricane. And that is exactly what the capitalist wants: a herd of sheep marching in lockstep toward the “bright future” of capitalism.

last yeah I think where it showed that number of religious people is about the same as ever.

Perhaps things remain the same today; however, state propaganda has partially injected this ideological sludge into the school curriculum—specifically the works of Ilyin, for instance, who reveres only God and the Tsar. Their aim is to construct an ideology in the vein of Neo-monarchism.

It’s certainly true that mistakes in work and management exaggerated the impacts of natural disaster.

If you’ve lived in the countryside, you must understand that a natural disaster cannot drag on for four years.

again, similar to the 1930s soviet famine

It was just the 1933–34 season—a single season. Yes, there were miscalculations at the local level as well; much depended on the collective farm chairman and how he handled the problems. One collective farm might get by just fine in '33, while right next door, people in another were dying of starvation. People began fleeing the starving farms for the ones that weren’t starving—and that, too, became a problem. The issue wasn’t systemic, but rather structural or localized. Under such harsh conditions, many leaders simply couldn’t cope with their responsibilities.

I had two grandmothers—my own flesh and blood—with whom I spoke back then. One grandmother was from the Kyiv region; they didn’t go hungry in '33 because they owned a cow. My other grandmother was from the Kursk region—the area where the Ukrainians recently advanced. People did go hungry there, but it wasn’t a mortal famine. Both of my grandfathers perished in the summer of 1941. After the war, my father arrived in the city barefoot because he had no shoes. He got a job at a factory as a rigger. Decades later, he was wearing a suit and tie, putting on a fresh shirt every day; he held a PhD… and served as the factory’s Chief Engineer.

When I spoke to you about raising a generation of young people—that is the kind of generation we need to raise: a generation like my father’s.

Ultimately, however, Perestroika began; science became something nobody needed anymore, and my father found himself out of work. As it turned out, he didn’t know how to trade.

My point is this: in exchange for the fact that my ancestors went hungry on the collective farms in the 1930s, their children—the children of destitute and starving peasants—lived the high life for the rest of their days… right up until Perestroika. It was a generous recompense for their suffering and starvation. None of it was in vain!

The outcome of the famines is a positive rather than a negative one—namely, that new reforms and shake-ups are once again needed in their wake.

But alright, have it your way: Mao… tried… to do something similar.

Socialism in China is already existing, just in a primary stage, rather than advanced.

Yes, I completely agree with you and have never denied that. I merely pointed out China’s current shortcomings—issues that need to be addressed, rather than denied as if they didn’t exist.

As production and distribution advances, private ownership will continue to be gradually appropriated and folded into the public sector, creating a fully planned economy.

Yes, the ultimate goal is clear to me as well.

Here’s Cheng Enfu’s diagram explaining it:

Yes, I have a rough idea—but, Comrade, I don’t know English quite as well as I’d like. And Google doesn’t translate tables…

I’m aware that the USSR had critique of Chinese socialism.

That’s putting it very mildly… The thawing of relations didn’t begin until the Gorbachev era. Finally, the Chinese leadership liked what was happening in the USSR… ))) But in reality, it was all very simple: the USSR admitted defeat.

China also criticized Soviet socialism

(What was written in Smena magazine, February 1–3, 1967)

“Red Guards” (紅衛兵) Block the Way

“For the sixth day, the Soviet Embassy in Beijing has been besieged by frenzied mobs of Red Guards. Anti-Soviet speeches are being broadcast via loudspeakers. Announcers read out ‘death sentences’ issued by the Red Guards against embassy staff members. A welcoming ceremony for Chinese students arriving in Beijing—students who had participated in hooliganistic disturbances on Red Square in Moscow on January 25—was turned into an anti-Soviet demonstration. Speeches delivered at the event contained crude invective and calls for violent reprisals against Soviet citizens. On the streets, Soviet citizens—including diplomats leaving the embassy—are surrounded by crowds of Red Guards who block their path, hold them in place for hours on end, and subject them to humiliation, intimidation, and blackmail.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_Russia,_Beijing

Mao Zedong Thought is the learned experience and theory from China’s specific socialist construction process.

…very specific, to put it mildly…

Functionally, the PRC remains a dictatorship of the proletariat.

This question should be directed at Ma—and at those who buy luxury cars. China is the global leader in luxury car purchases.

I’m curious: when China makes its full transition to socialism, what will become of all those cars, yachts, and villas? Or will every Chinese person be able to afford them? … )))

I do not see any double standards on my part, can you explain quite clearly what they are?

Yes, of course I can explain.

As we know: The primary cause of the rift between Mao Zedong and Nikita Khrushchev lay in the policy of “peaceful coexistence” with capitalist nations—a course Khrushchev proclaimed at the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956. Mao Zedong viewed this policy as a departure from Marxism-Leninism and a betrayal of the global revolution, which led to deep ideological and geopolitical disagreements.

As we know: Deng adopted a policy of “peaceful coexistence” with the West in the 1970s…

Do you not see the contradiction here, Comrade? If that is the case, then China and the USSR ought to reconcile, since their policies are identical. As we recall, the 1970s saw a period of “détente” between the USSR and the USA.

Incidentally, it was when Khrushchev pivoted toward the West that the USSR became hooked on the “oil needle”—a dependency it still hasn’t managed to kick…

The monetary reform of 1961 was carried out in order to peg the ruble to the dollar.

Later Mao made more mistakes than earlier Mao.

I would be very surprised, Comrade, if you said otherwise.

I met a Chinese guy on Reddit whose father fled to the U.S. during the Cultural Revolution.

But it probably wasn’t any worse—because fewer people actually died during the Cultural Revolution; the events there consisted mostly of unprecedented repression.

This is why the Gang of Four took power

I think the “Gang of Four” affair was Deng clearing his own path to power. The internal political struggle at the time was extremely fierce.

Did you see the news footage of that trial?

There was one woman among the defendants—I don’t recall her name, though she was a close associate of Mao—and for some reason, I felt sorry for her. When she delivered her final statement in court, it struck me that only a true communist facing execution could speak like that…

Reform and Opening Up ultimately was done in a manner that the US thought they could exploit, but in reality the CPC maintained control and the US Empire’s plans are failing. This is why the cold war against China is ramping up.

Let’s put it this way: China outmaneuvered the U.S. The U.S. underestimated China’s strength. This is what we have come to call the “Chinese Miracle.” Americans are pragmatists; they don’t believe in miracles… :))))

It is just like how the West slept on the USSR back in the 1930s… they, too, refused to believe in a miracle at the time.

However, I believe that comparing these two miracles is somewhat inappropriate. As you rightly noted, the conditions under which these goals were achieved were quite different.

Such vehicles are highly conspicuous; the AFU uses civilian vehicles to maneuver.

Look—these are new AFU drones manufactured in Europe; judging by the build quality, these weren’t cobbled together by amateurs in a garage.

https://youtu.be/wpwvcvVun18

I expect there might be genuine panic that Russia will open up another front from Belarus and threaten Kiev again.

Russia doesn’t need this; it would have to redeploy additional troops. The front line there is 1,500 kilometers long. It would take about 300,000 men just to hold it. Nor does Lukashenko need this; Ukraine would simply overwhelm Belarus with drones.

And that video was interesting, it’s good to see how much of Russia still retains so much Soviet imagery.

What surprised me was that this memorial was built in 2017. Inscribed on it is an expression of gratitude to the USSR from grateful descendants! This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this in Russia. You probably realize now just how much better people living beyond the Urals had it under the USSR—if they still miss it so intensely to this day! Complete devastation reigns there now.

While I know we disagree on China, I do think that China, Vietnam, and DPRK being major allies and trading partners will help nudge people in the right direction. Now people can travel there easily, see how things are for themselves, and they will ask natural questions after that.

Yes, I can see that the process has begun—right before my very eyes, thoughtful Westerners are starting to see the light!

You have to admit that the war in Ukraine gave it the push it needed, don’t you?

Indeed, Russia does not seek escalation—a fact evident in the absence of retaliatory strikes against Kyiv for the past eight days.

Ukraine’s drone strategy has recently come to light. Ukraine lacks secure airfields near the border from which to launch drones deep into Russian territory. Consequently, they have adopted Iranian tactics: installing a three-drone launch system onto standard civilian semi-trucks. The truck rapidly moves into position, the crew deploys, and the drones are launched. The problem is that launching 200 drones requires 70 trucks—a quantity that is extremely difficult to conceal. The Russians are now actively hunting down these trucks. It is possible that this campaign has already yielded results. To put it roughly: the day before yesterday saw 200 drones launched; yesterday, 15; and today, 70. Significantly, today—for the first time in a long while—not a single video surfaced showing a target being struck.

Russia must have finally found the key to countering this threat; otherwise, the situation would have continued to deteriorate. We shall see, as events unfold, whether this proves to be true.

Trump has no choice, but I don’t see how he can make a deal on Iran’s terms. It would be an incredible humiliation and Israel is fighting tooth and nail to prevent that. Given massive Israeli influence in the US, I expect any actual deal will be stopped in the end.

Yes, right now I find it hard to imagine how Trump intends to extricate himself from this situation. Trump faces a “tough decision”—either that, or he starts drinking vodka. The U.S. needs years to rebuild its military, not just weeks or months.

Currently, in a hasty scramble, they are field-testing their new technologies in Ukraine; however, I doubt the U.S. is capable of reorganizing its military as rapidly as Russia did at the start of the war. Then again, we shall see—perhaps Trump is a capable manager… (haha), even if he is currently neck-deep in shit. It seems to me that he won’t be able to wash himself clean of this—nothing can save him now; he is a lame duck.

And yeah, the problem Russia has is the fact that it’s a capitalist system which stands in the way of meaningful development.

Just recently, I was trying to understand the difference between shortages in a planned economy and shortages in a capitalist economy.

I came to only one conclusion: under capitalism, shortages are highly profitable for capitalists; they allow them to generate excess profits while maintaining the same—or even lower—levels of production. A shortage is simply a mechanism for extracting additional funds from the public.

This is the very same scheme that speculators employed during the Soviet era—a practice for which they faced prison sentences. Under capitalism, however, these same individuals are regarded as highly respected figures in the world of macroeconomics—people like Trump and Musk. They ought to be shipped off to the USSR so they could finally be judged according to their true deserts—specifically for the things they are doing right now.

Just take a look: Russia, too, has its own Ma… доморощенный.

https://ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/03/30/milliarder-deripaska-predlozhil-vvesti-12-chasovoi-rabochii-den-vklyuchaya-subbotu-chtobi-ponyat-ekonomiku-a191202

It’s all very simple and straightforward: you work harder, but you get paid the exact same amount. You’re working for the good of the Motherland… :))))

“The Motherland”—that’s actually Deripaska’s codename in certain circles… :))) Oh, how I miss Comrade Beria.

This was unnecessary under the communist system which naturally united people.

Stalin didn’t ban the Church, which implies that it was, after all, necessary—especially during times of hardship. It was mainly women who went there—women whose husbands were either at the front or had already perished. There, they found at least some measure of solace to keep from losing their minds during the war.

But Solzhenitsyn and his ilk decided that Stalin—the Antichrist—had repented and come to believe in God… )))) And they’ve been playing that same broken record for forty years now… The only thing missing from that story was Rasputin…

Just recently, a new Russian film aired on Russian TV channels… It’s the kind of thing that would make Dr. Lecter look like a nervous amateur. The story goes that when the Germans were at the gates of Moscow in '41, Stalin was in despair and didn’t know what to do; so, he decided to visit a vedunya—a blind old seer. The sorceress handed Stalin a wooden icon and said: “This icon must be flown around Moscow three times…” ))))) Stalin took the icon and entrusted it to the Soviet Union’s finest pilot. The pilot proceeded to circle Moscow repeatedly while under heavy fire from German anti-aircraft guns. By some miracle, he managed to fly around Moscow three times. And what do you think, comrade? The Germans immediately retreated from Moscow… )))) С Божьей помощью!

They’ve completely lost their minds over these icons!

https://youtu.be/Cz5uF6ms3Do

And this is the disgrace I am forced to witness right now. And just try saying anything against God…

You must remember this guy. He served on the Central Committee under Gorbachev but stepped down from his post in 1991 when he realized where things were heading. This is Ryzhkov.

He had a remarkable life story. He rose from being a shop foreman at the Uralmash plant all the way to becoming the plant’s Director—it’s like something out of a fairytale… :) He hailed from the Donbas region, from a family of coal miners, and truly worked his way up from the very bottom.

He has since passed away; this is one of his final interviews—you’ll see Spitsyn there as well. Incidentally, Spitsyn was a student of Yuri Nikolayevich Zhukov, whose books I’ve mentioned here before.

If you’re interested in the Soviet economy of the 1980s, you might find this worth watching.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Ryzhkov

Comrade, I don’t want you to be upset with me. You’re a very interesting conversationalist for me.

Believe me, I’m sometimes as genuinely surprised by your information as you are by mine.

According to my information, the Great Leap Forward (1958–1960) was Mao Zedong’s massive economic campaign aimed at the accelerated industrialization and modernization of China. The campaign failed due to utopian management methods, the destruction of agriculture, and environmental problems, resulting in the Great Chinese Famine—one of the largest humanitarian disasters in history.

https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/三年困难时期

You say that the foundation was laid…

According to my information, the imposition of pseudoscience (Lysenkoism): In agriculture, experiments were conducted with deep plowing and ultra-dense seeding, which led to soil depletion and a sharp drop in crop yields.

According to your information, crop yields increased by 150%.

If this has offended me, then I apologize to you, of course, but I don’t understand what I’m apologizing for… We’re talking about Mao the manager now.

What’s the catch, Comrade?

Iran makes it pretty clear just how bad US/Israeli intelligence is. And the US is no longer in any position to do escalation in China because they shat the bed in Iran. They’re literally out of weapons at this point, and their economy is collapsing because of oil prices. Cost of filling up your car basically doubled now, and you can’t go anywhere without a car in the US. This is the biggest crisis since Vietnam.

Do you think Trump will make a deal with Iran?

I think Trump has no other choice.

There is no other path for Russia or China today than what he says.

China is also dependent on Russia—that’s undeniable. Putin recently visited Kazakhstan, where he agreed with the Kazakh president to increase energy supplies to China.

The partnership will certainly develop, but moderately and cautiously, in the Chinese style.

Russia is a resource economy and China is a manufacturing one.

Yes, a major leap in industrialization is not expected in Russia yet. Russia’s industrial sector is not doing well.

The oligarchs, who have been holding back industrial development in Russia since the 1990s, exert too much influence on the state. The oligarchs act like invaders, sucking resources out of the country and exploiting the Russian people. They instill false ideals in the people.

There’s this oligarch named Malafeyev in Russia, a monarchist and religious obscurantist.

https://www.bbc.com/russian/international/2015/02/150211_malofeyev_interview

He financed that lousy film.

And note that this film was blessed by some Elijah.

https://youtu.be/NgZ1SUekJUc

They want to remove Lenin’s mausoleum so they can put God there with the Tsar.

This is an atavism.

And I expect there will be strikes coming.

We talked a long time ago about bridges across the Dnieper. Something like this should probably exist.

Yes, I agree with you. I was just emotional… )))

Yes, it was probably Ukrainian electronic warfare that deflected the Russian drone, or it was a Ukrainian provocation to draw NATO into the war. Ukraine is also provoking Belarus to join the war. This is all part of Zelenskyy’s strategy.

What you and I predicted has begun: a frenzied wave of propaganda has recently erupted in the Ukrainian media. Every morning I open the news and it’s filled with headlines like: Russia has almost lost Crimea, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have broken through at the front, Russia is panicking, Putin is almost dead, etc. I haven’t seen such a wave in a long time. People are talking about the 1991 borders again.

It’s been suspiciously quiet here lately. Not even the sirens are wailing.

Kyiv has finally been affected. People are heading down to the metro at night. Everyone’s waiting for that blow.

By the way, look, this is Yakutsk, where socialism still reigns… )))

It’s as if time stood still there.

https://youtu.be/1V2Y_6c58Oc?t=130

It has begun—the very thing you and I discussed long ago… The thing I was banned for for 10 days—it has happened.

https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cx21rjge20po

Here is the move by Russia that could produce the intended effect.