Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 27th, 2024.
Much is being made in the Western press of Ukrainian military success in its latest offensive in the Kursk Oblast. Though Russian media admits towns near the border have been overrun and prisoners taken, President Vladimir Putin is strangely sanguine about the lost territory, waving the incursion off. Newsweek quoted Putin as telling the governors of Kursk, Belgorod, the Bryansk regions, and Kremlin officials in a teleconference last week losses of territory to Ukrainian forces were, "...problems that are the responsibility of the security agencies."
Putin's apparent disengagement follows his back-pedaling last month on previous Russian demands of Ukraine that began the "Special Military Operation" in 2022. Specifically, Putin passed on to unofficial emissary to America, Hungarian president Victor Orban a message to former - and presumptive next - American president, Donald Trump stating he would abandon demilitarization and denazification conditions for peace in return for “the complete withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and from the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.”
After more than 2 and a half years of blood-letting, Putin's meagre conditions were not celebrated by his erstwhile partner in government, former president, Dmitri Medvedev, who blared across the endangered Telegram platform saying, “After the neo-Nazis committed an act of terrorism in the Kursk region ... there will BE NO MORE NEGOTIATIONS UNTIL THE COMPLETE DEFEAT OF THE ENEMY! ”[Medvedev’s caps].
John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, and has too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism, and served as advisor to governments at the highest levels.
Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’, the lately released autobiography, ‘Dunce Upon a Time: A Life of Mistakes. His recent article at Dances with Bears is, 'KURSK, BELGOROD, BRYANSK — IS PRESIDENT PUTIN PREPARING FOR ISTANBUL-II?'
Today, John Helmer and trying to make sense of President Putin's byzantine Ukraine policy.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at Gorilla-Radio.com, GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/
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