Putin's regime is beginning to come apart
Putin's coffers are rapidly running dry; his oil sales, the 'black gold' which keeps his army marching, is rapidly falling. The iron grip of the Kremlin may be about to collapse.
Many surmise that Europe is at its 1939 moment again. The modern-day Hitler is on the march East again, and European countries are wholly unprepared militarily and socially to oppose Putin's forces.
But as likely, perhaps, is that Russia is at its 1934 moment. On December 1 1934, Sergei Kirov, the Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary, was shot and killed by Leonid Nikolaev. Nikolaev and several alleged accomplices were convicted in a show trial and executed less than 30 days later. Kirov's assassination was used by Stalin as a reason for starting the Moscow trials and the Great Purge; he accused Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev and others of being part of a wider conspiracy to undermine the Soviet Union.
The parallels with today are clear. Almost 2 years ago Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian mercenary leader and close associate of Putin, died mysteriously after attempting to oppose the Russian president.
In short, 'the system', such as it is, cannot sensibly resolve issues like corruption, embezzlement, property-ownership – there's no rule of law. There is, instead, the use of naked thuggery to enforce authority. The most powerful gang or clan wins.
It is important to look at the current situation in Ukraine amidst this engulfing chaos. President Putin's 3-day special military operation is now in its fourth year, with over one million casualties and increasing at a rate of 1000 per day; the mothers of Russia who forced the USSR out of Afghanistan in 1989 after 17,000 deaths appear to be stirring at last.
The Russian leader, meanwhile, has just had to purchase 30,000 souls off North Korea for heaven knows what in return, a definitive statement that Russia is running out of conscripts to keep the meat grinder fed.
Putin's dismissal of the Ayatollah's pleas for help from the US onslaught on Iran's nuclear programme is a further sure sign that that Russia is completely fixed on its misadventure in Ukraine.
With the wheels appearing to wobble on the Russian president's ambition to reinstate the borders of the Soviet Union, now is surely the time for the West to turn the screw and enforce a just peace for Ukraine.
Unfortunately, with president Trump being showered with false flattery about Nobel Peace Prize nominations, he seems unlikely to jeopardise his chances and get further involved in the messy conflict in Ukraine.
Since the Nato Summit last month, when we all threw the 'kitchen sink' at defence spending, most European countries, including the UK, have also appeared to turn inwards once again to play party politics.
Let us hope that when the 'want-to-be King of Europe' Emmanuel Macron meets our real King today, Charles III can talk sense to Starmer and the French president and get them to lead a European military alliance that can convince Putin that peace is the only option in Ukraine.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
A half-million young Catholics invade Rome, awaiting Pope Leo XIV at Holy Year youth festival
Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics poured into a vast field on Rome's outskirts Saturday for the weekend highlight of the Vatican's 2025 Holy Year: an evening vigil, outdoor slumber party and morning Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV that marks his first big encounter with the next generation of Catholics. Leo will surely like what he sees: For the past week, bands of young Catholics from around the world have invaded the area around St. Peter's Square for their special Jubilee celebration, in this Holy Year in which 32 million people are expected to descend on Rome to participate in a centuries-old pilgrimage to the seat of Catholicism. The young people have been traipsing through cobblestoned streets in color-coordinated t-shirts, praying the Rosary and singing hymns with guitars, bongo drums and tambourines shimmying alongside. Using their flags as tarps to shield them from the sun, they have taken over entire piazzas for Christian rock concerts and inspirational talks, and stood for hours at the Circus Maximus to confess their sins to 1,000 priests offering the sacrament in a dozen different languages. On Saturday, they began arriving at the Tor Vergata field on the eastern flank of Rome for the culmination of their Jubilee celebration — the encounter with Leo. After walking five kilometers (three miles) from the nearest subway station, they passed through security checks, picked up their boxed meals and set up camp, backpacks and sleeping bags at the ready and umbrellas planted to give them shade. Leo, who was elected in May as the first American pope, was flying in by helicopter Saturday evening to preside over the vigil and a question-and-answer session. He was then returning to the Vatican for the night and coming back for a popemobile romp and Mass on Sunday morning. A mini World Youth Day, 25 years later It all has the vibe of a World Youth Day, the Catholic Woodstock festival that St. John Paul II inaugurated and made famous in 2000 in Rome at the very same Tor Vergata field. Then, before an estimated 2 million people, John Paul told the young pilgrims they were the 'sentinels of the morning' at the dawn of the third millennium. Officials had initially expected 500,000 youngsters this weekend, but Leo hinted the number might reach 1 million. 'It's a bit messed up, but this is what is nice about the Jubilee,' said Chloe Jobbour, a 19-year-old Lebanese Catholic who was in Rome with a group of more than 200 young members of the Community of the Beatitudes, a France-based charismatic group. She said, for example, it had taken two hours to get dinner Friday night, as the KFC was overwhelmed by orders. The Salesian school that offered her group housing is an hour away by bus. But Jobbour, like many here this week, didn't mind the discomfort: It's all part of the experience. 'I don't expect it to be better than that. I expected it this way,' she said, as members of her group gathered on church steps near the Vatican to sing and pray before heading out to Tor Vergata. There was already one tragedy before the vigil began: The Vatican confirmed that an Egyptian 18-year-old, identified as Pascale Rafic, had died while on the pilgrimage. Leo met Saturday with the group she was traveling with and extended his condolences to her family. The weather has largely cooperated: While Italian civil protection crews had prepared for temperatures that could have reached 34C (93F) or higher this week, the mercury hasn't surpassed 30C (85F) and isn't expected to. Romans inconvenienced, but tolerant Those Romans who didn't flee the onslaught have been inconvenienced by the additional hordes on the city's notoriously insufficient public transport system. Residents are sharing social media posts of outbursts by Romans angered by kids flooding subway platforms and crowding bus stops that have complicated their commutes to work. But other Romans have welcomed the enthusiasm the youngsters have brought. Premier Giorgia Meloni offered a video welcome, marveling at the 'extraordinary festival of faith, joy and hope' that the young people had brought to the Eternal City. 'I think it's marvelous,' said Rome hairdresser Rina Verdone, who lives near the Tor Vergata field and woke up Saturday to find a gaggle of police congregating outside her home as part of the massive, 4,000-strong operation mounted to keep the peace. 'You think the faith, the religion is in difficulty, but this is proof that it's not so.' Verdone had already made plans to take an alternate route home Saturday afternoon, that would require an extra kilometer (half-mile) walk, because she feared the 'invasion' of kids in her neighborhood would disrupt her usual bus route. But she said she was more than happy to make the sacrifice. 'You think of invasion as something negative. But this is a positive invasion,' she said. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
India to still buy oil from Russia despite Trump threats, say officials
Indian oil refineries will continue to buy oil from Russia, officials have said, before threatened US sanctions next week against Moscow's trading partners over the war in Ukraine. Media reports on Friday had suggested India, a big energy importer, would stop buying cheap Russian oil. Trump told reporters on Friday that such a move would be 'a good step' if true. 'I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia,' he said. 'That's what I heard. I don't know if that's right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens.' However, official sources in India, quoted by the news agency ANI, rebutted Trump's claim, saying Indian oil companies had not paused Russian imports and that supply decisions were based on 'price, grade of crude, inventories, logistics and other economic factors'. Trump's remarks came a day after the White House announced tariffs of 25% on all Indian goods, along with a penalty for buying arms and energy from Russia amid the war in Ukraine. Trump has given an 8 August deadline for Vladimir Putin to stop the war or risk further sanctions on tariffs on countries that import Russian oil. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Indian state-owned refineries had suspended Russian oil purchases amid the tariff threats and narrowing price discounts. But on Saturday the New York Times cited two unnamed senior Indian officials who said there had been no change in Indian government policy related to importing Russian oil. One said the government had 'not given any direction to oil companies' to cease buying oil from Russia. 'These are long-term oil contracts,' one of the sources said. 'It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight.' The sources cited by ANI said Indian oil refineries operated in full compliance with international norms, and that Russian oil had never been directly sanctioned by the US or EU. 'Instead, it was subjected to a G7-EU price-cap mechanism designed to limit revenue while ensuring global supplies continued to flow.' They added: 'India's purchases have remained fully legitimate and within the framework of international norms.' The sources also noted that if India had not 'absorbed discounted Russian crude combined with Opec+ production cuts of 5.8 mb/d [millions of barrels a day], global oil prices could have surged well beyond the March 2022 peak of US$137/bbl [a barrel], intensifying inflationary pressures worldwide'. Sign up to First Thing Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Russia is the top oil supplier to India, responsible for about 35% of the country's supplies. India says that as a major energy importer it must find the cheapest supplies to protect its population against rising costs. On Friday India's foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said: 'We look at what is available in the markets, what is on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances.' Jaiswal added that India had a 'steady and time-tested partnership' with Russia. This partnership has been a point of contention for the White House, with Trump posting on Truth Social on 30 July that while India was 'our friend', it had always bought most of its military equipment from Russia and was 'Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE – ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!' In a second post, Trump added: 'I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.' Ukraine's military said on Saturday it had hit oil facilities inside Russia, including a refinery in Ryazan, causing a fire on its premises. The strike also hit an oil storage facility, a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory.
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Prince Andrew should testify to US lawmakers under oath over his ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, says top lawyer
A top lawyer representing Jeffrey Epstein 's victims has demanded Prince Andrew testifies about his links to the infamous paedophile socialite. Famed lawyer Gloria Allred, 84, said the Duke of York should volunteer to speak under oath before Congress. The 65-year-old has maintained his denial of ever sleeping with Virginia Giuffre, the Epstein victim Andrew was pictured with when she was 17, with the pair standing next to jailed predator Ghislaine Maxwell. Andrew's lawyers have denied that he has refused to cooperate with US Epstein investigators. Allred told The Daily Mirror: 'Now more than ever, he should come forward. He could volunteer to testify publicly. 'Is he willing to testify before Congress? Is he willing to give more information to the Justice Department? And if not, why not? 'His silence is a statement that he's not willing to help for some reason.' It came as a bombshell book called Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, by Andrew Lownie, revealed Jeffrey Epstein said of Prince Andrew: 'We are both serial sex addicts. He's the only person I have met who is more obsessed with p***y than me. 'From the reports I've got back from the women we've shared, he's the most perverted animal in the bedroom. He likes to engage in stuff that's even kinky to me – and I'm the king of kink!' The book, which the Duke and Duchess of York tried to ban, explores how the couple 'fell from grace because of the flaws in their own characters and how they were allowed to leverage their privileged position as royals for personal gain with the connivance of the institution itself.' The book also details claims of Prince Andrew's infidelity and bedroom antics - from sleeping with scores of women while on ambassador trips to making lewd comments to women he met during everyday life as the late Queen's favourite son. It said the nickname 'Randy Andy' was given to Prince Andrew while he was at Gordonstoun public school. He allegedly earned the name because he was already sexually experienced, good looking and girls were attracted to him. While he has never had trouble picking up women, a family friend said: 'He's not a hunter of women. He rather expects them to come to him. But when they do, he shows himself to be bone idle and not very socially adept at chatting them up.' The Duke of York has long faced criticism for his friendship with Epstein (pictured in 2011), which carried on even after the socialite's imprisonment for sex offences in 2008 One woman he propositioned said: 'He's about as subtle as a hand grenade. His favourite trick is to rub your knee under the table. It's pathetic.' At a wedding he was said to have asked a woman he'd not met before for a dance. When she declined, he responded, 'I suppose a b*** j** is out of the question, then?' Another of his lovers said: 'He is not a Casanova. In the bedroom department he is a bit of a let-down. He has been dumped by most of the girls linked to him because he is a bore.' Andrew is also said to have certain juvenile characteristics, such as taking advantage of his position to humiliate others who may not be able to respond. At a society event in 1992 he reportedly unzipped broadcaster Tania Bryer's evening dress the full length of her back. Then at a dinner party he allegedly sniffed the pâté served as a first course and turned to his right, saying, 'This pâté smells. What do you think?' His female companion leaned forward to smell it and he promptly pushed her face into the dish. One of his dates recalled how he always introduced himself to her friends as the Duke of York, 'even when we were dancing on tables at two in the morning at Momo.' After a house party in Dorset, one young woman complained: 'One minute you're having your bum pinched and the next minute he's reminding you he's Your Royal Highness.' The controversial prince even left an impression on former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Andrew asked to have lunch with Johnson when he was Mayor of London, turning up with a list of things he wanted to talk about. He wanted to redesign traffic lights with 'fewer red lights', thought the whole of Battersea Power Station should be demolished, including the listed towers and felt the Queen Elizabeth II Centre was too small and not fit for purpose. Johnson responded: 'Well, if it's too small, it's your mum's fault.' Andrew reportedly stuck his tongue out. Afterwards, Boris said: 'I'm the last person to be a republican but, f***, if I ever have to spend another lunch like that, I soon will be.' Before her death by suicide in April, Virginia Giuffre said she was approached by Maxwell in 2000 and eventually was hired by her as a masseuse for Epstein, who took his own life in prison aged 66 in 2019. But the couple effectively made her a sexual servant, she said, pressuring her into gratifying not only Epstein but his friends and associates. Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, 2000 Giuffre said she was flown around the world for appointments with men including Prince Andrew while she was 17 and 18 years old. The men, including Andrew, denied that and questioned Giuffre's credibility. The prince settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a 'substantial donation' to her survivors' organisation. While Andrew has long been criticised on both sides of the Atlantic, Allred, the attorney for some of Epstein's victims, also said she believes Andrew's name appears in files on Epstein held by the US government that many are asking to be made public. President Trump, who was close friends with Epstein for decades, suggested while campaigning for the last election that he would release the files. His campaign team wrote on X: 'President Trump says he will DECLASSIFY the 9/11 Files, JFK Files, and Epstein Files.' However, since his election he has backtracked. His former pal Elon Musk has criticised the Trump administration for not releasing the files. This year, Trump claimed the files were a 'hoax' and a 'scam' by Democrats who had peddled 'bulls***' to former MAGA supporters. Musk responded on X by saying: 'Wow, amazing that Epstein '' killed himself'' and Ghislaine is in federal prison for a hoax.' Then on July 15, Trump said: 'It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring, and I don't understand why it keeps going. 'I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.' He later admitted the US attorney general had not told him the files were a hoax, but said he (Trump) 'knew' it was.
