Moscow Likes to Say It has the Second Strongest Army in the World but It has Now Proven It has the Second Strongest One in Ukraine

 Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 3 – Vladimir Putin and his regime like to say that Russia has the second strongest army in the world, but many Russians now say that what he has managed to show in recent months is not that but rather that Russia has the second strongest army in the Republic of Ukraine.

            That is just one of the observations Russians are making about their country, its leaders and its wars that Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova has assembled and posted online (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/45960/-). Among the best of the rest which are most indicative of what they are thinking are the following:

·       Putin asked the head of Belgorod what he needed and the latter was just about to say that he needed more buses so that his people could leave “this new Ukraine.” But he got scared and said only that he would share the last of the existing buses out.

·       When Russians travel, they often leave inscriptions behind such as “there were tourists from Russia here.” But now they have become even more concise and just write “Z.”

·       Neighbors of those in a wealthy Moscow neighborhood whose houses were hit by drones have sent messages to the latter telling them to hand over Putin et al. or face the prospect that their neighbors will give them more precise addresses for targeting the next round.

·       Plans for an anti-war protest in Belgorod had to be scrapped after all those who planned to take part fled before it could start.

·       Senior Russian officials are surprised that the new Lada Vesta doesn’t have an automatic transmission. Soon, they will be even more surprised when they find there are no Ladas at all.

·       The Russian prime minister says that his country needs mathematicians and physicist but he didn’t say how to produce them under current Russian conditions.

·       Thanks to disorder in Belgorod, less well off people have been able to loot the stores there. In the past, only oligarchs and senior officials could risk carrying out such open robbery.

·       Moscow Mayor Sobyanin is afraid that the summer will bring a yellow sun and blue skies over his city. Lest the appearance of those Ukrainian colors appear, he has directed that special airplanes feed the clouds to ensure that only dark gloomy one will be over the Russian capital.

·       Russian officials are debating how to make the country’s defenses better, but they have neglected what is the best defense of all – don’t attack other countries and they won’t attack you.

·       For some reason, residents of countries whose presidents are nonentities who are changed off every four years like gloves, live much better than in a country where the president is in office for life and personally lives better than all the other residents combined.