The reindeer breeder (Mr Shoigu that is) is oblivious of the subtle rules of foreign policy games. The herder moves like a bulldozer, rushing ahead while clumsily trying to maneuver, trying to disguise his actual thoughts, fears, and anxiety.
Through the mouth of Sergei Shoigu, Russia once again proved the whole world that it is a state sponsor of terrorism. The Russian defense minister was personally calling foreign defense chiefs and presidents all day yesterday, putting forward his blackmail demands and outright threatening a “dirty” bomb.
This was direct and awkward blackmail, devoid of any gracefulness. In fact, there can be nothing graceful in the actions of the Soviet system’s homunculi, lagging behind the rest of the world in development by several generations…
We have already seen such blackmail as regards the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, then Zaporizhia NPP, and now we’re seeing it unfolding around the Kakhovska hydroelectric power station. In all thhese cases, Russian blackmail turned out to be a farce – miserable and obvious – played against the background of their military weakness.
It seems that the Russian military in Ukraine is not capable of anything else, actually. They cannot defeat Ukraine’s forces on the battlefield so the only thing remaining is to terrorize and intimidate the world with even more terror. But by acting this way, Russia only horrifies the European community, turning the latter against itself even more.
And now, Shoigu’s relay baton is taken over by Naryshkin, notorious for is role of an “official” communicator of conspiracy theories, generated by Russian propaganda. Along his side is Lavrov, who has long lost face and trust as a top diplomat, and even chief of general staff Gerasimov!
They all keep reaching out to their foreign counterparts to tell the same fake story about a “dirty bomb” that Ukraine “plans” to blow up. However, no one believes the tale, realizing that it is Russia that might be hatching such plans.
So… The reindeer breeder and the talking heads, both occupying senior government positions, are intimidating the whole world with a “dirty bomb” hoax, in the eighth month of their disastrous war.
For the eighth month, no one trusts the Russians and no one’s afraid of their blackmail. But the Russians did not understand that the whole set of inelegant, audacious, and most importantly rather unsophisticated threats they employ don’t impress anyone. They’re simply irritating, no more than that.
And this is the main failure on the part of Russia. It is no longer able to intimidate the West. It’s only an irritant. And every day, we see the results of this irritation. At some point, they can reach a completely unexpected turn for the Kremlin.
A herd of lemmings at the forefront of an information attack are rushing headlong toward the edge of the abyss.