NICK BYRNE—Let’s be optimistic and say that, glory to God, you found something you can do in Russia, obtained a work visa (not a big challenge, once you get a letter of invitation from your future employer, but the process takes a few months), flew over here, and have the basics of life and work satisfactorily settled out. Your next challenge, and it’s a difficult and lengthy one, is learning the Russian language and adapting to Russian culture and mentality.
MoA—The upper part of the graphic explains the S-400 system. The lower part says: “The system can eliminate” and then shows the silhouettes and names of U.S. military bomber, fighter and radar planes as well as Tomahawk cruise missiles. The only one missing is the ‘invisible’ F-35 which the S-400 can of course also detect and eliminate.
NATYLIE BALDWIN—On the heels of last week’s NYT report that the U.S. Cyber Command had carried out cyber attacks within Russia’s domestic infrastructure, Reuters has reported unnamed representatives of the Russian government as stating that the cyber attacks were recognized and thwarted:
The disclosure was made on Russia’s RIA and TASS news agencies days after the New York Times cited unnamed government sources as saying that the United States had inserted potentially disruptive computer code into Russia’s power grid as part of a more aggressive deployment of its cyber tools….
THE SAKER—The distinguishing characteristic of this new opposition to Putin is that it sees itself as the truly patriotic segment of Russian society. These are folks who blame Putin for being weak, indecisive and corrupt (including personally). They believe that Putin sits on the top of an oligarchic pyramid which only pays lip service to Russian national interests, but which in reality is interested only in wealth, power and influence. Frankly, much of their argumentation about Putin’s alleged corruption is based on a mix of disinformation and personal hatred for Putin himself. In contrast, however, their arguments that Putin is too weak or indecisive are based on a completely rational and fact based analysis of the events which have marked Putin’s presidency.