Well said!

All $hit highly processed “foods” anyway. Better off without them.

Fair enough, I couldn’t disagree at all.

Would be wonderful to sneak a peak at a historical analysis from ++50yrs: either it’s Putin’s masterstroke, or he’s struggling to tamp down prima donna Prigohzin with his buddy Lukashenko’s help. Occam’s razor would certainly point to the latter.

Ha, I’d rather take odds on Lukashenko “falling from a window” - I seem to remember he was reported as “seriously ill” a few weeks ago, plus if I remember Putin was pressuring him to attack Ukraine, and he refused.

Get rid of L. and Putin can install Prigo. and they will work together on Ukraine. Scary.

To comment on my own link, I still think (per comments elsewhere), that right from the get-go this is a 3-way play orchestrated by Putin to get a strong fight-ready leader on his western flank, and north of Ukraine.

I do not think it has much at all to do with a coup or exile.

I posted this comment in another thread (hope it’s OK to link). TL;DR Putin has a track record of using bizarre public “emergencies”* to progress what he wants, maybe this is another one.

*e.g. Moscow theatre gassing, Beslan school massacre

I do wonder (given the weird and largely bloodless development of the 'march for justice’and it’s current state with Prighozin and some Wagner said to be going to Belorussia) whether that is all a play for public consumption. It wouldn’t be the first time Putin has staged dramatic and public events to achieve his ends.

A worrying evolution consistent with the rumours would be Prighozin as Lukashenko’s head of “Security”, but aligned with Putin, plus a reconstituted Wagner threatening Ukraine’s northern border.

That sounds like a huge win for Putin compared to the current situation.

Maybe that’s crazy, I hope so.