re: #176 Targetpractice

Looks like Putin’s trying to build his own off-ramp: “We were misled, this war was a mistake, those responsible will be held accountable.” If the belief is that he can’t back down from the war because of the embarrassment at home, then a few show trials and summary executions would certainly help towards calming the natives.

That’s an interesting point. And I have little doubt that Putin’s propagandists could spin that very easily. Make Putin the victim of bad intel.

Oooh, better yet….claim that the people who fed him the intel were “Western spies engaging in the promotion of disinformation to the leadership, thus sending Russia into a military trap in an attempt to weaken and/or destroy Russia”.

As for Putin’s nonsense before the invasion, that can be memory-holed easily enough.