Russia and Ukraine

[The Grand Nudger]

Dugin was targeted. His daughter was collateral.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Russia doesn't have air superiority for the f16s to take.

But their extended-range AAMs mean that the Russian planes launching cruise missiles and glide bombs will have to stand off even further. This means fewer civilian casualties, and also more potential areas to deploy reserves. And while neither side has air superiority, both sides are still flying missions, and the F-16 will be more capable than anything currently flying in-theater, which may allow the Ukrainians to seize air superiority at a time and place of its choosing.

[modernite]

Dugin was targeted.  His daughter was collateral.

The higher-ups, especially the CIA, are infamous for targeting family members and friends when they cant get to the core target.

[HappySkeptic]

Dugin was targeted.  His daughter was collateral.

The higher-ups, especially the CIA, are infamous for targeting family members and friends when they cant get to the core target.

I'm calling bull on this one.  Are you saying the CIA went after Dugin's daughter, or you just making a general statement?

Please point me to reliable sources that show that the CIA targets family members of targets for death, instead of the main target.  Please explain how this achieves any sort of valid political goal.

[The Grand Nudger]

The cia didn't have shit to do with it. Dugin had switched cars with his daughter.

What's interesting, in the russian retelling of events, is that the fsb had some warning, and had relayed it to dugin. So, you know, what better way to prevent your own assassination than to switch cars with your...um....daughter....?

[Anomalocaris]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Putin or his cronies intentionally allowed the assassination plot against Dugin to go ahead. a rabid ultra- nationalist further to the right of Putin constricts Putin‘s own maneuverability in Russian politics. so Putin really has no use for Dugin alive.
Dugin’s assassination by Ukraine both give the nationalist cause a martyr and provides putin with talking points to justify continued war against ukraine. So Dugin is useful to Putin dead.

[The Grand Nudger]

The sickness runs deep. Every event is always some brilliant plot by the master strategist. Presumably, if he choked on his fork and died that would also demonstrate his ruthless political savvy, somehow.

I've got a better explanation. They're fuckups. They can't prevent assassinations and sabotage on their own soil anymore than they can prevent ukraine from slaughtering their troops over the ruins of this or that random town. Any attempt to even try is met by the brick wall of some russian somewhere along the chain of accountability being on the take, always. This...I suspect, is the reality of russia's self alleged existential crisis. They don't want to be embarrassed...by ukraine... on the international stage. They don't want people freezing in their apartments in the homeland. They don't want people to ignore their weekly threats of nuclear armaggedon.

They simply can't do anything about it. It's an aging band of limp dick crooks showing just how bad they are at governance. As I keep saying, letters from our own possible future.

[Anomalocaris]

no, putin has a long track record of extrajudicial murder for domestic political aims. the murder extends to both people who are overtly hostile to him, as well as people who in western public perception should be on his side, but whose continued ability to draw breath apparently no longer meets his needs.

Rabid nationalists to putin’s right may appear to be putin’s natural allies, but it is not so. he wants the nationalists to have no choice but to support him. he doesn’t want ultra-nationalists who would force him to move further to the right then he feels to be convenient by threatening to fragment his own support base.

So Dugin’s public death at the hands of the enemy Putin is leading russia to fight certainly seem like the best and most useful outcome for Putin

[The Grand Nudger]

Good for dead john mccain, too!

[Anomalocaris]

and rather than implying this makes putin a master strategist,  this is more like a amateurish blunder by Ukraine that a former KGB agent can’t help but profit from.  Dugin’s death certainly benefits Putin’s rule.   Dugin’s death in ukrainian hands even more so.    no one makes it to the top of any government without a sense of what helps his own power and influence.