Putin’s reign may not survive the impending fall of Crimea
In recent weeks and months, Ukraine has increased its military strikes against Russian air defenses, oil depots, fuel facilities, energy infrastructure, and Russian bases throughout the peninsula.
Ukraine is also intensifying its military stranglehold on the Russian land bridge that connects Russia to Crimea. The key Russian logistics route is now restricted to military traffic, which faces persistent interdiction from Ukrainian drones, rendering large portions of it unusable.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his generals are methodically isolating Crimea, turning off the lights for Putin as they do so. On Wednesday, the Kyiv Independent reported that half of Crimea is now without power due to Ukrainian strikes. Russian authorities in Crimea have not only been forced to ration fuel but to halt all gasoline sales to civilians.
Putin’s end is coming in Crimea. As we and retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges have long argued, Crimea is the decisive terrain of this war. Ukraine does not even have to retake it — it needs only to render it untenable for Russian military use. That day is now fast approaching
The struggle for Crimea will likely culminate in Ukraine finally destroying Putin’s $4 billion Kerch Bridge. Can Putin politically survive the loss of Crimea to Ukraine? We highly doubt it.
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-sec...g-ukraine/
Putin Humiliated as Troops Threaten to ‘Turn Their Weapons’ on Him
A Russian military commander has appealed directly to Vladimir Putin to threaten an armed uprising with help from top military brass if the country isn’t told the “truth” about the war.
In an Instagram video that quickly racked up millions of views Thursday, Alexander Lunin addressed the Russian president to warn of “very serious consequences” if his demands were ignored.
The 39-year-old father of two went on to say he’d been asked to “deliver a message” to Putin by unnamed military officials and members of the security services. They told him to demand a meeting with Putin at the Kremlin that would include a “live-broadcast audience,” he said, so that the country could learn the “truth” about what is going on.
“If in the near future I do not come to the Kremlin and speak live next to you, the army will turn its weapons against the Kremlin,” he said.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-p...ns-on-him/
Russia Faces Growing Fuel Crunch as Ukrainian Strikes Knock Out Refineries
Russia is facing its worst nationwide fuel shortages in years, with at least 17 regions imposing mandatory restrictions on gasoline and diesel sales, and dozens of others reporting shortages or restrictions by private fuel companies.
The increasing scarcity of fuel has been caused mainly by a widening campaign of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting oil terminals, refineries, and pipelines. The largest fuel supplier to the Moscow region, the Kapotnya refinery, was hit twice this month; the plant will be offline until at least the end of 2026, unnamed officials told Reuters.
The shortages pose an increasingly serious headache for the Kremlin, which shows no sign of relenting in its all-out assault on Ukraine despite growing signs of impatience among Russians more than four years into the war.
As of June 24, at least 55 of Russia’s 83 federal entities -- regions, republics, krais, oblasts, and so-called federally-designated cities -- were reporting either mandatory, government restrictions on gasoline and diesel sales, or restrictions imposed by private companies operating fuel stations, according to an RFE/RL tally.
The five Ukrainian regions that Russia has fully or partially occupied are also facing major shortages; last week, the governor of Crimea announced a total halt in gasoline sales following weeks of Ukrainian drone strikes on highways, bridges, and other supply routes to the Black Sea peninsula.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-Gener...eries.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
![[Image: 7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/71/51/bc/7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg)
