How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
This week’s book:
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Picking up where I left off with Seneca’s letters to his friend and student, Lucilius Junior, an official in Sicily.
Following is a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of the letter. Seneca’s text appears in bold, my replies are in normal text.
ON ILL-HEALTH AND ENDURANCE OF SUFFERING
1. If I may begin with a commonplace remark,[1] spring is gradually disclosing itself; but though it is rounding into summer, when you would expect hot weather, it has kept rather cool, and one cannot yet be sure of it. For it often slides back into winter weather. Do you wish to know how uncertain it still is? I do not yet trust myself to a bath which is absolutely cold; even at this time I break its chill. You may say that this is no way to show the endurance either of heat or of cold; very true, dear Lucilius, but at my time of life one is at length contented with the natural chill of the body. I can scarcely thaw out in the middle of summer. Accordingly, I spend most of the time bundled up;
I do not have this problem yet, but I am not as comfortable in the cold as I used to be. I did used to enjoy cold showers after working out, but in the last few years the showers have gotten warmer and warmer.
2. and I thank old age for keeping me fastened to my bed.[2] Why should I not thank old age on this account? That which I ought not to wish to do, I lack the ability to do. Most of my converse is with books. Whenever your letters arrive, I imagine that I am with you, and I have the feeling that I am about to speak my answer, instead of writing it. Therefore let us together investigate the nature of this problem of yours, just as if we were conversing with one another.[3]
I do not have much to be grateful for from growing older. Maybe the fact that I have become more disciplined about going to bed on time because I no longer function well on less than 7 hours of sleep. I didn’t used to be strict with myself about it because I could get out of bed and be out the door in 15 minutes and ready for PT(Marine Corps physical training) at 0500 regardless of hours slept or how much I drank the night before, trying to do that now would likely kill me.
3. You ask me whether every good is desirable. You say: “If it is a good to be brave under torture, to go to the stake with a stout heart, to endure illness with resignation, it follows that these things are desirable. But I do not see that any of them is worth praying for. At any rate I have as yet known of no man who has paid a vow by reason of having been cut to pieces by the rod, or twisted out of shape by the gout, or made taller by the rack.”
While none of the scenarios described by Lucilius are desirable, it is desirable to be strong enough to endure them.
4. My dear Lucilius, you must distinguish between these cases; you will then comprehend that there is something in them that is to be desired. I should prefer to be free from torture; but if the time comes when it must be endured, I shall desire that I may conduct myself therein with bravery, honor, and courage. Of course I prefer that war should not occur; but if war does occur, I shall desire that I may nobly endure the wounds, the starvation, and all that the exigency of war brings. Nor am I so mad as to crave illness; but if I must suffer illness, I shall desire that I may do nothing which shows lack of restraint, and nothing that is unmanly. The conclusion is, not that hardships are desirable, but that virtue is desirable, which enables us patiently to endure hardships.
I did not desire to go to combat and be shot at, but I did desire the strength of character to be a good squad leader in combat. I did not desire to test my wife by being deployed or in the field so often during our marriage, but I am glad that I know she is strong enough to handle adversity.
5. Certain of our school,[4] think that, of all such qualities, a stout endurance is not desirable, – though not to be deprecated either – because we ought to seek by prayer only the good which is unalloyed, peaceful, and beyond the reach of trouble. Personally, I do not agree with them. And why? First, because it is impossible for anything to be good without being also desirable. Because, again, if virtue is desirable, and if nothing that is good lacks virtue, then everything good is desirable. And, lastly, because a brave endurance even under torture is desirable.
Praying for a strong character without tests in your life is a waste of a prayer. Looking back on my childhood, I would have preferred not to have been bullied, but I think a lot of my inner strength comes from that experience.
6. At this point I ask you: Is not bravery desirable? And yet bravery despises and challenges danger. The most beautiful and most admirable part of bravery is that it does not shrink from the stake, advances to meet wounds, and sometimes does not even avoid the spear, but meets it with opposing breast. If bravery is desirable, so is patient endurance of torture; for this is a part of bravery. Only sift these things, as I have suggested; then there will be nothing which can lead you astray. For it is not mere endurance of torture, but brave endurance, that is desirable. I therefore desire that “brave” endurance; and this is virtue.
Nobody respects the person that would hide behind his child to shield himself from danger. My wife knows that if we are ever in a bad situation, I will risk my life and she will try to escape. While I have never been through actual torture, I have been through hardships and experienced physical pain. I hope I could hold out against it, but really hope I never have to find out.
7. “But,” you say, “who ever desired such a thing for himself?” Some prayers are open and outspoken, when the requests are offered specifically; other prayers are indirectly expressed, when they include many requests under one title. For example, I desire a life of honor. Now a life of honor includes various kinds of conduct; it may include the chest in which Regulus was confined, or the wound of Cato which was torn open by Cato’s own hand, or the exile of Rutilius,[5] or the cup of poison which removed Socrates from jail to heaven. Accordingly, in praying for a life of honor, I have prayed also for those things without which, on some occasions, life cannot be honorable
I also desire a life of honor. In many cases that is easier said than done. When I have had ethical quandaries, I have usually made the right choice and in the cases where I didn’t, I have tried to learn from them and do better in the future. It seems as though the smaller the matter is, the easier it is to convince myself it’s OK this time and for large choices, I definitely steer straighter.
8. O thrice and four times blest were they
Who underneath the lofty walls of Troy
Met happy death before their parents’ eyes![6]
What does it matter whether you offer this prayer for some individual, or admit that it was desirable in the past?
9. Decius sacrificed himself for the State; he set spurs to his horse and rushed into the midst of the foe, seeking death. The second Decius, rivalling his father’s valour, reproducing the words which had become sacred[7] and already household words, dashed into the thickest of the fight, anxious only that his sacrifice might bring omen of success,[8] and regarding a noble death as a thing to be desired. Do you doubt, then, whether it is best to die glorious and performing some deed of valour?
While I do not plan on dying in any certain way, if my death serves a purpose like saving my wife or one of our kids, I would be OK with this. I don’t think saving myself and losing her in the process would be something I could live with.
10. When one endures torture bravely, one is using all the virtues. Endurance may perhaps be the only virtue that is on view and most manifest; but bravery is there too, and endurance and resignation and long-suffering are its branches. There, too, is foresight; for without foresight no plan can be undertaken; it is foresight that advises one to bear as bravely as possible the things one cannot avoid. There also is steadfastness, which cannot be dislodged from its position, which the wrench of no force can cause to abandon its purpose. There is the whole inseparable company of virtues; every honorable act is the work of one single virtue, but it is in accordance with the judgment of the whole council. And that which is approved by all the virtues, even though it seems to be the work of one alone, is desirable.
Honor with out endurance is short lived. Toughness without discipline leads to getting into stupid fights. It is important to have as many virtues well developed as possible so that making the right choice and being able to continue to do so becomes second nature.
11. What? Do you think that those things only are desirable which come to us amid pleasure and ease, and which we bedeck our doors to welcome?[9] There are certain goods whose features are forbidding. There are certain prayers which are offered by a throng, not of men who rejoice, but of men who bow down reverently and worship.
I believe nobody becomes tough from having an easy life. There are probably exceptions to this, but soft lives make soft people. When adversity hits me, I have no doubt in my capacity to deal with it. I do not ask for an easy life, just the strength to deal with what happens to me. I can see a softness in myself since I retired from the Marine Corps and I am working on myself to minimize it, but my life is much more stable now and I don’t want to go back to that chaos.
12. Was it not in this fashion, think you, that Regulus prayed that he might reach Carthage? Clothe yourself with a hero’s courage, and withdraw for a little space from the opinions of the common man. Form a proper conception of the image of virtue, a thing of exceeding beauty and grandeur; this image is not to be worshiped by us with incense or garlands, but with sweat and blood. 13. Behold Marcus Cato, laying upon that hallowed breast his unspotted hands, and tearing apart the wounds which had not gone deep enough to kill him! Which, pray, shall you say to him: “I hope all will be as you wish,” and “I am grieved,” or shall it be “Good fortune in your undertaking!”?
Regulus was a Roman General that fought the Carthaginians and was captured. Cato killed himself by tearing open self inflicted wounds from a prior suicide attempt so that he would not end up under Julius Caesar’s mercy. Although my plans won’t always turn out the way I want, I need to be able to meet the failure head on and not cravenly.
14. In this connection I think of our friend Demetrius, who calls an easy existence, untroubled by the attacks of Fortune, a “Dead Sea.”[10] If you have nothing to stir you up and rouse you to action, nothing which will test your resolution by its threats and hostilities; if you recline in unshaken comfort, it is not tranquillity; it is merely a flat calm.
Although my life is currently easy, I do test myself physically by working out and running and I test myself mentally by reading and writing this series of essays.
15. The Stoic Attalus was wont to say: “I should prefer that Fortune keep me in her camp rather than in the lap of luxury. If I am tortured, but bear it bravely, all is well; if I die, but die bravely, it is also well.” Listen to Epicurus; he will tell you that it is actually pleasant.[11] I myself shall never apply an effeminate word to an act so honorable and austere. If I go to the stake, I shall go unbeaten.
These sound like easy words to say, but hard words to live. Seneca went to his death at the hands of Nero unbroken and I strive to do the same.
16. Why should I not regard this as desirable – not because the fire, burns me, but because it does not overcome me? Nothing is more excellent or more beautiful than virtue; whatever we do in obedience to her orders is both good and desirable. Farewell.
I would rather die with a purpose than live because I refused to help protect my family. If I live with virtue, and die the same way, then I consider that to be a victory for me.
Music is from the next Metal Church album after the return of Mike Howe on vocals. It is really good, but it doesn’t have the same intensity throughout that the X album did.
It does have some good ones, though: Damned if You Do
One of their best songs ever IMO: By the Numbers
Unfortunately this is the last album with Mike, he killed himself on July 26 2022 at 55 years old.
That pisses me off, and makes me sad.
The band originally blamed the lock downs for him not being able to get help, saying Mike “was victimized by a failing health-care system and subsequently poisoned by the venom of Big Pharma, In short and in essence, he fell prey to the real ‘Fake Healer’.”
They quickly backtracked when the backlash erupted, that also pisses me off and makes me sad. (not very Stoic, I know)
Meh.
Nothing is more excellent or more beautiful than virtue; whatever we do in obedience to her orders is both good and desirable.
I’ve got a ways to go.
Thanks, Ron. Another though-provoker.
It was a little long, but I liked it.
I just got back from vacation yesterday and getting caught up on the news is testing my Stoicism.
Thanks Ron.
I have learned over the years that there is nothing I can do now that my kids/grandkids are grown. They make their own decisions and don’t need my advice. My daughter recently asked me to make a decision for her, we talked things through and I told her that I wouldn’t decide for her and the next day she emailed me thanking me for helping her to chose. Sometimes kids only want to be listened to when things seem to be tough.
My grand kids bounce things off me but again are just wanting someone to listen, hoping for a confirmation.
My husband asks me, “Are you venting or do you want suggestions?” If I want suggestions, I’ll usually say so up front. Sometimes I forget. Sometimes he forgets I just want to vent and offers suggestions, but things like, “Did you turn it off and on again?” make me mad. Then he has to say, “I don’t know how much you know. That’s just usually where I start with everybody.”
You tell me problems, my first inclination is to look for solutions.
Not generally how women work.
However much it irritates me when he underestimates what I might have already tried, sometimes I really did just need to turn it off and turn it back on again (figuratively speaking).
I ask for explicit help in googling things because my google-fu is not strong* and I often don’t know how to phrase things to get the answer I want, so I have to explain to him the entire problem, and he goes googling for me.
*This lack of thinking skills is hindering my medical coding efforts. It comes down to, “I know I have a problem. I think I know what my problem is. I don’t know what questions to ask.”
“Did you turn it off and on again?”
Well did you?
(ducks)
That dynamic (women tend to like venting, men tend to like resolving) is probably the second biggest cause of marital friction.
The first, of course, is money.
I try to remember to say, “Just venting,” but I often forget.
I usually ask the Spousal Unit “Is this venting or solution-seeking?” and go from there.
(She’s a consultant for her old employer, so if she starts venting about her work day, it’s typically about struggling toward a solution, and I just assume that’s what we’re doing; for the most part, that’s worked out okay.)
I try not to do this when my wife is venting about something, but then there are the times where to me the solution is right there, so I have to tell her.
Usually she appreciates this, but other times she’ll roll her eyes at me and call me Captain Obvious.
That’s where I am with my kids Fourscore.
I am glad to try to offer advise, but in the end it’s their life.
As long as they are not in jail or asking me for money, they seem to be doing OK.
It is important to have as many virtues well developed as possible so that making the right choice and being able to continue to do so becomes second nature.
Yes. Caught up in the grind of life, it’s easy to forget. Thanks for the reminder.
What do a bunch of old Romans know about adversity? They never had to work at Starbucks.
Would.
Bikini-clad Kari Lake swaps Mar-a-Lago for the Bahamas and a family vacation before her book tour next week and a likely Senate run in the fall
Would…
like to see her just go away.
Would the daughter.
Memoir? Twenty years in local news and one failed political campaign. What do have to memorialize? I just did it for her in one sentence.
You are assuming people will buy it to read it.
My gut says we are going to need a lot of virtue in the coming months.
Wendy Sherman out as Deputy Sec of State, Victoria Nuland in
Sullivan is arm twisting the BRICs this week
Graham and Blumenthal – If the nuke plant is attacked we want Article 5
Zelensky – They’re going to attack the nuke plant
UAF – Holding drills of what to do if someone attacks the nuke plant
With the NATO summit on July 11th, it’s looking like the narrative has been set. The neocons want their escalation and a full-blown NATO versus Russia war.
The NATO thing is the scariest. It really is Dr. Strangelove come to life.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive is failing and Zelensky is getting desperate.
The neocons are at a crossroads and hellbent on going down fighting. They simply cannot give up their dreams of global empire. Somebody is going to have to take them out.
Always be escalating.
WWIII will be the greatest reset of all.
Nuland’s promotion is pretty horrifying.
Yes. It says the neocons are firmly in charge at State.
Nuland should be nowhere near a position of power.
Only if it is the warden of the prison she is in…
Not even that. Maybe she can bake cookies in the prison kitchen.
That’s how you euphemism.
Well done.
That can’t be a good sign.
I could be wrong, but I get the impression Kari Lake is flat out crazy.
My impression – not unusually so. She (like Trump) is understandably pissed that she lost a rigged election. That tends to make her a little bug-eyed.
Of course, the idiot Repubs in AZ did nothing to reform elections when they had the legislature and the governor. Now that any election reform will be (and has been) vetoed by the Dem governor, no election fraud will be investigated by the Dem AG, and elections will be run by the Dem SecState, they are fooked and will never win another statewide election.
I think they were too squishy and askeert of looking Trumpy if the did any election reform after the 2020 election. This qualifies as “play stupid games, win stupid prizes”.
The neocons want their escalation and a full-blown NATO versus Russia war.
We’re overdue for a real war. These regional conflicts are totally unsatisfying.
They simply cannot give up their dreams of global empire.
Meanwhile, we have surrendered our society to a group of people Hell bent on rendering us completely incapable of administering or defending such an enterprise.
Business expenses.
President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, allegedly deducted tens of thousands of dollars in payments made to a prostitute and a sex club from his taxes, according to an IRS whistleblower.
I mean health care is usually deductible not that it should be
Relevant
According to Bloomberg: “Business entertainment expenses were an underlying casualty of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The TCJA sharply limited the deduction for business entertainment expenses, except for certain employee events, like office parties, and for recreational, social, or similar activities.”
Sounds like an a recreational, social or other activity to me.
If you don’t invite clients or colleagues, it’s not a business event. And I wonder who would admit, at this point, to smoking crack and banging underage hookers with Hunter.
Anybody with D by their name.
Nuland’s promotion is pretty horrifying.
Think of it like the NFL. It’s better to go with a proven loser than to take a chance on an unknown quantity.
The Lovie Smith rule?
Except Lovie ain’t gonna start wwiii
We have a fucking heatwave and i am depressed and this is not fucking time to be stoic. I stopped at the irish pub for a pint and a bite and now the food is late and i wish i went home under the AC and just had a protein bar
Sorry, Pie.
How’s the pint?
Getting warm.before the food gets here. I dont want a second so am holding on to it
Cool & drizzly here. It ain’t summer yet, apparently.
It’ll be 110 Americanheit in Tucson today. What’s the temp in Pieland?
right now it is 87 but it is 9 30 pm. during the day it was 96 but felt like 100
Alright, with humidity, that’s hot.
Sticky, like Winston’s mom.
Do you think that those things only are desirable which come to us amid pleasure and ease, and which we bedeck our doors to welcome – yes especially if it is cold
I think pleasure and ease are relative. As we now all have the lives of medieval kings, we find lack of air conditioning an annoyance. 500 years ago, shoes were a big thing. And a beer, in some places, was a luxury.
And a beer, in some places, was a luxury.
Go on.
Hey Pie, you know anything about this? I need to hunt down a subtitled version for some Thursday night. Looks fantastic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_utFUyE1-gM
MISIUNEA SPAȚIALĂ DELTA
never heard of it till now
Where are my men at arms sworn to my banner? I want to go raiding.
I meant to say “better than.” But that is a funny epic fail.
I’ve been out of town for the past week, how is your wife?
She has not totally recovered. Still has high blood pressure. Went on a business trip anyway. She is coming home tonight, in one piece, and going Monday to her regular doctor. She is out of immediate danger, but we have to get that blood pressure down. I am beginning to suspect a combination of medications she is on is causing this.
That’s mostly good news.
I agree that it sounds possibly medicinally induced, my step dad had a similar issue last year.
You may live like a medieval king but you’re still a bloody peasant. Now pay your taxes to your betters.
I didn’t use to.
I smell stories.
Scruf, ever think that anger is a choice (most strong emotions are)?
Absolutely. I have a low tolerance for willful ignorance and for being fucked with.
Perhaps it’s the sense that I’ve ducked a lot of bullets over the years and now realize I was mostly just lucky in my decisions. But it’s also a recognition that the system is not indifferent to my condition, it’s now actively antagonistic.
I feel for those who haven’t seen it and are getting screwed while I have utter contempt for those who won’t see it and are indifferent to the suffering of others. For a while, I was in the latter group. It’s the Middle East, not really my problem.
Me neither, I was dissatisfied with the state of our government, but COVID managed to push me into rage at them.
This is beautiful.
Cowboy stops armed robber
Awesome! The only thing that would have made it better would be if the cowboy had lassoed the robber.
Or, you know, shot him with a big ol’ six-shooter.
*tips hat*
Alvin Bragg (Manhattan DA) charges cowboy with assault.
And theft of a firearm!
Waxing dishonestly.
“It’s less than ideal. But the fact that we have a former president who is having to answer to charges brought by prosecutors does uphold the basic notion that nobody is above the law. And the allegations will now be sorted out through a court process. And I think I’m more concerned when it comes to the United States with the fact that not just one particular individual is being accused of undermining existing laws, but that more broadly we’ve seen, whether it’s through the gerrymandering of districts, whether it’s trying to silence critics through changes in legislative process, whether it’s attempts to intimidate the press, a strand of anti-democratic sentiment that we’ve seen in the United States. It’s something that is right now most prominent in the Republican Party, but I don’t think it’s something that is unique to one party. I think there is less tolerance for ideas that don’t suit us. And it’s sort of the habits of a free and open exchange of ideas and the idea that we all agree to the rules of the game, and even if the outcomes aren’t always the ones we like, we still abide by those rules. I think that’s weakened since I left office, and we’re gonna need to strengthen them again.”
Because Republicans are holding political prisoners, attempting to imprison political rivals, silencing dissent, etc. …
The most lightweight of lightweight ways of looking at this.
My Mom said something like this to me.
My reply, “If that was true we would be going after Biden for the garage docs, Pence for what he had and Clinton’s servers.
According to her, those were all “different” somehow.
There’s only one thing that matters to the Deep State, and that’s the continuation of the wars.
If you support them in that effort, you get to continue. You could have multiple dead boys in your car trunk and it wouldn’t matter. Anything is okay.
If you don’t support the permanent wars, however, then you can and will be tried on the most trivial of matters until you are removed from the system.
“the continuation of the wars”
I would agree, if you include the war against American dissenters. There’s no question in my mind that they view the American public as their biggest enemy by far.
I did nazi that coming.
Last year a German court ruled that the far-right party posed a threat to democracy and allowed the country’s security services to monitor it.
A recent study by the German Institute for Human Rights examining the possibility of a ban on the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has once again put the far-right party in the spotlight.
The study published on June 7 states that the AfD now poses such a threat to the country’s democratic order “that it could be banned by the Federal Constitutional Court.”
According to the institute, the AfD could be legally banned because it explicitly aims to “eliminate the free democratic basic order” and “abolish the guarantee of human dignity enshrined in the Basic Law”.
The AfD, founded in 2013, has been accused of anti-democratic tendencies, although it officially supports democracy in Germany.
Nothing says “democracy” like banning political parties.
The AfD is finally within striking distance of threatening the stranglehold the the CDU and SPD have had on German politics for a very long time.
The Greens are batshit crazy and would genocide half the German population at any given time, but it’s the AfD that must be dealt with because they oppose the unchecked immigration and the clusterfuck in Ukraine.
“the German Institute for Human Rights”
A wholly owned subsidiary of the SPLC?
Necessary to understanding why the West is losing its collective shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ6HEkvfuI
But the fact that we have a former president who is having to answer to charges brought by prosecutors does uphold the basic notion that nobody is above the law.
Nobody we don’t like, anyway.
Swap out “a former president” for “the leading challenger for the presidency”, and it kinda has a different feel, no?
How people are largely missing that is unreal. You don’t have to gaf about Trump to see that nothing good can come of this.
Mrs. Animal and I are off to Seward. Going out on a charter tomorrow, fishing for halibut, salmon and rockfish. If the fishing goes well, I’ll write something up for the Glibertariat, because you people are my faves.
good luck
“because you people are my faves.”
Do you tell Red State the same thing? Well, do ya?
/sarc
I believe him, because we don’t actually pay anything. So his content here is done because he wants to.
^ This.
Pictured.
Good luck and have a great day!
Full Rogan 3-hour interview with RFK Jr.
https://rumble.com/v2ujfts-joe-rogan-interviews-robert-f.-kennedy-jr.-the-complete-unedited-interview-.html
Interesting guy.
A military coup might have started in Russia in the last 30 minutes. Or maybe it’s fake.
Uh oh.
I’m hearing that Prigozhin has gone nuts.
Any Sources?
Russian Telegram channels.
He’s been going nuts for a few months.
Cracked under pressure maybe. He needs to steer clear of upper story windows regardless.
I disagree. It sounds like Putin is using him to blame his staff for deceiving him on the threat that lead to going to war.
“Prigozhin alleged that the Russian Defense Ministry “is trying to deceive society and the president and tell us how there was crazy aggression from Ukraine and that they were planning to attack us with the whole of NATO.”
Contrary to Moscow’s claims, Prigozhin also said the war wasn’t needed to “demilitarize or denazify Ukraine.”
“The Wagner chief said the invasion was an attempt to acquire “material assets” to divide among Russian elites.”
https://www.dw.com/en/wagner-head-prigozhin-says-ukraine-war-based-on-deception/a-66016855
It’s possible, or it’s possible that the West found Prighozin’s price and the Russian Army moved to eliminate the Wagner Group before it could wreak havoc.
It’s going to be really hard to tell what the hell is going on, especially in the heat of the moment.
No doubt. I don’t like that the world has become a Tom Clancy novel.
BTW, P’s been talking trash about Shoigu et al for months. Maybe this is a further rhetorical escalation but it’s nothing new.
Prigozhin claimed that the assault on Ukraine was launched so that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu could become a marshal and receive military accolades.
It’s looking like Shoigu should be the one avoiding upper story windows. Putin can throw him under the bus and claim this was a big misunderstanding while negotiating a peace settlement.
That’s what i’m thinking. A way to save face and blame the traitors while saving the remaining military. This would also allow those with their money frozen to get it back. I would suspect the Chinese negotiated it with them. It is also why there was a US visit to China last week.
We’ll see, but I think we’re past that point.
It’s very odd that this comes at almost precisely the moment that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is almost universally acknowledged as dead.
Or it’s perfectly possible that this is a huge psyop.
That’s what the Russians are claiming at least.
“All messages and video distributed on social networks on behalf of [Yevgeny] Prigozhin about the alleged strike by the [Russian military] on the camps of PMC Wagner in the rear areas do not correspond to reality and are an informational provocation,” the ministry said in a statement.
Could be a psyop Scruffy, could be the guy’s just gone and lost his mind. A psyop would involve less inflammatory accusations I would think though although he’s been saying similar stuff for a while without much pushback from anyone.
Like I said up above, it’s impossible to tell right now.
Anybody drawing conclusions about anything is premature.
Maybe but truth or not it’s an extremely dangerous game he’s playing, for him likely much more so than any combat zone he’s been in.
Everything he says strikes me as very plausible. Ukraine was never going to invade Russia. And neither was NATO – the idea is ludicrous. The Russian kleptocracy has already started looting the bits they’ve conquered. Wagner has been hung out to dry more than once, so I can see why he’s pissed.
Putin relies very heavily on Wagner, so its tough for him to shove the guy out a window.
https://apnews.com/article/putin-russia-ukraine-war-prigozhin-infighting-0e051f0a43522f57ef1810a8b03f6e62
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the outspoken millionaire head of the private military contractor Wagner, stood in front of the bloodied bodies of his slain troops in Ukraine and yelled expletive-riddled insults at Russian military leaders, blaming them for the carnage.
“They came here as volunteers and they died to let you lounge in your mahogany offices,” Prigozhin shouted. “You are sitting in your expensive clubs, your children are enjoying good living and filming videos on YouTube. Those who don’t give us ammunition will be eaten alive in hell!”
It was a disquieting display for Russians used to more than two decades of rigidly controlled rule by President Vladimir Putin — years with little sign of infighting among his top lieutenants.
Prigozhin’s video in May and his other rants against the military leadership have been met with silence from Putin, as well as the brass. Some see Putin’s failure to squelch the infighting as a sign of potential shifts in Russia’s political scene that set the stage for more internal battles.
Interesting!
Thanks for sharing that Russian language tidbit.
Fucking IT. Midday no notice PC reboot. Do you assholes do that to the CEO’s laptop? More than once?
And reopening my windows on login after doesn’t do a damn bit of good if the vpn isn’t reconnected first. Assholes.
My WFH computer consistently turns off the number lock key at each stage of the login process. Since passwords are required to have both letters and numbers, this is extremely annoying.
I don’t want to ride this ride anymore.
If you decide you are going to ride ride the white pony.
Somedays I feel the same way, but so far all of the alternatives blow chunks, so making sure the safety bar’s fully-down and locked in position’s the only thing I can do right now.