The Evgeny Prigozhin follies

 

 

I've grown tired of listening to this clown Evgeny Prigozhin. I never understood why the Russian government has put up with his constant narcissistic behavior for so long.

People often asked me about him but I had to respond that I didn't know much more about his antics than they did. I wrote to a couple contacts I have in Russia asking them to help me understand Prigozhin but they were not much help. Maybe they could not figure it out either.

But the last couple days truly revealed the arrogance, manipulative nature, and headline grabbing sense of entitlement of Prigozhin. The fact he was willing to risk a civil war inside of Russia was enough for me to want to see him locked away in prison for a lifetime.

I saw Scott Ritter yesterday on video saying that he believed that Prigozhin's traitorous behavior could have been part of a MI6 and CIA operation. (Ritter has many contacts inside Russia and was recently there on a book tour.)

As potential evidence of that theory we see today the following:

US intelligence agencies strongly suspected that Evgeny Prigozhin was planning a major move against the Russian government, days before the Wagner chief ordered his troops to march on Moscow, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing sources.

It is quite possible that Prigozhin was double dealing. A couple of months ago there were stories circulating that he had been giving the Ukrainian military heads-up about some Russian military operations. Who knows for sure, but it seems highly possible having watched his road show during the past year.

So why did Moscow put up with him all this time? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe because the Wagner outfit was doing alot of the hard work in Bakhmut?

Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone made this humorous point about Prigozhin's ill-fated revolution:

'Putin's just lucky he didn't suffer a REAL coup attempt like several wingnuts wandering around a government building [in Washington] for a few hours'.

RT reported this morning about the deal that ended this nightmare:

The criminal case against Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) founder Evgeny Prigozhin will be dropped and he will leave Russia, the Kremlin announced on Saturday evening.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov revealed that Prigozhin, a Saint Petersburg tycoon who made his initial fortune in catering, "will go to Belarus."

He added that Wagner's fighters will not be persecuted, taking into account their efforts on the frontlines of the Ukraine conflict. Peskov explained that President Vladimir Putin's team "have always respected their exploits."

PMC contractors who refused to take part in the mutiny – and whole units did not – will be allowed to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, Peskov stated.

 

Obviously with his inflated ego Prigozhin likely thought the Russian people would come running to him with open arms. Maybe he truly believed his own ramblings to the point that he thought a nationwide movement would enshrine him as the new Minister of Defense (MOD). Instead the people rallied around Putin and likely made him even stronger than his current 80% popularity ratings indicate.

You know that Washington-London-Berlin-Brussels-Paris were biting their fingernails in anticipation of a big Russian blow-up. How sad they must be today. Foiled again!

My only question now is who inside of the Russian MOD collaborated with him and will there be any firings and legal action taken against such co-conspirators? I've long known that there are leading oligarchs inside Russia who favor the west (Atlanticists they are called) who might have been urging Prigozhin along. If so, what will happen to them?

I'm sure that we will learn more in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime the US-UK-NATO will likely use this orchestrated coup attempt to twist arms at the upcoming NATO confab in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11-12. They will attempt to squeeze more weapons (maybe F-16) and money for the Ukraine war project from NATO members.

In the meantime hold onto your hats as NATO might take this moment to up their war game planning a notch or two thinking that Russia has been weakened which of course is pure nonsense.

Bruce