Why would Russia sabotage its best source of hard currency with Ukraine war downturn cash need?

US options are so robust.

Dude, US is the country that hacked a computer system DISCONNECTED FROM THE INTERNET (see Stuxnet). And that was over a decade ago!

Yes, our cyber capability could bring russia to a complete halt. Bring down power grid, internet, phone network, all mass communications, most of mass transit, much of modern manufacture, etc.
 
I didn't know about the "disconnected from the Internet" part. IIRC CBS-TV 60 Minutes did a segment on this. iirc the U.S. released Stuxnet to the Internet, where it circulated and propagated harmlessly, until it reached its target.
Stuxnet is an amazing story. The Iranian engineers couldn't figure out why their gas centrifuges were packing up, until they read about it on the front page of The New York Times (or so the anecdote goes).

D-meister, the bottom line on it:
I gather this DoS had Putin's approval. BUT !! On scale of the War in Ukraine, it's rather more a friendly hand on the shoulder than a finger in the eye.
If this is Putin's warning to the U.S., he might as well wear a bright red "I'm an impotent chump" T-shirt.
 
Right now his actions are aimed more at domestic media market than anything else. Nothing he can do, short of a nuke, can make a real difference in his failing war; so instead of making a REAL difference, he is focusing on manufacturing media stories that make your average russian FEEL as if russia is doing something.

The recent missile bombardment of Ukraine is of the same nature. As a military move it was totally incoherent; but as a PR move, it bought putin some breathing room.
 
Ooohhhh !!!
Mr. D !!
I'm a disciple of psychologist Joy Browne. "When the picture doesn't make any sense, a piece of the puzzle is missing."
I've been racking my low wattage cognator trying to figure out in what way this DoS would intimidate a U.S. policy maker like Biden. Answer, it doesn't.

It hadn't occurred to me Putin was doing so for domestic Russian consumption.
"As a military move it was totally incoherent; but as a PR move, it bought putin some breathing room." D #23
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- bingo -
Do you (or have you done) any teaching Mr. D? You might like it if you haven't. I've learned that I become an even better master of a subject if I tutor it. I'm not smart enough to teach a whole room full of smart humans. But I've done a little training. In my experience, training educates both student & trainer. And then there's the reward of the occasional "ah HA!" moment a teacher can get from one student or another. Quite rewarding to switch the lightbulb on.
Anyway, that's what happened here D #23. Thanks.
 
sear said:
It hadn't occurred to me Putin was doing so for domestic Russian consumption.
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In totalitarian governments all politics are domestic, especially in totalitarian governments with no clearly established rules of succession (as is the case for most of them). That's because politics in such a state end up being either about holding on to power, or about vying to be the successor.

Even foreign politics -- those are just a different stage for domestic political kabuki.

So when looking at totalitarian governments' actions, the rule of thumb is to look for domestic motives first.
Do you (or have you done) any teaching Mr. D?
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Yes. But not in politics -- in IT.
 
D #25
Yes, BUT:
I realize Putin's still in KGB / Cold War mode. But I haven't thought of Russia as formally totalitarian for quite some time. I do get the impression Putin's been slowly drawing the noose tighter. You mentioned Navalny (now Putin's prisoner?). But how many of Putin's enemies, including members of the press, have been befallen by fatal accidents right in Moscow?
"Yes. But not in politics -- in IT." D
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Wouldn't matter. It's teaching. Switching the lightbulb on is rewarding regardless. I'll bet you were really good at it.
 
Practically no totalitarian government is formally totalitarian. Even Saddam Hussein pretended to run elections.

Russia has been a totalitarian state for over a decade.
 
I knew Saddam ran a Stalinist dictatorship. And I knew he not only ran sham elections, but boasted of winning 99%+ of the vote each time.
"Russia has been a totalitarian state for over a decade." D #27
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I genuinely had clue zero about this.
"Oh woe is everything!" grace06
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Love & miss you dearest Grace.

bonus quotation:
"I am a good judge of people, animals and politician's." Grace06
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US has questions to answer over Nord Stream blasts, Russia says​

Comments by Russia’s foreign ministry come after a piece by American investigative reporter Seymour Hersh alleging the US military was behind the Nord Steam attacks.
The United States has questions to answer over its alleged role in explosions that destroyed the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, Russia’s foreign ministry says.

... respected American journalist Seymour Hersh that accused the US military of involvement in the blasts and alleged President Joe Biden green-lighted the operation.
Quoting one unnamed source with “direct knowledge of the operational planning”, Hersh detailed how “skilled deep-water divers” from the US Navy planted C-4 explosives during a training exercise last June, then detonated the payload remotely three months later.
“President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for [Russian President] Vladimir Putin to weaponise natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions,” Hersh wrote.

www.aljazeera.com

US has questions to answer over Nord Stream blasts, Russia says

Comments by foreign ministry come after a story alleges the US military was behind Nord Steam pipeline attacks.
www.aljazeera.com www.aljazeera.com
 
Thanks R #29

Problem is Hersh raises more questions than answers. An obvious #1 question:
- If true, isn't that a conspicuous "act of war", more formally a casus belli?
- If true, wouldn't Putin have known that it wasn't Russian forces that perpetrated the sabotage? And if so, wouldn't Putin have made that information public in an attempt to incite disunity within NATO? For indeed if the U.S. is responsible was it not a substantial casus belli against faithful allies like Germany, that depended on the Gazprom fuel supply?
And while I'm expressing skepticism, does the source, al Jazeera color this story at all?

Something about this does not make sense to me.
 
update?
This major energy / environmental incident still a mystery.
For what rational reason would Russia sabotage its own $cash $cow?
And if as R #29 suggests it was the U.S., not only would that be an act of war, but a severe attack on E.U. / NATO allies, dependent upon this energy supply.
A reportedly exceptionally mild Winter (thank you global warming) along with quick substitution of fuel sources has mitigated the consequence. But the mystery persists.

Regarding the broader war:

Russian Troops Film Appeal to Putin: 'We Do Not Know Who Our Commander Is'​

By Brendan Cole On 2/20/23 at 9:19 AM EST
... the group is from the 504th tank regiment, which trained as artillerymen in Omsk before being sent to the Chelyabinsk Oblast town of Chebarkul for further preparation at an artillery range.

"Communication with our command broke down," he said. "The only officer who stayed with us, the chief of artillery, said, 'I am not your commander,'" and that the 504th regiment had been disbanded and had been told "we now belong to the Donetsk People's Republic Army."

He said that they were then retrained as infantry but after several trips to a firing range were asked for money to pay for gas. Failure to pay meant being sent to the front line. The soldier added that their military cards were collected and stamped without any date, order number or commander's signature.

"We do not know who our commander is and what unit we belong to," he said, adding that there was "no communication" between his regimental commander and the chief of staff, who is a lieutenant colonel.

Next to the video, which as of Monday morning had been viewed more than 75,000 times, Geraschchenko wrote: "Russian mobilized men complain: either money for gas or to the front lines.

On Monday, British defense officials said that Russia has suffered many casualties, particularly in Bakhmut, as well as Vuhledar. The high losses among the "elite 155th and 40th Naval Infantry Brigades are likely to have made them "combat ineffective" the officials said.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-omsk-troops-commander-putin-1782406

What are the possible explanations for this?
- Putin is unaware of this failure in his own wartime chain of command?
- Putin knows he has a problem, but cannot find qualified military commanders to deploy to solve this problem?
- What?
 
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