To get a feel of what the world’s come to, just think about the implications of a mercenary army capturing a major city in Southern Russia – with more than a million residents – and now marching towards Moscow!! Well, the old people did say that if you play with puppies – particularly mange-ridden dogs – you’ll get bitten by fleas!! The mercenary army – going by the name “Wagner Group” – was founded by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, a fellow resident of St Petersburg.
The Wagner Group became known in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine – and has since grown from strength to strength. Some say it now has over 40,000 troops – more than half of them hardened former prisoners – like Prigozhin. They formed the shock troops that fought some of the bloodiest battles when Russia rolled back the Ukraine troops from its eastern Donbas region – to give Russia the strategic depth it desires. They’ve also been fighting all across the African continent – and even in South America: being true to the mercenary motto – have gun, will travel!!
They continued fighting in Ukraine during the past year – until a couple of weeks ago, when they claimed Russian aircraft bombed their position and inflicted massive losses. For the longest while, Prigozhin had been kvetching that the Russian Minister of Defence and his top general had been holding out on ammunition to his troops – placing them in an untenable situation when facing Ukrainian forces, which are supplied with the most advanced weaponry by the West!! The aerial attack was the last straw, and Prigozhin promptly made one of the boldest military decisions in modern warfare!!
His troops crossed the border back into Russia, captured Rostov-on-Don – without firing a shot, he says – and are now already more than halfway to Moscow!! The Ukrainians and the West gotta be rubbing their hands with glee!! With the Wagner mad-dog troops out of Ukraine, the latter’s troops might just be able to roll back regular Russian troops!! More to the point – suggesting there’s more in the mortar than the pestle – for the very first time Prigozhin has now extended his criticism to his erstwhile ally Putin – insisting the latter’s stated reasons for invading Ukraine don’t hold water!!
So, it ain’t surprising that Putin has now accused Prigozhin of “treason”!! Which, we all know, is punishable by execution!! As someone said not so long ago about matters concerning the PNC here – “this will not end well”!! And look what’s happened to the PNC since!! So, dear readers, let’s keep an eye on what’s developing in Russia.
If for nothing else, those Wagner troops might just capture one of those warehouses with Nuclear Missiles – and blow all of us up to smithereens!!
…on Norton>
The English say “give a dog a bad name and hang him”! Nobody cares when a person with a bad reputation gets stomped on!! So, you can guess what happens when you ALREADY got a bad name!! And this is the cross Aubrey Norton’s had to bear. Coming through the PNC’s ranks in the rough – VERY rough! – and tumble type of politics they practised (with Green and Corbin as models!) Norton early on earned the reputation as a street fighter.
But he’s always tried to show he’s more than that –qualifying himself in International Relations, and teaching at UG and all that. But it was of no use – the middle-class types controlling the PNC from the onset had him typecast as the “baddie”. Couldn’t get another role!! So, when the PPP rolled back into office in 2020, he was voted into the PNC’s leadership for one reason: to MANNERS the PPP.
That another strategy was needed by Norton’s figuring didn’t matter. Now they all want his head!!
…to ethnic realities
After seventy years of not accepting ethnic voting overtly, the PPP’s embraced its implications with a vengeance. And been rewarded for explicitly courting African and Amerindian Guyanese votes in the last LGE. 67 out of 80 LAAs!!
