Anatoly Karlin is a Russian futurist and techno-nationalist who has been critical of Russia's conduct of the war. He has translated a list of 39 Questions that Russian ultra-nationalist "turbo-patriot" critics of the war such as Strelkov have for the Russian regime. The "Questions" come from the perspective of Russian nationalists wishing to crush the hated khokhols, but they clearly show from an un-biased perspective how Russia is losing and has lost the war:
"Historical" Questions
(1) Who answers for allowing Ukraine 8 years to arm and consolidate itself - when in 2014 the new Kiev regime's authority rested on a thread, and all Novorossiya lay bare for the taking after Crimea? (
2) Why were criminals & fraudsters allowed to take power in the People's Republics, transforming what should have been a showcase of the Russian World into a midden heap? Who was behind the killings of the 2014 resistance heroes?
(3) How is it that the "respected Western partners" led Putin "around by the nose for 8 years", by the President's very own admission? Why did his advisors not see or inform him on what was obvious to standers by?
(4) Why did the frontlines get fixed in the suburbs of Donetsk in autumn 2014 instead of expanding to the borders of the republics? Why was Mariupol not freed? What role did backroom deals between Surkov and Ukrainian oligarchs, esp. Akhmetov, play in this?
(5) Why weren't the LDNR militias properly trained and equipped in the last 8 years, while Ukraine engaged in military modernization? Who answered for this in the Defense Ministry? Military Questions
(6) How did the supposed "world's second best army" end up with almost no satellite recon or drones, and without any glide bombs or encrypted digital comms?
(7) Why were SMO plans built on assumptions fully detached from reality? Who misinformed the President?
( 8 ) Why did the Kremlin bet on thieves with no popular support such as Medvedchuk in the context of a quick victory? Was there a corruption element?
(9) What is the legal status of the SMO and what are its precise political-military goals? Why have they not be clarified more than a year into the beginning of military operations?
(10) Why was the possibility of US and EU sanctions not considered under SMO planning? Which bureaucrats will be held responsible for $300B of Russian reserves ending up blocked abroad?
(11) Soon after the start of the war it became clear domestic industry was critically reliant on foreign components. What happened to the "import substitution program" drummed up in prewar propaganda?
(12) Who carries responsibility for the shells hunger towards the end of 2022 and shortages in many other kinds of military equipment & accessories (comms, armor, medkits, etc.) only being partially remedied by volunteer efforts? What are the timelines for fixing it?
(13) Why were the borders not closed to men liable for mobilization at war's outbreak?
(14) Why are thousands of professional troops & mercs engaged in Syria, CAR, Mali, etc. while freshly mobilized troops are sent into the heaviest fighting?
(15) Why are "new citizens" from Central Asia & the Caucasus so rarely mobilized relative to Russians & indigenous minorities?
(16) Why were thousands of contract troops not punished for desertion at the SMO's start, while mobiks & volunteers are being sentenced for taking unauthorized leave?
(17) How to explain that the RF is fighting a war, while continuing to transport oil & gas across Ukraine, which are then converted into fuel in Bulgaria and send back to Ukraine?
( 18 ) How to explain the "grain deals", which Lavrov says "give no benefit to our country" since "partners don't fulfill their obligations"?
(19) On what basis were Azov prisoners (complicit in mass killings, torture, etc.) released to Ukraine?
(20) Who will take responsibility for the sinking of the Moskva?
(21) On what basis did the Russian Army "deescalate" from Kiev, Sumy, Chernigov?
(22) What were the targets of the many hundreds of cruise missiles launched at the start of the SMO? Why were Ukraine's decision-making centers, telecomms, air defense, transport infrastructure, etc. not destroyed nor even significantly damaged?
(23) Why on the 14th month of the SMO does the above still remain the case?
(24) Why were missile strikes on the electric grid aimed against secondary targets, and halted before they produced any significant results, such that Ukraine is again supplying energy to its neighbors?
(25) When will the Russian President adopt his Constitutional function of Commander in Chief, and does he plan to do it at all? Who specifically has directed the SMO in the past year, and who carries responsibility for military decisions?
(26) Who bears responsibility for the "Successful Regrouping" from Kharkov, resulting in the uncontested capture of Izyum, Kupyansk, etc., as a result of which masses of equipment were captured and Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk are now under UAF artillery fire?
(27) On what legal basis was the (quasi)-"mobilization" carried out, given that there is no war, and the SMO has no formal legal status? Subsequently, on what legal basis are deserters charged?
( 28 ) Why did "mobilization" exclusively concern conscription into the Armed Forces, and did not involve other elements, such as mobilization of the security services, industry, transport, etc.? Who determined its criteria? What mechanisms exist for deterring shirkers?
(29) Who made the "Hard Decision" to leave Kherson uncontested - a territory of the RF and a capital of one of its subjects? Why are suggestions to "freeze the conflict in the current positions" (e.g. from Prigozhin recently) not criminally investigated as an attack on the RF's territorial integrity? Or is Kherson no longer Russia? Who made that decision and on what basis?
(30) What is the assessment of high state officials (Matvienko, Beglov) making speeches in front of the flag of a hostile state?
(31) Why does the "concern for the preservation of the Russian people and Russian language" declared by the President and high officials not extend to those areas of Ukraine where the native Russian population has been subjected to continuous cultural genocide? (32) What is the logic behind the Russian military's "strategy" of offensive operations near exclusively in Donbass against the enemy's most fortified positions, which haven't budged in months, and which do not lead to the breaking of the UAF and Kiev's capitulation? Why are other strategic directions, many of them more prospective ones, ignored? Why is the local initiative there given over to the enemy?
(33) Where are all our very new military toys, which were hyped up nonstop in the prewar era? Why are T-54/55 tanks and D-20 howitzers produced when Stalin was still alive being brought to the front? Who and in what quantities disposed of masses of much more modern and "unneeded" Soviet weaponry across the Syrias, Libyas, Sudans, etc.? Where are the combat robots? Where are the 10,000s of Arab volunteers, "grateful for our help", promised us by the Defense Minister?
(34) Why is Kazakhstan, saved by our peacekeepers from civil war a month before the SMO, steadily becoming more Russophobic and joining sanctions against us? Who made the decision to keep the current ruling clique there in power, as opposed to other, more Russophile pretenders?
(35) Why are all significant diversions, terrorist acts, and even military strikes on the territory of the RF ascribed to "Ukrainian nationalists" by our officials, thus taking away responsibility from Ukrainian officials and soldiers - even in cases where the latter directly claim credit? Where are analogous Russian diversionary acts in Ukraine? Why was an effective "underground" not created in the past 8 years in Ukraine, even in the Russian speaking areas? Why are there no attempts to create one right now?
(36) Why, when 100,000s of our soldiers (and the denizens of border regions) carry all the burdens and dangers of the front, does the rest of the country live as if the war doesn't exist?
(37) When will the goals of the SMO and the conditions of its successful fulfillment be crisply and officially explained to society?
( 38 ) On what basis are the people who for years have insisted on the "sacral Minsk accords", "Donbass within a united Ukraine", and "do it all yourselves" attitude towards the People's Republics - continue to head the commanding heights of domestic, foreign, and media policy? Whereas those people who have warned about the perils of this delaying course, early and consistently, and correctly predicted where it would lead - a long and hard war - remain the whipping boys of official propaganda, are portrayed as marginals, and are even prevented from physically taking part in the defense of the Motherland?
(39) On what basis does the foreign media regularly release news stories (with attached photo and video evidence) pertaining to the adventures of close relatives of high state and military Russian officials in the resorts and entertainment complexes of countries that maintain hostile relations towards Russia, including imposing sanctions on it and supporting Ukraine, including with direct arms supplies? When will the President care to make any assessment regarding these officials?
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