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China Rejects Putin's Deal as Russia Goes Bankrupt

39m 26s

China Rejects Putin's Deal as Russia Goes Bankrupt

Russia is facing a deepening crisis as its economy collapses, public dissent grows, and key allies begin to distance themselves. Inside Russia, workers and officials are openly calling for an end to the war, while the FSB increasingly uses violence to suppress criticism. A major shift is occurring in international relations: China, once a rival, is now actively preparing for a post-Putin Russia by forming direct ties with Russian elites and leveraging its economic dominance. China controls 40% of Russia’s trade, flooding the market with cheaper goods and pushing domestic industries into bankruptcy, signaling a long-term strategy to make Russia a resource colony. This is reinforced by a controversial image of Xi Jinping towering over Putin, which underscores China’s perception of superiority and dominance. Meanwhile, Russia’s war funding now relies on selling gold reserves, a sign of financial exhaustion. Other nations are also turning against Putin: Kazakhstan’s president directly told him to stop the war, and Iran is openly threatening to bomb Ukraine, revealing its deep alignment with Russia. On the battlefield, Ukraine has countered Russia’s anti-drone defenses with a simple, effective “fence post bomb” that defeats reinforced bunkers, exposing a critical vulnerability in Russian military strategy. Together, these developments show a systemic unraveling of Putin’s alliance network, with internal collapse and external betrayal increasingly evident.

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English
Something is happening inside Russia right now that has never happened in Russian history. As the Russian economy collapses and the war goes catastrophically wrong for Vladimir Putin, one specific group of people have quietly started preparing for a regime change inside of the country. And that group is Putin's closest ally. And I mean the Chinese Communist Party itself. A bombshell new report says that Beijing has been quietly building direct relationships with specific Russian officials who are likely to hold power after Putin is gone. And as if that wasn't bad enough, it's not just China. Even companies like Wildberries are now abandoning Putin and Russian neighbors are now telling him to his face that, hey, you gotta stop this war. It's not looking good for Russia. Even inside of Russia we have more and more people now calling on Putin directly to stop this special military operation. The situation has gotten so bad that the FSB is now resorting to killing people who are criticizing the government. So in this video, I want to walk you through how Putin's alliance system has begun unraveling in the last two weeks. Why China is behaving like a country preparing for Putin's death. And why one specific poster in Beijing tells us everything we need to know about Putin. How good the relationship is between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. And of course, we have to talk about Iran in this video because apparently Iran is getting ready to bomb Ukraine. So let's get started. My name is Sam, you're watching Business Basics and let's start with the most surprising piece of this all. Now I want to talk about why the CCP is preparing for Putin's fall but before we do that, let me show you this clip of a Russian worker calling on Putin directly to stop this war. This is a worker who's not afraid to risk his life. Take a look. Please, how do you feel? Disappointment. In what? In our authorities. Why? Because they let this happen. The fact that a peaceful, essentially, facility that deals with the transit of underwear, tires and trainers took strikes from the hostile side. In the regional authorities or the federal ones? The federal ones, of course. They report directly to the federal ones. What difference does it make what the regional lot do? The feds are what matters. And when the strikes on Moscow started, well, on that warehouse in Moscow, in St. Petersburg, did you think it would reach us? Of course. Why? Well, because I remember when there was a strike on the Tatlin in the center, I went to the site of the strike that same day. Given how everything was organized there, and how they didn't even disperse the people. It was obvious that we have no protective organization at all, and there will be strikes. And are there any casualties here? Well, they took someone away, but there's a feeling that it's really just from the heat. Because it's very hot, 38 degrees or whatever outside. Has your desire for the SMO to end sooner increased? Naturally, for fuck's sake, of course. It was always high anyway, but now, well, it's just excessive. On any terms? Or on some specific ones? Yeah, on any terms. Specific ones don't suit either side. Just end it as it is, and that's it. Now, of course, I have to call this out. His statement isn't entirely accurate. He's saying that Wildberries, the Russian Amazon, only deals in underwears and household fabrics. That's not entirely true. Take a look at these screenshots from the website as to what they were selling before these Ukrainian strikes started. You can see combat vest. Military-grade tactical gear, drone components, bomb-dropping system for FPVs, all available for order and next-day delivery. And you can even send it to the front lines. So if you're someone who wants to support the troops on the front lines, you can pay for something like this, and it will get delivered to people on the front lines. And that's not even the most shocking part. Now, as you guys know, this is Russia's version of Amazon. They control roughly half of the e-commerce market in Russia, and that means they have a massive logistical footprint. It was so massive that the Russian government. And the Russian military were using the logistical footprint of this company to supply the troops on the front line. This is exactly why Ukraine has been striking those warehouses. And guess what? The strikes are working. Because Wildberries just did something genuinely shocking. There used to be a category related to SVO, which is the Russian version of Special Military Operation. Well, that category was quietly removed from the website just last night. Now, I don't know if Putin is going to be happy about this. But this does tell us why. Because one thing, Ukrainian strikes do work. Take a look. This company is at least hiding its involvement with the military. Now, of course, if you look up specific items, so if you look up tactical gear or vest, you will still find the items that the website was selling before they removed this category. The only thing that's gone now is the category itself. They used to have a category just called SVO, Special Military Operation in Russian. Now they don't have that category. So technically speaking, this is not really a betrayal. But in this video, we will cover betrayals that Putin is dealing with. Like the one that the Kazakhstan president just did in front of Putin. He was sitting next to Putin and he told him, hey, you got to stop this war. But before we get to that, let's talk about China, because this has to be the biggest news that happened this month. But I haven't been able to cover it. So let's go over it right now. China is now preparing for the fall of Putin, locking in direct relations with Russia's most powerful people to prevent a chaotic transition. Now, this is actually a very shocking. Report. And it's coming from Wall Street Journal, a relatively trustworthy source. But before we get into that, I do want to remind everyone that Russia and China have not historically been good allies or long term allies. In fact, if we look at their shared history, we know that most of the times they've been rivals. Russia has taken over massive stretches of what was once Chinese territory, including the entire Russian Far East, which many Chinese people still consider historically Chinese land. And this movement has never actually gone away. In fact, if you go on Chinese social media right now, there are still people who call on Xi Jinping to invade the far east of Russia while Russia is distracted by Ukraine and take over what belongs to China. Now I want to actually show you guys one of these predictions because someone actually called it roughly two years ago. Now I'm not a smart guy, but I love Sarah Payne. I'm sure you guys also love her videos here on YouTube. And roughly a few years ago or roughly two years ago, she actually predicted this. So take a listen. He's trying to do empire in the age of nationalism. Well, it's a non-starter and he's dumping all of his ordinance on Ukraine, leaving Siberia wide open. And Xi Jinping has moved right in even before the Ukraine war. That's this Belt Road initiative is peeling away the former Russian sphere of influence in Central Asia. And Putin is doing this hot war gambit when Russia's weak and China is strong, making it particularly damaging. And you go, well, why would it matter? Well, Russia has precisely Siberia's precisely the resources that China now needs and covets and wants to have them contiguous so other people can't mess with them. And in particularly, they want water because they've blown through their water table in North China. Lake Baikal has over 20 percent of the world's surface freshwater. So if you want a quick fix, it's the best one. And China is known for big water projects. They've been damming the Mekong. The Yangtze. They've done massive water projects. So that may be in Russia's future. Who knows? And Xi Jinping now holds all of the cards. China has nine times the population, nine times the GMP of Russia, and their per capita GMPs are converging. Not good news for Putin. So I think the question isn't whether this bromance is going to last forever, but rather when it's going to end. When is Xi Jinping going to decide? He's got the right amount of leverage to get whatever it is he wants. That prediction is now happening in real time. And here's what the report says. According to the Wall Street Journal, China is increasingly building relations with Russian officials and members of the elite who could play a key role after Putin leaves power. The war and international isolation have made Russia far more dependent on China. Putin, who was once considered by Xi Jinping a role model, Xi Jinping used to consider Putin a role model in 2013. That's when he came into power. That's when he became president. So it kind of makes sense, because by that point, Putin was already in power for 13 years. So Xi Jinping used to look up to Putin. But that's not the case anymore. Now Putin has gradually turned into a junior partner. Russian authorities have also uncovered attempts by Chinese intelligence to spy on mid-level Russian officials. But Russia preferred not to publicize this in order to not damage relations with Beijing. They've also not brought this up privately. We just know this through Russian sources, which makes sense why this is. Today, Russia needs China far more than China. China needs Russia. China accounts for 40% of Russia's foreign trade and roughly 33% of its export revenue. And if you look at the other side, only 4% of Chinese trade actually goes to Russia. So from China's point of view, of course, 4% is a big deal, but it's not as big a deal as you know what Chinese market or Chinese goods are for Russia. And that's why China is actually using that leverage to extract more and more concessions. The alliance remains unequal. Chinese goods have flooded the Russian market, pushing out domestic manufacturers. According to analysts, China aims to secure its influence in Russia even after a change in power in the Kremlin, turning it into an even more dependent vassal, effectively a puppet state and a resource colony. Now, there's a lot of points that I want to talk about a little bit more, but the most important one is, of course, China trying to turn Russia into a vassal. Now, this is something Russian elites have been saying too. Just recently, at the start of this month, we had a Russian oligarch named Melishenko who came out and gave an interview to Economist. China is very close to the Kremlin. He has had a one-on-one meeting with Putin talking about this war and all that kind of stuff. In fact, when this war started in 2022, he used to be the richest man in Russia, so he's clearly a powerful guy. and that guy giving an interview to a western publication was definitely something that was a bit shocking you're like huh why is he doing that well when you read the interview it kind of starts to make sense this guy was basically warning the west against russia collapsing saying that hey doesn't matter what happens after russia collapses it's going to be bad news for the world because russia has nukes now it was a major interview we did a full-on video for our members so if you want to check it out definitely go become a member but in that interview he did say something interesting he's like one of the scenario that he imagines if russia collapses is china basically taking over russia right china taking over and treating russia like a resource colony and a vassal but he says russia is just too big for any one country to make it a puppet state so from chinese point of view it's going to be too much of a headache and that's why even though this is a possibility even china doesn't prefer this china doesn't want russia to collapse that's what he says now of course what he's saying is not as important as the fact that we have a russian oligarch a very powerful oligarch who's close to putin who's close to the kremlin publicly saying that russian elites are thinking about a scenario where russia collapses and china takes over it so this is not something that people outside of russia are just pontificating this is clearly something even the russian power class or the elite class is thinking about now of course everyone disagrees as to what will happen if russia does collapse but everyone is still thinking about what happens if china just basically takes over that and that's something that's definitely interesting now let's talk about the second point because this article came out around when putin visited china earlier this month he went to beijing he met with xi jinping and you know he had his meeting they had talks they had photographs you know they did the whole thing whenever a leader visits a different country but one of the main reasons he visited beijing was to get this gas deal done putin is really hoping that china and russia signed this gas deal or a pipeline deal more to be more specific power of siberia ii pipeline but fortunately it seems like that deal collapsed so putin went to china hoping to have this deal done and china told him hey how about we just shut this down anyway like instead of negotiating let's just pause on negotiations for now and let me explain why this is such a big deal now before we get into the details let's look at what putin saw when he landed in china he saw this picture or this poster take a look now i don't want you guys focusing on xi jinping pointing something to putin that doesn't matter what matters is the poster behind him and that was an important poster because a lot of people in china including the chinese media they were talking about that poster a lot so here's the poster in full view this is the best quality image i could find in the poster xi jinping is depicted as physically towering over putin and putin is looking up adoringly and that's the word that chinese media use putin is looking up adoringly at she now of course we can argue if this is supposed to be some kind of message or not but you know who's actually very sensitive to this kind of symbolism putin himself back in 2013 when president obama publicly compared putin's body language and his slouched body posture to like a bored kid in the back of the classroom putin took that as an enormous offense like he was very offended by that comment and that single comment actually contributed to like cooling of relationships between u.s and russia now of course this happened in 2013 in 2014 putin invaded crimea took it over so i'm sure that played a big part in u.s and russian relations you know becoming worse but putin did take a comment like that very personally and that that comment played a role in like how u.s and russia dealt with each other how putin dealt with president obama and on top of that propaganda posters actually have a very specific historical baggage especially when talking about china and russia in 1950 right after taking over china mao zhedong first traveled to moscow to basically start this fight against the soviet alliance and when he landed he saw something similar to what putin saw he saw this soviet propaganda poster that was depicting joseph stalin as slightly taller than mao zedong and that framing was intentional according to experts at the time russia or soviet union at the time visually wanted to establish stalin as the elder brother in the relationship as the senior partner as how we would call it right now now in reality the poster was a actually several inches taller than stalin so this was not like something that was close or it was a big margin between their heights but despite that they put this big poster out where mao was smaller and stalin was bigger and now of course stalin noticed it and we all know where that relationship went right uh during the cold war there was a big problem between china and the soviet union and u.s actually took advantage of that problem to the whole kissinger deal where we got close to china to make sure the soviet union doesn't get back with china now we don't exactly know how much of a role this poster is going to play i could be reading into it too much but there are people inside of china who are you know talking about this poster a lot so i want to share with you guys but now let's get to the big humiliation and that's of course not the photograph that's the xi jinping's refusal to sign the deal that putin so desperately wanted beijing to sign now let me give you a little bit of a background on that map you can see two different pipelines one is power siberia one that already exists it's a pipeline that's moving natural gas from russian siberian fields to china right now now putin wants to do a similar pipeline but a much longer one and of course it's called power of siberia too this pipeline would be connecting russia's western siberian fields and arctic gas fields directly to china now this is an important point here those fuels the new ones they used to provide gas to europe and now that putin has invaded a european country european customers are not too keen on buying russian gas and i doubt they're going to change their mind anytime soon and that's why russia has implemented or more specifically putin has implemented this plan that he calls himself pivot to russia that's the plan call and the plan is basically to replace all that business that russia used to do with europe with all this new business that russia is going to do in asia an important part of that plan is of course the centerpiece of that plan is of course this specific deal selling the gas that used to go to europe sell that to china instead now of course if you think about it this makes sense china needs gas they've been consuming more and more gas every single year they consume a lot of a lot of hydrocarbon and russia has gas to provide they cannot even ship it they can pipe it i don't know what you would call if the gas is traveling through the pipe but they can pipe it to china so both of them have something that the other person needs right russia needs the money china needs the product that russia is selling why wouldn't they sign it so the question here becomes of course the problem here is the price china knows it holds all the especially now that ukrainian drones are destroying russian old tankers in the black cnc of azov russia would much rather prefer to just pipe its gas to other countries instead of you know shipping it china on the other hand knows that russia desperately needs to steal and on top of that china can get its gas anywhere you know they can get it from the middle east they have some domestic suppliers and i'm sure they have other suppliers too so it's not like they need they need gas but they don't need specifically russian gas now russia is asking that china pay market rate that's what european countries used to pay and russia is like how about since you're replacing europe for us you pay the same price china on the other hand is asking that they want to pay moscow rate so people in russia or anywhere in russia not just in moscow they get discounted gas because putin is subsidizing it so they're happy with him so he sells gas to foreign foreign countries foreign companies and he uses that money or some of it to subsidize the gas that he's selling domestically china is saying how about you give us the gas at the price that you're giving russian citizens for now of course putin was probably hoping that they can negotiate meet in the middle so that's why he flew to beijing to negotiate or maybe you know come up with some kind of compromise china basically told him that hey how about we just pause negotiations china knows more they wait the more leverage xi jinping has and that's why they're in no rush to negotiate a deal anytime soon now i haven't done many negotiations in my life but i have seen a lot of movies and i know one lesson from all the movies i have seen anyone who's willing to walk away from the negotiations usually has more of a leverage so it makes sense that even though china walked away they still want a deal but they want to deal at a much favorable rate than what putin is willing to offer right now now on top of all this i do have a theory about what china is actually aiming for but this is a theory i haven't really seen anywhere else so i want to be a friend about that this is purely speculative coming just from me so keep that in mind and let me know down in the comments what you think now china already controls a lot of industries inside especially since this war began russia has been a lot more restrictive with you know all the products that are coming in from china that means tariffs have been removed all the other barriers have been removed so chinese companies have systematically flooded the russian market with cheaper and cheaper goods and that has forced russian companies to basically go bankrupt they cannot compete with chinese prices in fact take a look at this report russian bankruptcies for the first half of this year are up 21 and another 43 percent of russian businesses have publicly stated they have to declare bankruptcy soon now i'm sure not all of it is because of chinese competition but i would say a big part of it is because of chinese competition so this is what my theory is what if china is actually waiting not just to buy the russian gas they just want to buy the russian fuels themselves wouldn't it make sense that it's better to own the fuels than pay for the product that's coming out of the field and if russia continues falling like it is right now that may be an option in the future now i don't know how likely this is i know here in the united states it's not the case that you own gas fields or oil fields but i know in other countries that's not usually the case you own the land but anything below is owned by the government so maybe that's the case in Russia I don't exactly know but if that is maybe that's what Chinese are aiming for again like I said purely speculative so keep that in mind this is not like serious theory that other people are talking about now of course China isn't the only one betraying Russia here we also have other countries doing it like Kazakhstan that we'll talk about in just a second but before that I'm sure some of you guys are wondering Russian economy is crashing Russian oil exports are going down revenues are going down from it so I'm sure some of you guys are wondering like how the hell is Russia funding this war if they're having issues from all these different directions well guess what we have an answer we finally have an answer for that now initially Russia tried to fund this war through just debt you know they wanted to sell more bonds get money from all these people who are willing to lend them money and that was the plan but unfortunately because of the way the Russian economy is going investors were not too keen to buy Russian bonds in fact over the last month or over the last 30 days Russian ministry of finance held four different auctions to sell off Russian bonds and raise funds and guess what all four auctions had to be cancelled because no one was bidding for Russian bonds Russia was like opening up the shop to sell its bonds and no one was showing up to buy it and of course that has to be embarrassing for the second strongest military in the world but nonetheless the situation got so bad that the ministry of finance just announced that they will not be doing any more bond sales at all or they will not be doing any more bond auctions at all that means the true answer to how Putin is paying for this war is actually he's selling gold from the Russian gold reserves according to Bank of Russia's own disclosures Russia has sold 44 metric tons of gold this year alone from its reserves specifically to plug holes in the federal budget that is a record-setting amount of sell-off now we don't exactly know what percentage of the total gold reserve it was because of course Kremlin is not disclosing how much gold they have left but nonetheless it has to be bad when someone is dipping into their savings to you know pay for a war that they really should not have started in the first place and this all brings me to the single funniest clip that captures the state of Russia in one shot we have a Russian worker being interviewed being asked about how well the Russian economy is doing and he says everything is fine that's exactly what you would expect a Russian worker to say but unfortunately behind him you can see that everything is not fine so take a look at this clip pride in our Russia exactly pride well because they're handling everything everything is fine everything is great here everything is wonderful do you think there's anything to worry about going forward worry I think time will tell whether there's anything to worry about or not I think everything will become clear in the fall why specifically in the fall well because how much longer can we keep putting up with all this some kind of decision regarding all this probably needs to be made that's what I think that was not AI that was a real clip now of course as I said before it wasn't just the Chinese who betrayed Putin we also had president of Kazakhstan doing something that probably Putin did not see coming they were both sitting together during the conference you know whenever leaders meet they do this conference where where a bunch of people sit together and then the head of the table speaks well when president of Kazakhstan was speaking he publicly told Putin that hey how about you stop this war too many people are dying take a look and pay attention to Putin's reaction because he's sitting right next to this guy I won't hide the fact that I receive a lot of signals I informed you about them by telephone from Europe from the United States of America signals regarding the current situation the conflict situation between Ukraine and Russia you know in my opinion I said from the very beginning that this is an interstate conflict interstate we are not talking about any Civil War we have always treated the Ukrainian people their culture and language with respect and we believe that the nature of this conflict is not entirely clear to many including us let's say if there was a conflict including a frozen conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia the essence of this conflict the origin of this conflict were completely clear to us they went deep into history but here it is very difficult and I understand that no you demonstrated maximum diplomatic flexibility during the meeting in Anchorage Alaska and this is just my humble opinion since I am being approached perhaps it is time to put this conflict on hold and return to the Istanbul 2.0 formula as significant results have been achieved there and naturally under the guarantee of the great powers including Russia to move forward that was Putin's face when he heard the president tell him that it's time to end the war not enjoying sitting there at all now luckily in all this luckily for Putin there is one country that's willing to stand beside him and that country is Iran you see Iranian media just publicly said that they are not afraid to start bombing Ukraine and let me show you why yesterday morning President Zelensky publicly confirmed that Ukraine has successfully struck vessels operating in the Caspian Sea that were transporting military cargo between Russia and Iran that's the Caspian Sea that you see on your screen and you can see on the Northeast or at the top there's the Russian border and the opposite side of that we can see there's Iranian in the South or Iranian border now for a year or two we're going to have a conflict between Russia and Iran at first Russia and Iran have used the Caspian Sea as covert transport corridor for weapons drones missile components anything else that you can imagine in fact this is how a lot of Sahel drone components have quietly moved between the two countries and you guys know what Sahel drones are doing inside of Ukraine they're destroying Ukrainian apartment buildings Ukrainian malls and Ukrainian civilians and that's exactly why Ukraine hit those ships but guess what Iran's response was genuinely revealing as to which side of the war Iran stands on this is what they run in the media is saying and then I'll show you what the Iranian government is saying too because I know a lot of people have a habit of supporting any country that's against the United States I'm sure people watching this video probably don't have that habit but I know that you know people have that habit and a lot of people are supporting the murderous regime in Iran just because it's against the United States all the while not realizing that the same regime is in bed with Russia it's responsible for thousands of lives that have been lost inside of Ukraine the same regime is responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives that have been lost inside Iran but nonetheless let's look at the statement that the Iranian state media just put out Iranian media is now publicly threatening to strike Ukraine directly with ballistic missiles they posted this picture basically showing all of Ukraine is within the reach of Iran's ballistic missiles including super heavy Karak car 4 although it would be waste of good missiles now of course it's not just the media that's against Zelensky but it's important to remember inside of Iran the media is controlled by the government so this is state media speaking for the state but nonetheless we have Iranian officials directly going after Ukraine for no reason at all just you know using the same language that Russia uses for Ukraine take a look this is the Iranian foreign minister that a lot of people support I'm sure people watching this video doesn't support don't support him but there are a lot of people in the United States who support this guy for no freaking reason this is the statement he put out Zelensky has attacked an Iranian commercial vessel killing a sailor a blatant U.N charter violation done at Israel's behest to drag Europe into its war in the calls with EU high rep Carlos and foreign minister Lavrov I have made clear that what the freeloader in Kyiv did cannot go unanswered now that's not diplomatic speak at all that is around clearly identifying which side of this conflict they actually stand on they've been supporting Russia from the beginning which a lot of people don't know but Iran has been supplying Russia with Sahed drones they've been building drone factories inside of Russia to help Russia produce more drones and on top of that Iran has been providing missiles to Russia before the Iran war and of course all of those missiles and drones have killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians the Islamic regime in Iran is completely on Russia's side and at the same time Ukraine is actually taking down cargo that Russia is sending to Iran because it's pretty likely that Iran was going to use those weapons against U.S troops in the Middle East and it is Ukraine that's stopping them now I know we haven't covered the Iran war in a while and we have to get back to that pretty soon but let's not forget this is the same regime that killed 40 000 of its own citizens at the start of this year when people were protesting but before we get too off topic let's get back to Ukraine and I do want to show you guys something that Russian forces are trying out to stop Ukrainian drones from hitting their refineries I guess you can call it a new defensive innovation take a look Russia has started testing physical nets and these are like metal nets they're not you know those cloth or plastic nets they are a lot more hard or harder and Russia has been testing these nets over critical Refinery infrastructure in hopes that Ukrainian drones would either get tangled or detonate before hitting the machinery now unfortunately for Russia Ukraine has already figured out a solution for this problem on the front lines because Russian troops were doing something similar on the front lines so Ukraine had to innovate and this is what they came up with a fence post bomb now this is something we covered for our shorts and for our social media so take a look at that coverage Russia thought it had finally solved the drone problem then Ukraine built this the fence post bomb a crude-looking Ukrainian munition that has the Russian military officials seriously worried you see for years small drones have hunted troops hiding in trenches using grenades and other explosives so Russian forces adapted they dug deeper shelters reinforced the roofs with thick logs and packed earth, added steel sheets, and stretched anti-drone netting over bunkers, trenches, and supply roads. They basically turned every position into a mini-fortress against drones. And honestly, it worked. A grenade exploding on top of a bunker might shower the area with deadly fragments. But soldiers underneath often survived because the roof absorbed most of the blast. Well, that exact weakness is what Ukraine decided to exploit. Instead of using a standard grenade, Ukraine built a bomb with a long rectangular body and a hardened steel spike at the front, making it resemble a metal fence post. Heavy drones, particularly the famous Baba Yaga drones, carry the weapon directly above cover positions before releasing it vertically. And here's where the whole thing gets clever. Instead of detonating the instant it hits the roof, the steel tip punches through the protective layers first. It slices through dirt, timber, metal sheets. And even anti-drone netting. Only after penetrating the bunker does a delayed fuse trigger the explosion inside. And just like that, we have boo. That tiny delay changes everything because a blast inside a crammed dugout is devastating. Suddenly, the very roof designed to protect soldiers helps trap the explosion inside, dramatically increasing its destructive power. The craziest part is how simple this idea is. Ukraine did not need an expensive missile worth $100,000. Instead, it borrowed the basic concept behind bunker-busting weapons that have existed since World War II and adapted it into something cheap enough for front-line drones to carry in large numbers. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Ukraine simply made it smaller and far more affordable. That is exactly why Russian military bloggers across Telegram are sounding the alarm. Those bunkers and anti-drone nets that once bought soldiers valuable time suddenly offer far less protection. Before this weapon appeared, Ukraine often needed multiple drones and repeated strikes to destroy a single fortified position, giving defenders valuable seconds to escape. Now, one well-placed hit can punch through the roof and eliminate everyone inside. For Russia, this is becoming a nightmare and until they find a way to stop it, every soldier in Ukraine will have one more thing to fear: a bomb that looks like an ordinary fence post. Now, on top of all of that, we actually have a new day in the life segment coming not from some random guy. But from an actual FPV drone pilot on the front lines. So that's something I wanted to share with you guys. Take a look. "Svava noity, you've been used to keep. Ooh, don't leave your mouse. Mama, I'm on YouTube. I've been wanting to have a video camera. How about you? What's the nature? Was pretty good, sir. Good. Fine. Just a little long. Oh, so good. I need this. So fast, we're tight. Then, in fact, I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm going to be able to do it. Every review tells the algorithm that this kind of reporting deserves to be heard.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. China is quietly building direct relationships with key Russian officials to secure influence and ensure Russia remains a dependent ally after Putin's potential departure.
  2. Russian companies like Wildberries have removed military-related product categories from their websites, signaling a shift in support for the war and indicating growing internal dissent.
  3. Chinese propaganda, including a prominent poster depicting Xi Jinping towering over Putin, reflects a strategic message of dominance, while China’s refusal to negotiate a gas pipeline deal reveals its growing leverage and intent to position Russia as a resource-dependent vassal.

Summary:

Russia is facing a deepening crisis as its economy collapses, public dissent grows, and key allies begin to distance themselves. Inside Russia, workers and officials are openly calling for an end to the war, while the FSB increasingly uses violence to suppress criticism. A major shift is occurring in international relations: China, once a rival, is now actively preparing for a post-Putin Russia by forming direct ties with Russian elites and leveraging its economic dominance.

China controls 40% of Russia’s trade, flooding the market with cheaper goods and pushing domestic industries into bankruptcy, signaling a long-term strategy to make Russia a resource colony. This is reinforced by a controversial image of Xi Jinping towering over Putin, which underscores China’s perception of superiority and dominance. Meanwhile, Russia’s war funding now relies on selling gold reserves, a sign of financial exhaustion.

Other nations are also turning against Putin: Kazakhstan’s president directly told him to stop the war, and Iran is openly threatening to bomb Ukraine, revealing its deep alignment with Russia. On the battlefield, Ukraine has countered Russia’s anti-drone defenses with a simple, effective “fence post bomb” that defeats reinforced bunkers, exposing a critical vulnerability in Russian military strategy. Together, these developments show a systemic unraveling of Putin’s alliance network, with internal collapse and external betrayal increasingly evident.

FAQs

China is strengthening ties with key Russian officials to ensure influence and stability in Russia after Vladimir Putin's potential departure, viewing Russia as a resource-rich ally and aiming to secure long-term dominance over its economy and energy sectors.

The removal of the 'Special Military Operation' (SVO) category suggests that the company is distancing itself from its military-related products, signaling a shift in alignment with Russian authorities and a potential sign of internal dissent or strategic withdrawal from the war effort.

China is flooding the Russian market with cheaper goods, undermining domestic manufacturers and increasing dependency, effectively turning Russia into a resource-dependent economy that could become a vassal state under Chinese influence.

Putin visited China to negotiate a new gas pipeline deal, but China refused to proceed, instead pausing negotiations and asserting its leverage, highlighting a shift in power dynamics where China holds more influence over Russian energy policy.

The poster symbolizes a shift in power dynamics, with Chinese media framing Xi as superior to Putin, reflecting a strategic message that China now sees Russia as subordinate, a historical parallel to Soviet-era propaganda during the Cold War.

Russia is selling gold from its reserves—44 metric tons in one year—to cover budget shortfalls, revealing a desperate financial situation as international investment in Russian bonds has dried up.

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