This would, among other things, inflate debt numbers, conflate internal and external and deepen the debt trap narrative. The rest of the world heaved a sigh of relief that Russia’s nuclear arsenal remained in Mr Putin’s experienced hands. Prigozhin meanwhile sounded like a tragi-comic antihero in a Wagner Opera –Gotterdemmerung perhaps? Cold War propaganda and disinformation were subsequently amplified by Kash Patel, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence, who suggested that Mr Putin had staged the whole show—a new Wagner opera starring Prigozhin. Mr Putin, it seems, had nothing better to do than stage his own goals and black opera.

Source: The Guardian July 14, 2023 05:48 UTC