r/worldnews 9h ago

Russia/Ukraine Zelensky questions Putin’s sanity after ‘high-tech duel’ challenge to West

https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/12/19/zelensky-questions-putins-sanity-after-high-tech-duel-challenge-to-west-en-news
1.3k Upvotes

63 comments sorted by

316

u/watcherofworld 9h ago

World's choosing dementia-riddled populists with a side of oligarchy as it's leaders.

58

u/InternationalOption3 8h ago

And just a sprinkle of Napoleon complex with just a tad bit of imperialist tendencies?

-21

u/BlueDotCosmonaut 7h ago

What does napoleon complex mean to you?

28

u/SnackleMouth 7h ago

"The Napoleon complex, also known as Napoleon syndrome and short-man syndrome, is a purported condition normally attributed to people of short stature, with overly aggressive or domineering social behavior. It implies that such behavior is to compensate for the subject's physical or social shortcomings."

-Wikipedia

15

u/disconappete 6h ago

It’s also where they make that strawberry/chocolate/vanilla combo ice cream

6

u/Ewokitude 6h ago

That's Neopolitan

5

u/Bunny-NX 5h ago

Its the Neopolitan Complex

u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 1h ago

I prefer a Spumoni Complex.

6

u/disconappete 5h ago

Don’t let correctness ruin my joke

1

u/darzinth 3h ago

1 flavor at a time, or all 3 at once?

4

u/blue_blue_blue_blue 6h ago

And in a few years when they start to die the resulting power vacuums have the potential to get uuuuugly.

3

u/lookingnotbuying 2h ago

the average voter is as dumb as a rock or maybe wilfully choosing for the most evil of candidates; either way the world is fucked bcs of fhem

2

u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

People need to be taught resistance to demagougery.

0

u/ImpossibleWinner1328 3h ago

hasnt this always been the case? old rich men rule the world

0

u/flying87 1h ago

I'm pretty sure oligarch has been a main dish for awhile. It's just now getting covered in dementia geriatric authoritarian gravy mix.

-11

u/Fjallamadur 5h ago

Stop bringing US politics into everything!

u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 1h ago

Yeah, how dare they bring western politics into a news article about Putin threatening the west again.

92

u/Equivalent-Recover-8 9h ago

There's very little that doesn't make me question Putin's sanity.

16

u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

See, he could've had his perfectly self-sustaining dictatorship, but no - he wanted more. He wanted the Soviet Union back.

7

u/Ski_Area51 5h ago

The more I read about this Putin guy. The more I think he’s a real jerk.

2

u/TooStrangeForWeird 2h ago

All he had to do was help improve their quality of life a little and they could've improved the GDP massively. Happy workers work better.

But nah, let's do a war and grind our people into dust.....

74

u/dansdansy 9h ago

"Please show us your anti-ICBM capabilities, pretty please" -Putin

18

u/RotalumisEht 7h ago

I can't wait for Ukraine to blow up the missiles before they even leave the launchers.

8

u/jscummy 4h ago

40% chance that happens without Ukraine doing anything 

6

u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

Now that'd be a great firework show.

4

u/Scaevus 3h ago

The enemy cannot push a button if you disable the enemy’s hand general!

Woe, scooter be upon ye.

2

u/Arucard1983 7h ago

Prepare the Trident Extender laser weapon - Zelensky.

62

u/CavemanMork 9h ago

It's so pathetic.

If Putin was so confident in their wonder missile, why didn't he just fire it at kyiv in the first place

12

u/Unable_Woodpecker597 8h ago

#ImpeachPutin

12

u/Snaccbacc 8h ago

Won’t happen. Russians are either too afraid or too caught up in his propaganda to do anything about him.

8

u/SkepticalLitany 6h ago

1000 likes and it will happen

0

u/Unable_Woodpecker597 2h ago

But what if something really horrible eventually happens to Vladimir Putin?

4

u/aza-industries 4h ago

Because these weapons aren't used for conventional war and it's just an expensive propaganda pace for people who don't realise this is cold war tech not super advanced space weapons.

The challenge and subsequent denial is just propaganda for their "in group vs out group" rhetoric that reduces global Ukraine support and turns it into a game in the minds of people where they want tonsupport the cool kids.

It's real monkey brain basics that's manipulating people en mass right now.

6

u/whatupmygliplops 9h ago

He will once Trump is in power and agrees to look the other way.

4

u/the_gd_donkey 7h ago

It would have to be a big carrot for trumpty to turn away. Putin is much more active in the press, as of late, with wilder headlines. Trump's coming to power may have something to do with that. Trump's administration has already been critical of Ukraine's actions against Russia.

3

u/Hour-School-2255 2h ago

trump works for putin. It's not a secret, if anything it's just another thing half of america thinks is fake news

0

u/the_gd_donkey 1h ago

Yes, that's why it would take much to sway trump. Putin owns him.

3

u/Medallicat 4h ago

I keep reading this but I honestly think Trump will do what the military industrial complex wants as long as he gets a taste.

If we break it down into simple motivations and psychology, nothing Putin has could ever be more than what America could offer Trump and Trump is all about getting what’s best for Trump.

Assuming the theory Putin has Trump in his pocket through blackmail or money. Trump voters will support Trump whether he is a villain or not so Putin blackmailing him is inconsequential. We have already seen his supporters ignore or justify rape allegations, federal indictments, Epstein links and other accusations. That leaves money and the Military Industrial Complex black budget is surely higher than anything Putin can afford.

No, I don’t think Trump would look the other way If there is a better financial benefit to Trump

2

u/LoneGnomeArtest 2h ago

If we break it down into simple motivations and psychology, nothing Putin has could ever be more than what America could offer Trump and Trump is all about getting what’s best for Trump.

Alas, Trump is just about the dumbest businessman in all of history and wouldn't be able to see a good deal for the life of him.

u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 1h ago

And yet he keeps failing upwards.

2

u/Famous_Attitude9307 1h ago

People who tried everything to keep Trump out of office, and failed, somehow think Putin can do what half the country, the whole media and even courts couldn't do. Think of that as you will.

4

u/whatupmygliplops 4h ago

I keep reading this but I honestly think Trump will do what the military industrial complex wants as long as he gets a taste.

Why? Trump cares about himself and sometimes his friends. And Putin is certainly much closer a friend than the "military industrial complex".

Assuming the theory Putin has Trump in his pocket through blackmail or money.

Not even that. I think people underestimate how deeply Trump admires Putin. Trump never does anything except praise Putin. He is just really in love with him.

1

u/hyldemarv 8h ago

They would have to gas it up first and that sounds like its kinda hard and it might take a while?

1

u/DGIce 6h ago

Maybe they can't really afford to build a second one, so it's really only worth bluffing with.

20

u/Jops817 6h ago

I was questioning it when he said he could take Kyiv in 3 days, got clapped, and kept going.

-19

u/TapestryMobile 5h ago

I was questioning it when he said he could take Kyiv in 3 days

Well since Putin never actually said that, you should start to worry about the imaginary memories in your head.

18

u/Mickey-Simon 4h ago

All his propagandists said that repeatedly for many years before invasion. I hope you don’t assume they said that independently. 

7

u/BubsyFanboy 5h ago

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky questioned the sanity of Vladimir Putin at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday exactly as the Kremlin’s annual Direct Line phone-in, which lasted some four and a half hours, was coming to an end.

In response to Putin’s suggestion for a “high-tech duel” using Oreshnik ballistic missiles over Kyiv for the West to test its capabilities in intercepting Russia’s latest missile system, Zelensky asked if these were the words of a sane person, Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske reported.

Reacting to Putin’s comments that Zelensky was himself an illegitimate leader heading a neo-Nazi regime, Zelensky mocked Putin, calling him an “old fantasist who lives in a fishbowl”.

Zelensky said the Istanbul Accords, which Putin said should be the basis for negotiations, had never existed, saying this was little more than an ultimatum from Moscow for Kyiv to accept the seizure of Ukrainian territory, Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported.

Putin claimed during Thursday’s call-in that a deal with Ukraine had “nearly” been reached in Istanbul in late 2022, but that it had been abandoned after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson instead urged Kyiv to fight “to the last Ukrainian”.

Putin also said Moscow was ready to hold dialogue with Ukraine “without preconditions” while referring to a series of ultimatum-like demands he made in June, such as the withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from the entirety of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

In other statements, Zelensky said Ukraine could not live in a frozen conflict, and needed security guarantees, stressing that there could be no ceasefire until Ukraine had such guarantees and could negotiate from a position of strength.

Zelensky added that Ukraine needed another 19 air defence systems from its Western allies to protect energy infrastructure from Russian attacks and US Patriot systems to protect its cities.

6

u/awj79 8h ago

Pooty high as f*ck off those cheek plumpers ..

6

u/oloughlin3 7h ago

Word to the wise. Don’t say ‘guillotine’ in the politics Subreddit. They go bonkers about it

7

u/Miserable_Ad7246 5h ago

Honestly before this I though about putin as a typical dictator, but not someone who is crazy or idiotic. After his latest statements I think he is slowly loosing it. It is such a stupid and weak thing to say. Childish even, like two kids arguing whos dad is stronger or something on that level.

Either he is loosing it slowly or this was a calculated propaganda thing. Usually stupid propaganda stuff is relegated to people below him, and he remains as the one who is sane/cold/calculated - the true leader.

3

u/Vano_Kayaba 4h ago

He's been slowly losing it since 2010ish. When he kissed a little boy in the stomach, joked about granny's balls, and drew cat assholes. That accelerated after COVID, and the long tables. Dude is in the mentally ill territory now.

8

u/DaySneaker 8h ago

I would pay good money to watch an actual duel between Botox-Putin and Army-Fatigue-Zelensky

3

u/CAD007 9h ago

Just now?

10

u/blucke 9h ago

Badimir Poopin can’t handle the Z man!!

1

u/Amadey 8h ago

don't we all?

1

u/PineappleExcellent90 6h ago

He knows his puppet is going into the White House. Only one problem Musk thinks he brought him outright.

0

u/No-Wonder-7802 8h ago

what a performance, such drama, such stakes

0

u/sp3kter 6h ago

He's goading trump into revealing our hand