Comments by "" (@EbenBransome) on "Something is going on- as Moscow officials leave the city" video.

  1. There are in fact good arguments in favour of moving the capital to Yekaterinburg, which is a more modern city than Moscow with more opportunity for development. It's kind of the twin of Peterburg and named after Peter's wife who became Catherine 1st. It has vast mineral wealth and industry, and if Russian strategy is to move south and east, it makes a lot of sense. I doubt this is the reason at the moment, but during the attempted coup against Yeltsin, he moved the administration to Yekaterinburg, so there is precedent.
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  2. The country that refused to sign the treaty against landmines is now sending them to Ukraine which means there will be minefields in Europe, as in WW2. It also means civilians will die in American minefields, again. Now the significance is obvious. If Ukraine intends to mine the edge of the Donbas, they have accepted they cannot retake it. You don't crap in your own garden. It was the same in the Falklands; when the British Army realised that Argentina was spreading landmines, they knew that the junta had no intention of occupying the Falklands, it was purely a vanity project to try to get public support. The de facto border will end up like the old East German one whatever Zelensky says about retaking land.
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