Vladimir Putin’s super-yacht, worth at least $100 million, left its port in Hamburg before repairs were finished. It is heading for a safe port in Russia. Putin wants to make sure it is not seized as new sanctions are imposed by NATO governments after his invasion of Ukraine. It’s likely that sanctions will be placed on the personal assets of Russian oligarchs, including Putin.

Categories Accountability, International

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Joe Jersey says:

February 23, 2022 at 1:57 pm

quote:The luxury yacht is 270 feet long and equipped with a gym, a saloon featuring a white Steinway piano, a spa, a library, and a 49-foot indoor pool that can be converted into a dance floor. The vessel is meant to accommodate up to 12 guests and 14 crew. end quote
Whoa! It’s nice being tsar of Russia, er I mean president-for-life of Russia. What a chump compared to Betsy DeVos who has a fleet of yachts.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 2:23 pm
  
  Betsy DeVos has 10 yachts but I don’t think any are super yachts.
  Bill Gates has a super yacht. So does Jeff Bezos.
  The largest in the world is owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramowich. On vacation three years ago, I saw his yacht: it has a helicopter landing pad with helicopter. It has a soccer field and every other imaginable luxury.
  
  Reply
- dianeravitch says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 2:27 pm
  
  The oligarch’s latest super yacht
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/billspringer/2021/06/10/exclusive-photos-reveal-russian-billionaire-roman-abramovichs-455-foot-long-secret-superyacht-solaris-underway/amp/
  
  Reply
Peter Goodman says:

February 23, 2022 at 2:02 pm

Beware of pirates

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Lloyd Lofthouse says:

February 23, 2022 at 2:11 pm

That yacht is the tip of Tzar Putin’s Iceberg of Greed. Putin may be the wealthiest vampire (how can anyone call him human?) on the planet.

“Putin took home a $131,900 salary in 2020 and listed some modest assets: a 77-square-meter apartment, an 18-square-meter garage, “two vintage Volga GAZ M21 cars,” a Lada Niva SUV and a trailer. “All these items are in Russia,”

But “Bill Browder, a U.S. investor who made a fortune in Russia before becoming a prominent Kremlin critic, told the U.S. Senate in 2017 that Putin was worth $200 billion.”

“That reporting indicates that Putin stashes his wealth, and his shares in state-owned enterprises, in networks controlled by family members and close advisers.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/putins-wealth-may-be-unreachable-but-russias-isnt/2022/01/27/5aaf2a6e-7f3b-11ec-8cc8-b696564ba796_story.html

Then there’s Tzar Putin’s alleged Palace:

“Putin’s palace? A mystery Black Sea mansion fit for a tsar”

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17730959

And here’s the list of people that ended up dead for coitizing and/or challenging Putin

https://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-people-putin-is-suspected-of-assassinating-2016-3

Then there are Tzar Putin’s alleged mistresses.

“Navalny, 44, claimed that the Russian leader – who he labels the world’s richest man – uses a ‘slush fund’ to cover the expenses of his other women and their families including his 17-year-old love child. ”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9167475/Putin-slush-fund-pay-mistresses-families-jailed-Alexei-Navalny-claims.html

This is why Trump loves Putin. Trump wants the same power and lifestyle Putin has.

The only way Russia and the world will get rid of Tzar Putin is if that vampire ends up the same way the last Tzar did, DEAD!

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- Duane E Swacker says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 5:04 pm
  
  “. . .for coitizing and/or challenging Putin”
  
  Hmmm you don’t mean f#$k or is that f$#k or just plain fuck?
  
  Reply
Bob Shepherd says:

February 23, 2022 at 2:39 pm

Tsar Vladimir Vladimirovich fears the prospect of a partially Russian-speaking democracy to his immediate South with strong familial ties to Russia itself.

The contagion of insisting on freedom of the press and of speech, of an end to political murder by the state and an end to the looting of the Commons by a small group of thieves in charge would spread.

That’s why the war criminal is invading Ukraine yet again, in violation of fundamental international law.

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- retired teacher says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 3:28 pm
  
  No honest world leader should be able to afford a “super-yacht.” It is a monument to Putin’s plunder.
  
  Reply
  - Duane E Swacker says:
    
    February 23, 2022 at 5:05 pm
    
    Tell that to Betsy, eh!
  - Roy Turrentine says:
    
    February 23, 2022 at 6:59 pm
    
    I want to see the Swacker yacht. I bet it is quite a sight floating down Jack’s Fork
  - Duane E Swacker says:
    
    February 24, 2022 at 3:31 pm
    
    It’s a 16 ft or so square back Old Town plastic canoe-$500 new about 10 years ago-hot damn! Holds me and another person or two. It replaced the old yacht-a Coleman Plastic 14 footer that barely held myself and my son once he started growing (he’s 6’4″ ish)-that I had for 30 years. Many a good float with kids in that one. Many a good solo float also. . . nothing like turning a tight bend and hearing an osprey’s or eagle’s wings flap as it takes off the gravel bar five feet from ya. Or the minks on the bank two feet from my face, hanging out. Or the raft of otters following along cavorting in the river around the canoe for a half a mile-so much for fishing at that point. Not to mention fishing! You’ll have to stop by and check it out for a float.
  - dianeravitch says:
    
    February 24, 2022 at 3:55 pm
    
    How large is the crew on your yacht? Do you have a chef?
  - Duane E Swacker says:
    
    February 25, 2022 at 10:13 am
    
    I am the crew! A slow crew at that! Haven’t had a chef aboard since I floated (on the Jacks Fork mentioned by Roy T-part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways which was the first National Scenic Riverway park in the country) with my oldest son a few summers ago.
Ken Watanabe says:

February 23, 2022 at 8:19 pm

The oligarchs love yachts. Perhaps they should put their names to commemorate their legacy. Like the Bezo, the Musk, the DeVos, the Putin.

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dienne77 says:

February 23, 2022 at 8:51 pm

America’s deep and abiding concern for sovereignty:

Historically speaking, the United States has been on the wrong side of it 97% of the time. I don't know how you all keep forgetting this.

Recent history? 100% of the time. pic.twitter.com/jpizXpRwso

— Lord of Disdain, fan of strikes (@RemyLeBruh) February 24, 2022

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- Ponderosa says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 8:58 pm
  
  Russia is often described as a mafia state. Unfair?
  
  Reply
- NYC public school parent says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 9:05 pm
  
  FYI — This in ALL of these conflicts there was no “right” side.
  
  According to dienne77, the United States SHOULD have sided with:
  
  Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge
  The Taliban
  Saddam Hussein
  Stalin
  Muammar Gaddafi
  And endless warlords and genocidal leaders.
  
  Including her beloved Putin, who never met a political opponent he didn’t imprison, poison or have mysteriously commit “suicide”.
  
  dienne77, I prefer a leader like Biden to a leader like Putin.
  
  If you prefer Putin to Biden, that says it all.
  
  And it explains why you have so much sympathy for Trump voters like the January 6 insurrections who just want white folks to be able to choose who gets to run our country.
  
  I wish you had half the love for democracy that you do for Putin.
  
  Reply
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    February 23, 2022 at 9:25 pm
    
    Come one, NY PSP. The attraction to Putin is totally natural. After all, he is the O, manly, so manly, manliest man! It’s totally fake news that those shirtless photos of 69-year-old Putin shirtless and looking like Rocky Balboa while wrestling Godzilla into submission with his bare hands are Photoshopped.
- dianeravitch says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 9:15 pm
  
  Dienne, you sound like a combination of Trump and Tucker Carlson. Leader of the Putin cheering squad.
  
  Reply
- NYC public school parent says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 9:34 pm
  
  Can someone please tell me what the “2020 Afghanistan” invasion was?
  
  What did Trump did in 2020? Make his deal with the Taliban to let them unleash their brutal regrime on all the Afghan civilians?
  
  It is VERY concerning that “Lord of Disdain, fan of strikes” and dienne77 seem upset that Biden didn’t honor Trump’s wish to let another 100,000 civilians experience Taliban brutality and safetly evacuated them instead?
  
  Reply
- NYC public school parent says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 9:37 pm
  
  Can someone please tell me what evil Jimmy Carter did in Poland in 1980? Why does dienne77 hate Jimmy Carter so much?
  
  Does anyone else realize what a truly nonsensical piece of propaganda this list is?
  
  If you did this list only for Putin’s much shorter reign, it would run 100 pages.
  
  Reply
- Bob Shepherd says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 9:40 pm
  
  Brilliant, Dienne. I’m going to adopt your line of reasoning from now on!!! So, here’s an example:
  
  In March of 2021, police officer Wayne Couzens committed murder. Therefore, police should never arrest people who have committed or are planning to commit murder. Murder is completely acceptable.
  
  Wow. That’s a knock-down argument for you!
  
  Reply
Bob Shepherd says:

February 23, 2022 at 9:09 pm

You folks have this entirely wrong. President Putin is the St. Francis of Assisi of Russia. The yacht isn’t his. The palace isn’t his. The 200 billion isn’t his. The mistresses aren’t his. All those doctors who opposed his Covid policy just jumped out of windows on their own. All those dead journalists? Dead from natural causes. The invasion of Donbas? Biden and the CIA made him do it. The 190,000 troops on the Ukrainian border? Just exercises and Russian folk dances.

And, along the same lines, Obama put chemicals in drinking water to turn high-school kids transgender. JFK Jr. and Donald Trump are going to Make America great again again. CRT is having an affair with by brother’s wife. Babies are brought by storks. Unborn baby sings like Elvis. Having children wear masks is a plot to sap their will to live in preparation for the Socialist takeover. The January 6th thing was just tourists. Jewish space lasers. Reptilian aliens with spaceports under the Vatican. The teen Satanist epidemic. The Ester Bunny is real, but you can’t see him. God sometimes turns into a wafer. The truth doctors don’t want to you to know is that colloidal silver cures everything. Trump is completely innocent of everything. Just sent $5,000 dollars today, along with your banking information, to secure the transfer of $112 million from Princess Abosede’s account in Nigeria into your account in the United States. If the priest says We instead of I, your child is not baptized. You, too, can become one of Enlightened Master Bob’s spiritual wives! Do your part, today, to end the scourge of epididymal hypertension! Got a problem world? Never fear. Bill Gates has all the answers.

Glad I could clear that up for you.

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- NYC public school parent says:
  
  February 23, 2022 at 9:46 pm
  
  Plus dienne77 is now saying that Jimmy Carter is an evil interventionist who did something very evil in Poland in 1980 that the US has yet to atone for.
  
  And Jimmy Carter also did something evil in Turkey and Angola, too.
  
  And the only way the US can atone — according to dienne77 — is to allow her beloved Putin to unleash his fury over the people of Ukraine, including the children and babies. Because only then can the US atone for whatever evil thing dienne77 believes that Jimmy Carter did in Poland, Angola and Turkey.
  
  Putin is Jesus Christ to dienne77 and only by allowing him to become the god he is in dienne77’s eyes can the US atone for whatever evil Jimmy Carter did.
  
  And don’t get dienne77 started on all the evil unleashed by Truman and Eisenhower that the chart dienne77 posted tells us they unleashed.
  
  Because it seems like dienne77 believes that they only way the US can atone for that evil unleashed by Truman and Eisenhower is to let Putin unleash his fury on the families in Poland, Belarus and probably 5 or 6 other European countries.
  
  Reply
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    February 23, 2022 at 10:27 pm
    
    https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/wednesday-march-29th-natasha-boris-fake-news
Bob Shepherd says:

February 24, 2022 at 8:20 am

Ukrainian U.N. Ambassador, yesterday, at the U.N.:

“There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell.”

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NYC public school parent says:

February 24, 2022 at 8:27 am

So many deaths already. Those on here who condone these deaths caused by Putin because of something Jimmy Carter supposedly did in 1980 have always been purveyors of Russian propaganda. Their concern for children’s lives excluded all deaths caused by Putin and Trump and they never said a word as Trump multiplied the number of drone strikes.

So it isn’t surprising they won’t say a word of criticism now. Putin is threatening the lives of every family in Ukraine, and those who justify his actions because of something that happened decades ago have no concern for anything but Putin.

The only person this helps is Putin and the right wing Republicans who take their marching orders from him.

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- Joe Jersey says:
  
  February 24, 2022 at 10:00 am
  
  Putin is evil incarnate and will cause thousands of deaths and massive destruction in order to reduce the Ukraine to a vassal state. He doesn’t give a damn about the sanctions in his quest to be Czar Vlad.
  
  Reply
  - dianeravitch says:
    
    February 24, 2022 at 12:10 pm
    
    Joe Jersey, my sentiments exactly. Putin is evil incarnate. His lust for power is insatiable. He is a little Stalin. Stalin without a moustache. He has no ideology other than power. He is a capitalist without any scruples, without principles, without any institution to check his mad greed.
Joel says:

February 24, 2022 at 2:33 pm

This is more about Belarus than it is about Ukraine . Figure it out.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  February 24, 2022 at 4:03 pm
  
  But people in Ukraine are dying. Belarus is already occupied by Russian troops.
  
  Reply
  - Joel says:
    
    February 24, 2022 at 9:33 pm
    
    dianeravitch
    
    In 2020 -2021 there was a Democracy rebellion in Belarus after the phony election. The old domino theory with a twist. Ukraine with its large Russian speaking population is a thorn in Putin’s butt . A successful Ukraine with ties to the west petrifies him. Rebellion in Belarus was Putin’s tipping point. IMHO
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    February 25, 2022 at 8:43 am
    
    Putin doesn’t want a large democratic state with millions of Russian speakers, many with family in Russia, on his border.
- Joel says:
  
  February 26, 2022 at 11:01 am
  
  Bob Shepherd
  
  And I forgot Kazakhstan. Putin is more concerned with the Ukraine joining the EU than NATO. A nuclear armed Russia need fear no external threat. A successful Ukraine with Russian relatives seeing economic prosperity and relative freedoms terrifies him.
  So 2020-2021 we see unrest in Belarus followed by 2021 unrest in Kazakhstan . He is being perfectly rational.
  
  It has been said that the Beatles brought down the Soviet Union. Simply exposure to perceived higher standards of living in the West.While at home Soviet access to the same consumer goods was limited.
  
  Unfortunately the neoliberal assault, shock treatment of the Russian economy led to Putin.
  
  Reply
Bob Shepherd says:

February 24, 2022 at 5:02 pm

Please jump onto this thread any time now, Dienne77, and explain that only Americans who believe Biden’s propaganda think that Russia is going to invade Ukraine–how even the Ukrainians don’t think that. Please let us know how hysterical and crazy it is to think that might be in the offing.

Oh, gee. A little late to repeat that argument, I guess, now that Ukraine is being invaded from the North, the East, and the South, just as Putin’s preparations suggested it would be. Gosh, what’s a Russian propagandist to do now?

Time, I guess, to trot out the Russia is there to save Ukraine from Nazis argument again. Or how about this one? Putin knows that Ukraine is about to be invaded by space aliens and is moving troops into Ukraine so they can protect the country. And the shelling of civilians currently going on? Well, you have to understand that sometimes the aliens are invisible except to Russia’s advanced alien-detection systems. Russia isn’t actually bombing the civilians of a sovereign nation. They are actually bombing those invisible space aliens. That should work, Dienne, and it’s as plausible as the other stuff you’ve said in the run-up to what everyone else saw coming.

Putin is a war criminal.

And yes, Bush, Jr., and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice et al. were, too. That doesn’t make Putin any less a war criminal.

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- NYC public school parent says:
  
  February 24, 2022 at 11:35 pm
  
  But Putin is “her” war criminal.
  
  In my view, Bush, Jr., Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice were able to do some very bad things with their LIMITED power. We live in a democracy. They could do a lot of harm, but not 20 or 30 years of harm. Mostly because they were abhorrent people who still had some respect for democracy. Obviously, in today’s Republican party they would have simply declared a state of emergency after 9-11 and disbanded democracy altogether.
  
  It took 6 long years before the Dems won the House again and could limit their power – unfortunately the voters didn’t seem very bothered by war criminals – and another 2 years before those war criminals were completely swept out of office.
  
  But Putin can stay as long as he wants. It is the Putin version of “democracy” that the right wing Republican Party and folks like dienne77 are good with. After all, isn’t having a Putin-like “democracy” where Republicans remain in power always a small price to pay to keep the evil Democrats down? I think we know what dienne77’s answer would be. Putin is misunderstood.
  
  Reply
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    February 25, 2022 at 12:15 am
    
    “They could do a lot of harm, but not 20 or 30 years of harm.”
    
    They saturated Iraq with ordinance encased in depleted uranium (because it is bunker-busting), which aerosolized on impact, covering the ground with radioactive material with a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Shock and awe, they called it. Hundreds of thousands killed in the war. Thousands and thousands of babies born, after this, with severe birth defects. The Iraqi troops folded almost immediately, tried to escape on the bumper-to-bumper “highway of death.” They carpet bombed this highway.
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    February 25, 2022 at 1:02 am
    
    “But Putin can stay as long as he wants.”
    
    Putin is playing a very dangerous game. Yes, his troops can capture the country quickly, but they will face a bitter, protracted insurgency. Another Afghanistan will not bode well for Tsar Vlad.
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    February 25, 2022 at 1:12 am
    
    One of the lessons of history is that autocrats surround themselves with yes men, and their megalomania builds, and then they make really stupid blunders, and no one dares to oppose them.
    
    Stalin died from a heart attack in a pool of his own urine. He lay there for hours in his office, and no one dared disturb him. The fear that he created around him killed him. Karma.
  - NYC public school parent says:
    
    February 25, 2022 at 10:38 am
    
    Bob,
    
    Good point about the radioactive bombs. You are right that the harm is long-lasting.
    
    But still, can you imagine if Bush/Cheney et al were in office indefinitely? As flawed and imperfect as US democracy is, it is still possible to get rid of them.