JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin looked into the abyss Saturday — and blinked” – Washington Post
“… Putin looked into the abyss … and blinked. After vowing revenge for what he called an ‘armed mutiny,’ he settled for a compromise. The speed with which Putin backed down suggests … his sense of vulnerability might be higher even than analysts believed. Putin might have saved his regime Saturday, but this day will be remembered as part of the unraveling of Russia as a great power — which will be Putin’s true legacy. … As Putin said in a blood-curdling address Saturday, this was becoming a 1917 moment, when the nation was reeling from another misbegotten war and, in Putin’s words, ‘Russians were killing Russians, brothers killing brothers.’ … What comes next, surely, is more trouble for Putin in Ukraine. Prigozhin told the truth … before his march on Moscow. Ukraine didn’t threaten Russia, and Russia’s invasion was unnecessary — a mistake of epic proportions. Even Putin, the ice man, can’t freeze the burning truth of his Ukraine disaster.”