The Josef Goebbels of our time is a woman. Her name is Margarita Simonyan.

Putin has another ally nearly as powerful as her, too: the head of the Russian Orthodox Church within Russia.

Like Putin, its Archbishop, the Patriarch Kirill, was a KGB agent in the somewhat murky way the USSR accommodated the Church in its avowedly anti-religious system, and was the country's representative as such to the World Council of Churches.

From his point of view that hypocracy was vital for professional if not also personal survival as well as advancement; but whatever his Christian sensitivities now he is intensely nationalistic, and besides, probably dare not do anything but toe the Putin party-line and bless the "special military operation" as if it is some sort of holy war. Without using the word....

It might though explain why the Russians have not unleashed massive attacks on Kyiv. I never really believed the army's "bogged down" theory. The city is particularly special to the Russian Orthodox Church, and whilst he does not care about people, I wonder if Putin thought destroying its cathedral too politically risky. Perhaps Kirill influenced him there; while if he takes any notice of her advice, Simonyan might have suggested it might be something rather too difficult to explain "convincingly".

We just don't know. Vladimir Putin, ex-KGB Liaison Officer to the Stasi, has proved himself a bully and a liar, surrounded by sycophantic liars on his behalf; and he has never really explained himself beyond his "de-Nazi" and "liberation" cliches. He might of course have become so deluded by his own propaganda he does indeed believe what we only "know" he says and his spokespeople like Symonyan and Kirill repeat for him.

Credible speculation includes a Russian aim to secure land access along the Sea of Azov coast to the Crimea they stole - but Russia already has road and rail bridges across the Kersh Strait, directly linking the peninsula to Russian land East of that Sea (study an atlas and the Google Earth photos). Indeed, I wonder why they have not used them to invade from the Crimea; pushing East towards the Donbas region and West to Odessa.

Mariupol lies on that coastal route, but its near-total demolition suggests it is of little significance to Russia despite having been a major commercial port and steel-making city. From Putin's point of view, its importance is probably minor if he can seize Odessa, because that would give him a second harbour on the Black Sea; for a cargo vessel, possibly a couple of days sailing nearer the Mediterranean Sea. If the Kremlin succeeds in whatever it really intends, it would not surprise me if it orders Mariupol to be made non-existent. It is ruthless enough.

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One little-reported effect of Vladimir Putin's regime, from well before the invasion, is a huge "brain-drain".

Russia has suffered a huge loss of educated, professional people fleeing Putin's regime. We will probably never know how many, but estimates suggest around 100 000.

Some are now in Georgia, and blamed by some Georgians for rising house prices. Some of those though, are giving humanitarian aid to the Ukrainians, so now dare not risk returning to Russia while Putin is in power. He regards them as traitors by their actions.

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I wonder if Magarita Simonyan was implicated in one aspect of Russia siding with President Assad of Syria, in its dreadful civil war. "Civil"?

A former British army officer established a humanitarian aid charity called the White Helmets, to the fury of Assad and Putin, because it helped the civilian non-combatants those two rulers preferred to see die. Russia's tactics in the Ukraine - concentrated mainly on destroying civilians - are based on what it used in the Middle East.

The Kremlin set its propaganda machine at full throttle, and one of its weapons was a woman called, or calling herself, Vanessa ---- (sorry, I forget her British-style surname). Listening to recordings of her speeches to the UN among others, denouncing the White Helmets, she spoke impeccable English with a superficially Southern English accent - but it seemed a touch too impeccable and I thought I caught occasional, slight traces of non-British accents. The man who set up the White Helmets was eventually killed, allegedly in a fall from a hotel balcony....

Was this Vanessa really Simonyan? Or one of her colleagues? It's a filthy world out there, and speculation risks only complete confusion and obfuscation.

Someone on here said that the Ukrainians deserved it because of all the neo nazis. She then posted a picture which had been obviously doctored showing a soldier wearing jewelry associated with the nazi regime. Weirdly I don’t think she thought about the fact the president is Jewish and if he saw this would stop it quickly.

RT's US's main propagandist was Tulsi Gabbard. She's now making money off the Tucker Carlson show following RT's shutdown in the US.

Don't know about comparing her to Gobbels.

She's more like "Baghdad Bob."

Might as well see what this guy is up to these days and hire him

She can restore the You Tube media channel Russia Today