I Am A Swede

7 minutes ago, Vee said:

I still can't believe they let Donna go and tried to pair up Ray and Jenna.

If anything they should have written off Ray and kept Donna. After the Mickey-story Ray became more and more irrelevant.

I almost forgot....Today would have been George Michael's 60th birthday.

That may be true, but soaps haven't exactly been quick to move with the times in recent years, have they? 

I can sort of understand what you're saying, but at the same time...this is a soap, it's not "Little House on the Prairie". Cheating, betrayals and illicit love affairs have been part of this genre for decades.

4 minutes ago, Cat said:

Yep. Sooner or later, VP will exact revenge. See Berezhovsky, Litvinienko, (almost) Navalny, among many others. No matter where they are in the world.

I just don't understand why Prigozhin called it all off, knowing VP's modus operandi. VP is ruthless and vengeful, and will want payback for being humiliated on the world stage. If this coup is even legit.

That might be the only thing that saves Prigozhin, if this whole thing was a scam. But would Putin agree to something like that when it made him look so utterly weak? I doubt it, but then again, who knows....

12 minutes ago, Cat said:

And now apparently Putin's buffoonish puppet in Belarus has brokered peace between Wagner and VP? Lukashenko has invited Prigozhin to stay there, and the Kremlin says it won't be prosecuting anyone in the Wagner Group -- which would be a first, to say the least.

Of course they won't be prosecuting. But if Prigozhin thinks that he will live much longer I think he might be disappointed. Putin hasn't exactly been against poisoning people who have displeased him.

38 minutes ago, Vee said:

Unlikely.

I do not think this was a Putin op because he wouldn't expose himself like this.

Definitely not. This whole affair has made Putin look weak and ridiculous, and that is something he won't like at all. That's why Prigozhin's withdrawal makes no sense. He must realize that he now has a big fat target on his back. Actually nothing about Prigozhin's actions make sense. That's why it feels like there's more going on here behind the scenes.

This has been the most extraordinary day. If this really is the end of it then none of it makes any sense at all. What was this all about? Does Prigozhin really think that Putin is gonna honour any possible deal they made? Events in Russia can often seem illogical, but this one really takes the cake.

Something like this could not have happened before the invasion of Ukraine, because then the Russian army would have been around to hit back immediately. Now most of that army is tied down in the Ukraine, and if Putin withdraws troops from there to help then that would give the Ukraine the upper hand and give them a golden opportunity to reclaim their territory.

22 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Talk about your rules of unintended consequences! Putin had to have known, even in the back of his mind, that he was taking a risk with a loose cannon like Prigozhin but he decided to take the calculated risk, perhaps hoping that some mix of patriotic feeling and a laissez faire attitude from the Russian state would be enough to keep Prigozhin girded close to him. It appears that Putin has miscalculated. Prigozhin’s group of mercenaries picked up the slack with a lot of the fighting and he probably figures that Mother Russia needs him and Wagner group more that he/Wagner need Mother Russia. This is a group of mercenaries that have been in Syria and Central African Republic, Libya, Sudan and other nations. They have been paid in diamonds, gold and other minerals and precious metals…they have undoubtedly made many connections outside of Russia (Russia enabled and assisted them in cultivating their connections, but that’s a different story). Now that Prigozhin has had a taste of power and autonomy, it will be interesting to see what, if any tools Putin has to try to bring Prigozhin to heel. Somehow I doubt the Navalny treatment will work this time.

I think the main thing is that they expected Ukraine to fall easily and that the invasion would be successful in a matter of days. When that didn't happen Putin had no way out, and now that miscalculation is coming home to roost....

This is hardly the development Putin and his cronies had in mind when they attacked Ukraine last year....

All this is a bit scary. So many unsubstantiated rumours flying around. God only knows how all this will end.

It's cute how some think that Steffy/Finn is this untouchable couple that Brad Bell won't dare to mess with in fear of some backlash.   

When, not if, he wants to break them up, he will do just that. They are not some sacred couple that will remain faithful and true forever and ever. Anyone who believes that must never have seen a soap before, especially not B&B. This is a show that only relies on triangles and partner swapping nowadays, and Steffy/Finn won't be immune to that.

And to think that it looked so promising 6 months ago when Brooke and Taylor had told Ridge bye-bye and the Hope/Liam/Steffy hell seemed to be well and truly over.... 

I guess Brad Bell did a time-jump like DAYS did....only he did it backwards.