00:00DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES, AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN IS SURE
00:05LOOKING DESPERATE.
00:06ON MONDAY, PUTIN SIGNED A DECREE ORDERING THAT 135,000 MEN BE CONSCRIPTED INTO RUSSIA'S
00:12ARMY, THE COUNTRY'S LARGEST FALL DRAFT IN NINE YEARS.
00:17THE TIMING IS CONSPICUOUS.
00:18LAST WEEK, PRESIDENT TRUMP DECLARED THAT MOSCOW IS A PAPER TIGER AND THAT UKRAINE
00:24CAN TAKE BACK ALL OF THE LAND THAT RUSSIA HAS OCCUPIED.
00:28THAT WAS A MASSIVE RHETORICAL SHIFT FROM THE POSITION HE HELD AS RECENTLY AS MID-AUGUST
00:33WHEN HE WAS SAYING THAT KIEV WOULD NEED TO CEDE SOME TERRITORY IN ORDER TO END THE WAR.
00:38IT SEEMS LIKE RUSSIA'S ECONOMIC WOES, COMBINED WITH UKRAINE'S SUCCESSFUL ATTACKS ON OIL REFINERIES,
00:44HAVE CONVINCED TRUMP THAT RUSSIA CAN'T HOLD OUT FOR MUCH LONGER.
00:49BUT INSTEAD OF ADMITTING HIS VULNERABLE POSITION, PUTIN SEEMS TO BE DOUBLING DOWN, SIGNALING THAT RUSSIA
00:55IS IN FOR THE LONG HAUL BY CALLING IN ANOTHER INFLUX OF MEN FOR THE FIGHT.
01:00BUT MOSCOW IS STARTING TO SCRAPE THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL AFTER LOSING MORE THAN 1 MILLION
01:05MEN IN THIS WAR.
01:07THIS LATEST DECREE ORDERED FEDERAL AGENCIES TO ORGANIZE THE CONSCRIPTION OF THEIR EMPLOYEES,
01:12AS WELL AS WORKERS FROM SUBORDINATE ORGANIZATIONS.
01:16THE QUESTION IS, HOW LONG ARE RUSSIANS GOING TO ACCEPT THIS?
01:21RUSSIA'S ECONOMY IS REPORTEDLY IN A BAD WAY, PROPPED UP BY OIL SALES AND WEAPONS MANUFACTURING.
01:27IN ORDER TO KEEP FINANCING MASSIVE MILITARY SPENDING, RUSSIA WILL LIKELY NEED TO CUT SPENDING
01:33IN INFRASTRUCTURE, HEALTH CARE AND HOUSING.
01:36FACED WITH THE CHOICE OF INVESTING MONEY IN THE WAR ON UKRAINE OR IN THE CIVILIAN ECONOMY,
01:41PUTIN KEEPS CHOOSING HIS WAR.
01:44AND NOW HE'S CALLING MORE OF RUSSIA'S MEN INTO BATTLE.
01:48THE KREMLIN CLAIMS THAT CONSCRIPTS AREN'T SENT INTO COMBAT IN UKRAINE, BUT KIEV HAS REPORTED
01:53CAPTURING DRAFTED MEN ON THE FRONT LINES MULTIPLE TIMES.
01:57THAT'S A HARD LIE FOR THE KREMLIN TO MAINTAIN.
02:01RUSSIANS SURELY NOTICE WHEN THEIR FATHERS, HUSBANDS AND BROTHERS DON'T COME HOME AFTER BEING
02:06FORCED INTO MILITARY SERVICE.
02:08ACCORDING TO POLLING, A MAJORITY OF RUSSIANS FAVORED PEACE TALKS BACK IN JUNE.
02:14AND THE SHARE OF THOSE WHO WANT THE WAR TO CONTINUE KEEPS SHRINKING.
02:18PUTIN MAY THINK HE'S PROJECTING STRENGTH BY BOLSTERING HIS MILITARY WITH CONSCRIPTED MEN, BUT FROM
02:23THE OUTSIDE, IT JUST LOOKS LIKE HE'S DIGGING HIMSELF INTO A DEEPER HOLE.
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