A year from now, we could be looking back at this event as the moment Putin really lost control â and it may be his plane that mysteriously gets shot out of the sky. [Outsider Club Header]
Aug 25, 2023 by Jason Simpkins for the Outsider Club How Long Before Putinâs Plane Gets Shot Down? Tyrannical, autocratic regimes are always paranoid about external forces jeopardizing their grip on power⦠But more often than not, they collapse from within. And increasingly, it looks like thatâs going to be the case for Russia. For decades now, Vladimir Putin has blamed the United States for everything. Itâs in his DNA as a former KGB agent. Itâs why he constantly threatens us with nuclear annihilation, meddles in our elections, floods our country with propaganda, and leverages dark-money donations to influence politicians and media personalities. The âencroachmentâ of NATO was supposedly his rationale for invading Ukraine⦠or at least it was until he claimed it was to âde-Nazifyâ the former-Soviet satellite state. In truth, though, Putin invaded Ukraine because heâs determined to expand Russiaâs borders. He fancies himself a conqueror in the mold of Peter the Great. Of course, heâs not. Heâs a thug. Heâs a thug whoâs surrounded himself with other, weaker thugs who are easy to manipulate, dispatch, and, ultimately, replace. And thatâs what brings us to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the now deceased head of the Wagner military group â a man who was once so close to the Russian leader he was called âPutinâs chef.â Prigozhin was so close to Putin he reportedly considered himself untouchable. I guess thatâs why he felt comfortable going back to business after calling off his mutiny mid-mission when everyone else on the planet knew this would be his fate. Tesla in BIG trouble? Forget fossil fuels, lithium batteries, or hydrogen fuel cells...Because these new cars charge themselves even as they cruise down the highway... And every one of them NEEDS the tech produced by ONE small firm you can own now before shares explode. [Discover the details about this tiny tech company here.]( Just about everyone saw this coming. We all knew it was going to happen â except him, apparently. Regardless, the question now is what happens next. In the wake of the mutiny, Wagner was largely disassembled and scattered to the wind â literally, since its operations commander Dmitry Utkin and other senior members of the group were also on Prigozhinâs plane. (Not a ride I would have taken!) However, most of its rank-and-file members are still out there... and theyâre pissed. They were already angry at the way the war with Ukraine was being conducted, and now Putin has assassinated their beloved leader. âThereâs a lot of talk right now about what the Wagner group will do,â a group of masked men claiming to be mercenaries warned in a video posted on Russian Telegram channels. âWe can tell you one thing: We are getting started â get ready for us.â Wagner is extremely active in Africa where itâs been propping up dictators in Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic, and Libya in exchange for lucrative mining rights. The commanders of those operations will likely stay put, but itâll be interesting to see how they get along with their new boss â once one is appointed, that is. Theyâll probably fall in line, but they could also be less effective, less responsive, and less profitable for a Kremlin puppet. They may also go rogue and break away from Russiaâs political structure entirely. It would be a lot harder to corral and penalize them for that on foreign soil. Meanwhile, there are about 8,000 Wagner troops camping out in Belarus. Again, they could simply fall in line and be reabsorbed into other parts of Russiaâs military... Or they could defect. Even if they donât switch sides to fight with Ukraine outright, they could turn over valuable intelligence. Goldman Sachs: AI a "$7 Trillion Opportunity" Banking giant Goldman Sachs just said... That the artificial intelligence (AI) market could be worth $7 trillion in just a few years. And one former Wall Street analysts predicts it could hand you 5,300% profits â thanks to one little-known stock. Thatâs because this tiny firm holds over 200 patents on an AI breakthrough... One that will be in 70% of cars, 80% of hospitals, and 94% of corporations. To discover the details... [Simply click here.]( Domestic terrorism is another option. Bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, itâs all on the table â especially since the Wagner mercenaries are among the best trained soldiers Russia has to offer. And thatâs to say nothing of standard Russian grunts, who are being proffered up as cannon fodder for Ukrainian artillery on a daily basis, or the broader public that is increasingly weary of this war and the body count and economic sanctions that itâs wrought. As Iâve said in the past, this is not a popular war inside of Russia. On the contrary, itâs extremely unpopular. It's just not easy to see that through the depths of Kremlin censorship. Anti-war protests were quelled quickly and violently early on. In the wake of the Wagner rebellion, even conservative hard-line criticisms are now being suppressed. But Russia is failing, and, like Prigozhinâs fate, itâs plain to everyone. Many observers have been critical of the sluggishness of the belabored Ukrainian counteroffensive these past few months, but the Russian counteroffensive came and went without anyone even noticing this past spring. And while the heavily fortified front line has been tough sledding for the Ukrainians, theyâre continuing to chip away with a steady supply of Western weapons â F-16s from Denmark and the Netherlands the latest. Meanwhile, Russiaâs so desperate to boost its stagnant economy and claim Pyrrhic victories that itâs busied itself by bombing grain ports. That will certainly subdue the worldâs poor and hungry, but it wonât do much to mitigate Ukrainian artillery and drone attacks [targeting Moscow]( and [Crimea](. No doubt, progress has been slow for Ukraine, but itâs coming... and thatâs more than you can say for Russia. URGENT: Look at This Map of America... [TWA EV Payouts after map] Thereâs a silent invasion happening. Those black dots you see are electric vehicle charging stations â but theyâre not like any chargers youâve seen before. Because every one of those units could soon be putting money directly into your bank account... Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. [Click here to discover what may be the biggest income opportunity of your lifetime.]( So while the immediate mainstream analysis is that Prigozhinâs killing makes Putin stronger, that this is him reasserting control⦠I donât see it that way. To me, itâs just another symptom of Russiaâs dysfunction and a testament to Putinâs own failure, not his strength. Prigozhin headed one of Russiaâs most capable military units â the only group of soldiers thatâs taken any significant territory in the past year and the muscle behind Russiaâs covert actions in Africa. Now heâs dead, and the fate of Wagner as a whole is up in the air. Worse than that, Prigozhin has been made a martyr. His military success and willingness to stand up to the Kremlin made him an extremely popular figure not just within Wagner but also among rank-and-file soldiers and the Russian people. Killing him wonât win the war in Ukraine or prevent an outright loss. If anything, it makes the former less likely and the latter more plausible. Indeed, a year from now, we could be looking back at this event as the moment Putin really lost control. And it may be his plane that mysteriously gets shot out of the sky. In the meantime, this war is destined to drag on, bringing a battalion of blank checks for military spending along with it. [So sign up for Secret Stock Files if you want to get the latest investments on advanced military tech.]( Fight on, [Jason Simpkins Signature] Jason Simpkins [follow basic]([@OCSimpkins on Twitter]( Jason Simpkins is Assistant Managing Editor of the Outsider Club and Investment Director of Wall Street's Proving Ground, a financial advisory focused on security companies and defense contractors. For more on Jason, check out his editor's [page](. Want to hear more from Jason? [Sign up to receive emails directly from him]( ranging from market commentaries to opportunities that he has his eye on. *Follow Outsider Club on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. Follow the Outsiders [Twitter]( | [Facebook]( | [LinkedIn]( | [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. You can manage your subscription and get our privacy policy [here](. Outsider Club, Copyright © Outsider Club LLC, 3 E Read Street Baltimore, MD 21202. Please note: It is not our intention to send email to anyone who doesn't want it. If you're not sure why you're getting this e-letter, or no longer wish to receive it, get more info [here]( including our privacy policy and information on how to manage your subscription. If you are interested in our other publications, please call our customer service team at [1-855-496-0830](tel:/18554960830).