I think most folks aren’t as keen on mass-murder suicide as we are?
Because we still have a lot to live for. We haven’t done all life has to offer. Putin owns a country and at this point he’s probably bored and he wants more. So, legacy or bust.
A lot of wealthy people commit suicide and do crazy things
Do you remember when Columbine happened, and everyone was so shocked?
I was just surprised it didn’t happen 10x a year.
We agree, there is no way Putin tosses in his resignation as part of any peace deal. If I gave you the impression I thought he might, then that’s on me.
My point is simply that Putin’s position is at a precarious point. The special operation is not going according to plan, for whatever reason. It’s not good. His basic deal, rising standards of living in exchange for freedoms and human rights may not hold given sanctions.
He will eventually no longer be the leader. He can either die in office or be eased on out by other power centers in Russia. But it is unlikely that the people of Russia will vote him out. It’s not the Russian way. The people have never had much of a voice in that regard. 300 years of Romanov rule followed by 60 odd years of Party rule, then Putin. Not much of a track record there. Russia will not become a liberal democracy in our lifetimes. The voices saying it’s a matter for the Russian people to decide are fools. It isn’t and never was.
I’m thinking he cuts a deal where he gets to keep what is likely a LOT of money and his life, and slips off into the sunset. The alternatives are not great. But it isn’t going to be part of any peace accord.
Well, those voices were Kremlin voices promoting the idea that they are a democracy. But, the democratic ideal still stands that a country should choose its own leader (assuming the leader doesn’t commit crimes against the international order).
And, assuming the current leader doesn’t jail or kill his political opponents.
I’ve read stuff that says that might have been the basic deal 20 years ago, but he soured on that. Now the deal is “Russian glory” earned by no freedoms and just enough bread to live. Suffering for the good of the motherland is a virtue.
They do continuous propaganda on the heroes who won the Great Patriotic War in spite of their immense suffering.
This happens to be the first article that came up when I Googled “WW2 in Russian Culture”
WW2 still occupies a prominent place in modern Russia. Why? - CSMonitor.com
I’ve read others like it in the last month.
“Victory Day is the only holiday on our calendar that does not attract any controversy,” says Mikhail Chernysh, an expert with the official Institute of Sociology in Moscow. “Almost every family carries the memory of someone they lost, and just about everyone supports the idea of public remembrance.”
Critics argue that the Kremlin leans so heavily on the war because the post-Soviet Russian state lacks great achievements and the democratic legitimacy that would confer unity, and hence stages events that bespeak a time of social consolidation, a great cause, and a stirring victory.
I remember reading last winter about Putin ramping up the WW2 connection. It included stuff like bumper stickers saying “We Can Do It Again”.
The US is the country that replaced Germany as “most likely to destroy Russia”.
I saw another article that said the US doesn’t understand Russia because we think money is more important than power. They think power is more important than money. US publications speculate on Putin’s wealth. He doesn’t care whether his name is on deeds or bank accounts. He knows he has the power to make “ownership” irrelevant.
“My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
That is my argument. The initial bargain is no more. Replacing it with nationalistic pride is hard to do if you fail in Ukraine. So how does this end well for The Butcher of Ukraine? He’s got to declare victory and get the sanctions lifted. But how?
And this is where the Biden gaffe comes into play. Send Vlad to pasture and we can get rid of those silly old economic things. Da, Comrade? ( btw, you do have to walk back the whole gaffe) next tyrant can save the day and clear the house of all the traitors. Easy peezy
Just speculation
An old joke to this seems appropriate.
The new Russian President sits at his new desk.. opening a drawer, he finds a note and two sealed envelopes. The note reads,: when get yourself into a bind, open the first envelop.
Time goes by, and then there is drought. Food shortages. The President opens the first envelope and it reads: blame whatever it is on your predecessors, and vow it will be corrected by your administration. If you get into trouble again, open the second envelope.
Time goes by, and workers across the country are demonstrating. The President opens the second envelope. It reads: take out two sheets paper and two envelopes…
Sorry, I saw the part about the bargain being for rising standards of living and missed the part about switching to Russian Glory.
Yep, I’d like to believe it’s hard to play the “Glory” card here. But, he’s set up to play “we stopped US aggression”, due to our brave troops. “Yep, some luxury consumer goods disappeared for a while. But we’re still eating, we’ve got warm houses which haven’t been destroyed. The Americans are waging all out economic warfare and we are courageously standing up to them. Our grandparents had it way harder than we do.”
“We chased the evil Nazis out of the parts of Ukraine where our Russian brothers live. We successfully tied down the US and Ukraine forces while we were doing that by feinting into the center of the country. Great victory at small cost.”
The people close to Putin know better. But, do their personal prospects get better with the high risk gamble of trying to move him out?
One pleasant note: The Russian FSB has a track record of using powerful poisons. In one case by putting it on a doorknob, in another using underpants. Putin must be thinking twice before he touches anything.
I thought Putin sold the war as a de-Nazification of the Ukraine and some noble cause, not to stop US aggression (which implied through the expansion of NATO seems to be the real reason). I think that switch is going to be as popular as going from a WMD eradication mission to a nation building exercise.
I am sure Putin is just creating fake propaganda Nazis that he is rounding up to declare victory in the stated mission, that doesn’t need to actually be true, so what does repeating a Biden gaffe get him? I have to think he people are about as interested in a war with the US as we are with them. But IANAR, so
In another universe if NATO went no further east than Germany I think it’s pretty optimistic to think Russia would have been more peace loving and left their neighbors alone.
Someone’s not happy on “Z” being a pro-Russian symbol:
I thought this was a good read. Russian view, individual is close to the Kremlin.
Some awful pictures over the weekend. Will this be the push Europe needs to actually embargo Russian energy? The Baltic states are leading the way (after the US)…
But continuous shocks will of course also mean that democracy in its present form in most European countries will not survive, because under circumstances of great tension, democracies always wither away or become autocratic. These changes are inevitable.
Consider Putin’s actions as ways to generate shocks for Europeans. 1 million Syrian refugees. Another 4 million Ukranians. Individual businesses taking big losses on the Russian investments. The need to expand military spending. Higher food prices. Have to find sources for natural gas and oil when most of the exporters are authoritarian states.
Russia laying the groundwork for more civilian massacres
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kremlin-editorial-ukraine-identity-1.6407921
It was most disturbing last night to watch “man in the street” interviews in Moscow where Russians wholeheartedly embraced the need to destroy the Ukrainians. The brainwashing is total.