From the article:
Putin's "power vertical" has been maintained by ruthlessly eliminating anyone remotely capable of being a rival...or a successor. His regime is a brutal autocracy. Without a strongman to take his place what exactly does survival of the regime even mean?
+1 (always charming to see our resident communist relentlessly plugging away for the vestiges of feudalism)
One can understand why this argument would be attractive to Foreign Affairs. Wishful thinking always gets an audience: people like to be told what they want to hear. Absent any prospects of a successful counter-offensive in Ukraine, the most likely scenario for Ukrainian victory is regime collapse in Russia.
From the article:
In contrast, Putin very quickly established strong control over rival elites after he came to power in 2000, restoring the âpower vertical.â He has been in charge for 24 years, and most analysts agree that the institutional foundations of the Putin regime are robust and it will likely survive the death of its founder.
Putin's "power vertical" has been maintained by ruthlessly eliminating anyone remotely capable of being a rival...or a successor. His regime is a brutal autocracy. Without a strongman to take his place what exactly does survival of the regime even mean?
One can understand why this argument would be attractive to Foreign Affairs. Wishful thinking always gets an audience: people like to be told what they want to hear. Absent any prospects of a successful counter-offensive in Ukraine, the most likely scenario for Ukrainian victory is regime collapse in Russia.
The Islamic State organization and its violent progeny, ISKP, have viewed Moscow as their enemy since the groupâs inception.
After four extremists stormed the Crocus City Hall, a music venue in Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of Moscow, with assault rifles and incendiary devices, the world was shocked as footage emerged of crowds fleeing the scene amid a hail of bullets and bodies. Confirming the carnage as its handiwork, Islamic State media outlets claimed the attack, and shortly after began to release gruesome body camera footage from the event. The video showed the perpetrators slaughtering civilians and, in some cases, mutilating the bodies as they made their way through the building.
For many, the March 22 attack against the concert hall was their first introduction to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). The most deadly terrorist attack against Russia in decades, the Islamic State organization and its violent progeny, ISKP, have viewed Moscow as their enemy since the groupâs inception. Russia has been an official enemy, and was mentioned during Abubakr al-Baghdadiâs declaration of the Caliphate in 2014 among the âcamp of the Jews, the crusaders, their alliesâ that are âall being led by America and Russia, and being mobilized by the Jews.â Since that time, the Kremlinâs intervention in Syria, its expanded private military company (PMC) operations across large swaths of Africa, strengthening relations with the Taliban, and a litany of other grievances that reach as far back as Russiaâs role in shaping the borders of the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire have come under its increasing focus.
for more see link above
Now imagine a world where Israel and the US had appropriate responses to these types of terrorists.
Might we all find unity to fight a common, clear enemy?
Showing those young people drawn to this extremism an alternative, peaceful way of life?
The Islamic State organization and its violent progeny, ISKP, have viewed Moscow as their enemy since the groupâs inception.
After four extremists stormed the Crocus City Hall, a music venue in Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of Moscow, with assault rifles and incendiary devices, the world was shocked as footage emerged of crowds fleeing the scene amid a hail of bullets and bodies. Confirming the carnage as its handiwork, Islamic State media outlets claimed the attack, and shortly after began to release gruesome body camera footage from the event. The video showed the perpetrators slaughtering civilians and, in some cases, mutilating the bodies as they made their way through the building.
For many, the March 22 attack against the concert hall was their first introduction to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). The most deadly terrorist attack against Russia in decades, the Islamic State organization and its violent progeny, ISKP, have viewed Moscow as their enemy since the groupâs inception. Russia has been an official enemy, and was mentioned during Abubakr al-Baghdadiâs declaration of the Caliphate in 2014 among the âcamp of the Jews, the crusaders, their alliesâ that are âall being led by America and Russia, and being mobilized by the Jews.â Since that time, the Kremlinâs intervention in Syria, its expanded private military company (PMC) operations across large swaths of Africa, strengthening relations with the Taliban, and a litany of other grievances that reach as far back as Russiaâs role in shaping the borders of the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire have come under its increasing focus.
Genocidal scheming on Russian state TV: Andrey Sidorov, Deputy Dean of world politics at the MSU urges Russia not to miss the right moment to cause a massive refugee crisis in Europe, exacerbating economic and political tensions by causing a massive influx of Ukrainian refugees. pic.twitter.com/c9UpavOXHQ
"Putin's empty threats are simply his expressions of panic every time we get close to a breakthrough. His words shouldn't scare us. He himself is scared that everyone will one day see the Emperor wears no clothes and has no intention of doing the things he warns us about." Landsbergis
Two things convince me things are moving in the right direction:
R_P keeps chanting for the end of sanctions and
Putin starts screaming "I'm going to go NUKLEAR!"
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, a major debate broke out over the contribution that the campaign of economic sanctions had made toward the fall of the Soviet empire. Many former officials in the Reagan administration credited sanctions with a significant role in the disintegration of the Soviet economy and therefore of the Soviet Union itself. On the other hand, the leading work on the effectiveness of economic sanctionsâHufbauer, Schott, and Elliott, Economic Sanctions Reconsidered (vol. 1, p. 137)âconcludes that although the United States did succeed in denying some arms and key technologies to the Soviets, the collapse stemmed from internal inefficiencies rather than U.S. economic sanctions.
It took decades of cold war sanctions to lead to the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin reignited the cold war; the west needs to recognise it and settle in for the long haul. Too bad the US republican party and right-wingers in Canada, Australia, etc. have gone from seeing commies under every bed (bad) to falling in line with Russia's disinformation (worse).
It took decades of cold war sanctions to lead to the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin reignited the cold war; the west needs to recognise it and settle in for the long haul. Too bad the US republican party and right-wingers in Canada, Australia, etc. have gone from seeing commies under every bed (bad) to falling in line with Russia's disinformation (worse).
