Josef Stalin died on March 5, 1953. The one immediate effect of that event was that the negotiators from North Korea and the People’s Republic of China in the peace talks at Panmunjom to end the Korean War suddenly became less intransigent in their demands.
Systems are very strong and resilient. Taking out Bin Laden did not end terrorism. Stalin dying did not end the corrupt Communist system. Trumpism would not end if trump went to jail. However, this country needs to see that stupid, sorry SOB held accountable for some of his many crimes.
TC, I am somewhat familiar with Russian history. Does social media, Navalnys... reaching many more Russians not make any difference? Are the vast majority of Russians so programmed that they are unreachable?
Lucian Truscott just posted this, which completely aligns with your article: "Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov claimed today that the hospital was a legitimate target because it was held by “local radical militias.” This was just after he claimed that “We didn't attack Ukraine in the first place." Lavrov was meeting with the Ukrainian foreign minister in Turkey, where they did not reach an agreement on a ceasefire or anything else. Asked by reporters what he meant, given the fact that Ukraine is under constant Russian bombardment, Lavrov said, "We just explained a lot of times that the situation has come that there was a direct threat to the safety and security of the Russian Federation."
The complicity of the inner circle and all those at the top of this mountain of you-know-what, that goes by the name Russia is so criminal and so vast, they're probably all salivating at the chance to jump into Putin's shoes, were he to "disappear" magically.
Before Russia was Russia, wasn't it just a collection of various tribes? I'm no Russian scholar, so I wonder how it merged these tribes into one gigantic authoritarian monster? And if centuries of authoritarianism has produced a populace content with being controlled and fed manure by "leaders," what would ever change that mindset?
It is always enlightening to see the history of a period laid out chronologically. Thank you for doing that. And the movie! I need to see that one again. I heard a really excellent presentation concerning the whole "debate" over a no-fly zone and why such a strategy would do little except likely give Putin a reason to lob a nuclear weapon somewhere. It had not occurred to me that to create a No-Fly zone there has to be a deliberate attack on land based systems that can bring planes down, and that means attacking such installations located in Russia and Belarus. Another person considering this likelihood suggested Putin's show of force would be the airport in Warsaw. An attack on NATO. Putin is a dictator with nowhere to go but down right now. The war has not gone his way. His silo has meant he has heard nothing but what he wanted to hear. He is so wed to the philosophy of Ivan Ilyan he can do nothing more than adhere to his vision - Ukraine is Russian and belongs to Russia. (and not just Ukraine) That there is a cadre that will continue is of course beyond depressing. The dead philosophers and current think tankers wedded to Russian Fascism are still there. We have some of that at work in the gop of the United States, a political party completely against Democracy and seeking the same kind of closed system that has made Putin one of the world's richest men. You are right. When one bad guy dies the other bad guys are still around trying to figure out how to take advantage of their opportunity. It is a deadly serious comedy for sure. Should he die today or tomorrow or whenever, the system could continue as it is. But it is also possible that because of Ukraine and because of the peoples of the world standing up to Putin's war, something unexpected could happen. From what I've read Putin had to attack Ukraine because to have a free and developing democracy on the border of Russia, that Russians could observe was just too much. What if they began to question why things seemed so much more open and hopeful in Ukraine as opposed to their place, however papered over with the glitz offered up by Western globalized businesses to the oligarchs? Not to mention all the jobs offered to the others to at least keep some kind of economic "peace". It seems important to me to recognize that at some level there is an interesting mirror reflection we all need to understand is present, and it presents an uncomfortable reflection of our own actions since the end of World War II, as well as our self-satisfied back claps when the USSR crashed around 1991. Our elected leadership are not too astute either. They too inhabit silos. We all need to know more history because there are lots of dots. Understanding some of the connections is really important.
TC , the folks who think offing Putin will effect a meaningful change in Russia are the same folks who support enforcing a No Fly Zone with NATO Forces won't convince the Bull Goose Lunatic in charge to start lashing out by throwing Nukes wherever possible.
TC, I agree with your analysis of the long-standing authoritarian system, and the foolishness of fantasied "solutions" available to the outside world. I would speculate that a "losing" endgame for Putin would unfortunately involve further dismemberment of bits of Crimea under Russian hegemony. Like Georgia and Armenia, Russian-run puppet states serve as gibbeted corpses to warn others of the cost of resistance. Moldova? Kazakhstan? Don't even try...
Systems are very strong and resilient. Taking out Bin Laden did not end terrorism. Stalin dying did not end the corrupt Communist system. Trumpism would not end if trump went to jail. However, this country needs to see that stupid, sorry SOB held accountable for some of his many crimes.
TC, I am somewhat familiar with Russian history. Does social media, Navalnys... reaching many more Russians not make any difference? Are the vast majority of Russians so programmed that they are unreachable?
Lucian Truscott just posted this, which completely aligns with your article: "Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov claimed today that the hospital was a legitimate target because it was held by “local radical militias.” This was just after he claimed that “We didn't attack Ukraine in the first place." Lavrov was meeting with the Ukrainian foreign minister in Turkey, where they did not reach an agreement on a ceasefire or anything else. Asked by reporters what he meant, given the fact that Ukraine is under constant Russian bombardment, Lavrov said, "We just explained a lot of times that the situation has come that there was a direct threat to the safety and security of the Russian Federation."
The complicity of the inner circle and all those at the top of this mountain of you-know-what, that goes by the name Russia is so criminal and so vast, they're probably all salivating at the chance to jump into Putin's shoes, were he to "disappear" magically.
Before Russia was Russia, wasn't it just a collection of various tribes? I'm no Russian scholar, so I wonder how it merged these tribes into one gigantic authoritarian monster? And if centuries of authoritarianism has produced a populace content with being controlled and fed manure by "leaders," what would ever change that mindset?
Totally agree —there are no easy solutions to the mess we’re in. These are the dark times.
It is always enlightening to see the history of a period laid out chronologically. Thank you for doing that. And the movie! I need to see that one again. I heard a really excellent presentation concerning the whole "debate" over a no-fly zone and why such a strategy would do little except likely give Putin a reason to lob a nuclear weapon somewhere. It had not occurred to me that to create a No-Fly zone there has to be a deliberate attack on land based systems that can bring planes down, and that means attacking such installations located in Russia and Belarus. Another person considering this likelihood suggested Putin's show of force would be the airport in Warsaw. An attack on NATO. Putin is a dictator with nowhere to go but down right now. The war has not gone his way. His silo has meant he has heard nothing but what he wanted to hear. He is so wed to the philosophy of Ivan Ilyan he can do nothing more than adhere to his vision - Ukraine is Russian and belongs to Russia. (and not just Ukraine) That there is a cadre that will continue is of course beyond depressing. The dead philosophers and current think tankers wedded to Russian Fascism are still there. We have some of that at work in the gop of the United States, a political party completely against Democracy and seeking the same kind of closed system that has made Putin one of the world's richest men. You are right. When one bad guy dies the other bad guys are still around trying to figure out how to take advantage of their opportunity. It is a deadly serious comedy for sure. Should he die today or tomorrow or whenever, the system could continue as it is. But it is also possible that because of Ukraine and because of the peoples of the world standing up to Putin's war, something unexpected could happen. From what I've read Putin had to attack Ukraine because to have a free and developing democracy on the border of Russia, that Russians could observe was just too much. What if they began to question why things seemed so much more open and hopeful in Ukraine as opposed to their place, however papered over with the glitz offered up by Western globalized businesses to the oligarchs? Not to mention all the jobs offered to the others to at least keep some kind of economic "peace". It seems important to me to recognize that at some level there is an interesting mirror reflection we all need to understand is present, and it presents an uncomfortable reflection of our own actions since the end of World War II, as well as our self-satisfied back claps when the USSR crashed around 1991. Our elected leadership are not too astute either. They too inhabit silos. We all need to know more history because there are lots of dots. Understanding some of the connections is really important.
TC , the folks who think offing Putin will effect a meaningful change in Russia are the same folks who support enforcing a No Fly Zone with NATO Forces won't convince the Bull Goose Lunatic in charge to start lashing out by throwing Nukes wherever possible.
TC, I agree with your analysis of the long-standing authoritarian system, and the foolishness of fantasied "solutions" available to the outside world. I would speculate that a "losing" endgame for Putin would unfortunately involve further dismemberment of bits of Crimea under Russian hegemony. Like Georgia and Armenia, Russian-run puppet states serve as gibbeted corpses to warn others of the cost of resistance. Moldova? Kazakhstan? Don't even try...