Russia’s elite begins to ponder a Putinless future
> The only way to stop the endless cycle of imperial nationalism, Mr Navalny argued, is for Russia to decentralise power and turn itself into a parliamentary republic.
I love a decentralised parliamentary republic as much as the next person, but to say that reduces the risk of imperial nationalism is madness. The reason to use decentralised parliamentary systems is because they are much more effective at picking, fighting and sustaining wars with a strong economy.
A very significant reason the world transitioned from British Empire to American Totally Not An Empire All These Military Bases Are Normal is because they are the most successful decentralised parliamentary systems.
Dictators win wars against smaller dictators, and sometimes manage to take out a rotten democracy that has overcentralised. But democracies are military beasts and totally compatible with imperial ambitions.
Russia’s elite begins to ponder the future after Democratic defeat in midterm elections...
Hurry up and make it happen then.
I mean, isn't Putin really just a puppet for those oligarchs? For them, the sole reason to replace Putin is to blame him for the war when it fails. Things will be probably the same with/without Putin (like when nothing really changed after Yeltsin got replaced by him).
Yay, propaganda! I sure love my cup of coffee and my slice of propaganda in a saturday morning.
And i begin to ponder a life of billionaire philanthropist. If they coulda they woulda
Putin is probably more pro-West than any of the likely alternatives. He spent a lot of his time in Germany before the Soviet Union collapsed.
The next guy is very likely to be more hard-line than Putin.
Be careful what you wish for.
This article is really bad and self defeating:
"This does not mean that Mr Putin is about to bow out, be overthrown or fire a nuclear weapon."
I don't like Putin as well, but there's no analysis in this article.
> But the mixture of his initial, if limited, military advances, the absence of an economic collapse in Russia, and early attempts at peace negotiations calmed nerves. (Heavy drinking may also have helped; it became so acute that Mr Putin started to complain in public about alcoholism.)
Aaaand that's the part where I can't take it seriously anymore. Reasoning with these kinds of stereotypes is just unprofessional.