Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Life must be unbearable in the occupied areas of Ukraine.

Literally a genocide of people and everything Ukrainian.

She's just spelt it out.

LOL... Thats a good one all right!!!! If Putin dies ( and die he will, and the sooner the better) and has not established his successor, then it will end in a very uncivil war between the Silovicki and Oligarchs ( and Kirills Orthodox private army ) But even if he establishes a successor, its quite possible that he could meet the same fate as what happened Boris Yeltsin after Putin took over the reins, so that's unlikely. He would like to die pleasantly in his bed, preferably.

A few words from a Bellingcat article ( https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/10/07/examining-videos-of-suspected-ukrainian-riflemen-in-sudan/ )

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"..... ‘Common Challenges’

This footage comes after reports of growing Ukrainian engagement with African states. On September 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s Transitional Council, at a stopover at Shannon airport in Ireland.

The two men discussed “common security challenges, namely the activities of illegal armed groups financed by Russia”, said Zelensky......"

Unfortunately, they are. But, of course, Russians think that they are smart critical thinkers, not like them dumb Americans, and that nothing is straightforward and everything is relative. Sure, they think, killing people is bad, but Ukrainians are not really proper people, and besides they started resisting when Russians only wanted to bring peace to Crimea and Donbass. Nobody should stand between a Russian and his desire to bring peace to a place he wants to subjugate.

The thing about any alternative presidential candidate going public ( as he would have to) and surviving is pretty slim in Putin's Russia. The only survival able candidate would have to be Putin approved, as part f a sham "opposition" to give the election the veneer of "Normal Democracy".

Putin is just a tip of an iceberg of the whole Kremlin kleptocratic mafia apparatus, one of many. The system is the problem, not the man. It's a mafia state, there's many gangsters who can run the gang available.

Remove Putin, another candidate will be put in place. There's a small chance that Kremlin factions would use the transition to purge some of the other factions and e.g. blame all military defeats on them. This could change the course of the war, but it's not guaranteed.

Indeed thinking that the Russian regime is about Putin is incorrect. It's common in Western European circles in countries which didn't have any experience with Russian invasions and/or occupations.

Some experts on Russia, including some dissident Russian emigrants, speak very depressive stuff about the posibility of any positive changes in Russia. Many of them say that successors of Putin could be much worse than him.

I'm not so sure about that...I understand where you are coming from, but from day 1, once Yeltsin handed over the reins of power ( and consigned himself to the dustbin of history, even though his term still had some time to run.) Putin made it clear that the New Boss had arrived, and was in charge. The first thing he did to consolidate his power, was to take out the most powerful of the Oligarchs, Khodorkovsky. He had him arrested and after a very public trial, and locked him up for 10 years ( ?? ) This had the desired effect, and when he called a meeting of the Oligarchs and informed them that either things would change, or they would find themselves sharing a cell with Khodorkovsky, they voted unanimously for change. There after, I believe that he built an organization around him, but he was the undisputed and unassailable boss, a position that he holds to the present day. Otherwise, I think that he would have been deposed when the negative financial effects of the war began to be felt by the Oligarchs / Silovicki. But Putin has built many layers of protection around himself. He's still king rat.

More than likely complacency more than anything gave away the medal ceremony, absolutely should not have happened where and when it did ,

If 50% of any population that had bank loans defaulted and refused to pay back it'd be very serious.

A quiet opposition and two fingers to the regime?

Perhaps they already were or left the country. 😄

It was the Silovicki that Putin used to tame the Oligarchs. They are all old friends from his KGB days, and form his main support. Still, the Oligarchs' are pretty powerful too. Hard to know who or what will remove him, in the end, could be just something as simple and unavoidable as Father Time, the old guy with the scythe.😎

The oligarchs are like local/regional gang leaders. Not enough power IMHO and they'll never be united. All the power lies in Kremlin with the KGB/Siloviki.

Regardless, his days are numbered, whether he dies naturally or by drinking polonium tea or falling out of the window...

Putin is an FSB puppet. If they decide he is no longer useful someone else will be installed. This idea that if only Putin leaves office a progressive will take over is woefully naive of how Russian is effectively a mafia state bigger than any one man