‘There is profound disappointment in him’: mood in Russia turns against Putin

While you’re right that these things happen over time, there are often sudden watershed moments where the change becomes much more obvious than before, and those can precipitate more sudden actions to follow. Not everything is a slow forever burn with slovenly people like me yawning on the sidelines crying “borrring!”

that attracts garbage articles and clickbaits.

So it is clickbait. I understand that it’s our fault for being filthy numbskulls who want quick solutions. But we agree it is clickbait.

Give it a year

Yes

Given the huge civil war after, yeah, it did.

Which one? There were a couple.

True, but sometimes it works out OK, as it did in Romania.

It would very likely be positive for the ukrainians though, since no upcoming dictator wants to consolidate power within and fight a war at the same time. Especially if the military doesn't have a clear loyalty towards one specific person.

This just means he will fall out of a higher window than most.

they could actually win the war in a couple of months but they intentionally chose to make it last because it boosts their gdp.

It is literally a cope. That probably applies two years ago when businesses had to increase wages to attract more workers, as many people were sent to the frontlines. Of course, ordinary workers are all to happy with the increased income. But now, the Russian economy is overheating and with rising inflation and businesses closing because of increased expenditures, this negates the increased wages of workers. Russians are gradually opening up more to express frustration because of worsening cost of living crisis and heightened censorship. Putin's approval ratings have been slipping faster than witnessed before.

Victor Orban is gone at least. It's kind of amazing they just voted him out of office, like he was a problem, and so they got rid of them. I suspect the rest are going to need something a little more forceful though than the disapprovement of a populous

Why did you list Xi? He made China a global superpower, and nowadays China is even leading in some technological areas like Battery Technology. Putin and Trump are killing their countries, whereas Xi does the opposite.

To my mind, Russia is just ahead of the curve — it’s a country that underwent wholesale collapse in the 90’s and was ultimately stabilized by Putin and his oligarchs molding the ruins of the Soviet empire to their benefit.

Now the US is teetering on collapse as well, with dollar hegemony drawing to an end and global financial markets in some kind of a hissy fit to reshuffle wealth before the music stops for the AI bubble (and ultimately the real economy crumbling from climate destabilization).

Elon Musk soon becoming a trillionaire is the fourth horseman of the capitalist apocalypse. I have very little faith in the reasoning of anybody who cannot see that a failed car salesman and notorious lunatic being the richest person in the world – by a wide margin – is a sign of an economic system that is profoundly unwell.

Sadly, I think Trump and Putin may be previews for what’s to come when the oligarchs of world use the chaos to impose a new economic order, based on AI surveillance and severe policing of those not ”loyal” to the nebulous interests of the government(s). To my mind, it’s unlikely to be harmonious or pleasant to those in the ever expanding, bottom rung of societies like that.

I agree, he's likely done everything he could to make sure people don't figure out a way to get rid of him. I'm definitely not saying he was a passive participant in the phenomenon. He's been there for a long time now. I'm just saying he's more of a symptom of the greater cause that is the sick fucking thing called russian culture. Getting rid of putin alone won't fix things any more than getting rid of trump in the US will there.

It was about the ex-minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu.

This particular rumor is quite dubious, however. He no longer has much political power, if any at all, or resources after his demotion, so it doesn't make a lot of sense. The rumor was questioned not only by the original article (as far as I remember) but also by the experts and russian opposition.

The part about Putin worrying about his safety, however, feels accurate.