Just curious: What do people think the odds are of Russia utterly collapsing when Putin dies? He's spent decades arranging Russia as being incapable of functioning without him leading it, after all, and his successor will not have the same kind of influence he does. Wouldn't be the first country that had been ruled by a dictator for decades that fell apart when the dictator died; see also Tito and Yugoslavia.
"If you are ever asking yourself 'Is Trump lying or is he stupid?', the answer is most likely C: All of the Above" - Seth Meyers
I don't predict a full collapse; it has enough industry and resources to keep limping along after Putin's out of power and could - maybe - work itself back up to a quasi respectable regional power if they give up on antagonizing literally every other country within arm's reach. If Putin's not elected out, and dies in office, I can see a massive shitshow happening to find a successor, though.
I doubt Putin dying would change much. Might hasten Russia getting out of Ukraine, should that war still be going at that point, but I doubt him dying would have much affect on whether Russia collapses or not. Putin came from nowhere, and I'm sure there are plenty of people like him around the corner.
"If you are ever asking yourself 'Is Trump lying or is he stupid?', the answer is most likely C: All of the Above" - Seth Meyers
It depends. If someone with enough weight behind them steps into his position, the structure that Putin has made use of could be enough to hold it together. The nightmare scenario would be if nobody has enough momentum behind them to step into that position and you have a group of wannabe Putins all consolidating their positions in small parts of Russia. The end result could be a whole bunch of small states with physical access to nuclear weapons (even if they can't properly use or maintain them).
It could get pretty ugly. Because I don't think Putin has given a moments thought to how the "handover" of power is going to look. He doesn't care if Russia burns to the ground once he's gone.
The plus side of all that is that Russia will never again be a threat to the eastern part of Europe, who'll probably join NATO pretty quickly to avoid troubles from any of those small parts of Russia seeking to expand their borders. But China might start gobbling up parts of what is currently eastern Russia, and who knows how that plays out.
Probably won't be a fun time whatever happens, for Russia itself or the rest of the world. That kind of uncertainty and conflict never is.
When challenging a Kzin, a simple scream of rage is sufficient. You scream and you leap.
Originally Posted by George CarlinOriginally Posted by Douglas Adams
Yugoslavia was a multicultural country in a way Russia really isn't.
Russians are the ethnic and cultural majority in most regions of Russia proper outside of some exceptions near the Caucasus in the south, I can't really see the state collapsing for the reasons as Yugoslavia.
Did pootie pre-record his speech at 1 in the morning, because the audience looked half asleep and really struggling to stay awake, even with the threat of open windows.
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/...135031808?s=20
Putin ASMR- so soothing, he fell asleep - forever.
I don't know that Putin doesn't care for what comes after him.
If he didn't care about the future of Russia he wouldn't be so fiercely fighting to keep its sphere of influence alive while his health deteriorates. He already has absolute power in Russia, if he only cared about himself he could live out the rest of his days in comfort and peace.
He wants a legacy, the glory of the USSR restored. That requires it doesn't all burn down the moment he falls over.
It ignores such insignificant forces as time, entropy, and death
Usual pootie rent-a-crowd. Plus, like with the orange cheeto, a few token minorities tossed in for the appearance of inclusivity, rather than the raging racists they actually are.
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So, while Biden was in Kyiv, russia tried to test their new Sarmat ICBM, you know, the one they keep threatening London with.
Tried is the word though, because it failed.
Maybe they need some viagra for their performance issues. Oh, wait, apparently sales of viagra have been banned to russia now as well.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...27e991b6e35a26
Hmm..
Another suicide, I guess something about being around Putin makes people want to kill themselves afterwards.