Interesting (if true) - Economist is in the major leagues in terms of reliability. There is a "They", and it's probably the intelligence services. And the actual method would probably be less dignified than a hanging.

Not only is there a "they", but it says Putin is entirely self-aware about the situation, and that he understands that he is personally accountable for this war.

This isn't an optimistic post - frankly the grim truth has always seemed that this industrial murder festival will go on as long as he does. Russia of the last hundred years has been essentially a crime syndicate. To say he's a Tsar kind of misses the point - the REAL power is the intelligence servies, and the Tsar-proxy is kind of a figurehead.

If he said this, it's very telling. He knows the war is going badly, he knows his life is personally depenent on the outcome, he fears "they", he wants to live and he doesn't know what to do. Seems highly likely he'll conitnue to escalate until.....? Russian history suggests that when things don't go well, they purge the leader and put all the blame on him in retirement. Don't think Putin will get the "Kruschev Dacha Retirement" package - he's done WAY too much damage.

Hopefully "They" are paying attention too, and are getting tired of the lack of progress.

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[–] TwinkleToes@lemmy.ca 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Thanks for asking. My thoughts - the most telling thing about the Wagner rebellion is that while nobody joined him - nobody stopped him either. The intelligence services called up all the Wagner leadership and said we will kill all of your family in 24h if you don't stop now. You know - a good guys move. The strength and weakness of an authoritarian dictatorship oppressing fatalistic, cynical sheep citizens is that the people aren't particularly keen to die for you - they just want to know who's in charge.

Wagner would have been intentionally liquidated or relocated to Africa by now - they'd fulfilled their purpose. If I put on my Prighozin hat, he would have been better to hold Rostov and Belgorod hostage just as his leadership's families were. Not that Moscow gives a wet donkey fart about the citizens of Rostov and Belogorod, but - they need those cities to run their Donbas invasion and the logisticis to keep Crimea, and project power into the Mediterranean and Africa. Priggy was a dead man the second he turned his wheels east, but he would have lived longer had he not marched towards Moscow.

I think he realized too late that he had been used, and that all his undeserved wealth was going to be siphoned away.