Putin stays predictable, we have that going for us.
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The lie is not supposed to be believed. The lie is told so you have to debase yourself to either shut up about the lie or publicly acknowledge the lie. While Russia is less totalitarian than North Korea – in Russia, at least, you are mostly allowed to shut up – these lies are out there because they are lies.
When the Belarusian dissident was hijacked and had to denounce himself on national television, no one thought the retraction was genuine – that would defeat the purpose – the point was to make him tell a public lie so whoever else might think about saying something against the regime will be warned that they too can be made to lie and debase and humiliate themselves.
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I agree fully, my point wasn’t about the lie though, but the implicit threat behind it. The fact is that you don’t challenge the official line, unless you’re interested in finding out about that sudden stop at the bottom, or how nerve agents taste…
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Then the time has come for you to take the last step. You must love Big Brother. It is not enough to obey him: you must love him.
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I think that’s why I style Russia as merely authoritarian and the PRC, too, mostly, is that you can probably get away with merely shutting up. Not so in North Korea, or Maoist-era PRC, or the Khmer Rouge, or Mar-a-Lago – you had to triumph the lie loudly.
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Sometimes the best comment is “no comment.”
What happened speaks for itself, wink wink, say no more.
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I like to call it “Implausible deniability.” After all, if you don’t know that he was killed and why, said killing won’t have any deterrent effect. But other causes are just theoretically possible enough for Putin (or MBS or other autocrats) to escape consequences.
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Could be, but the oligarchs surely know what fate befalls anyone who seriously threatens Putin…
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I do believe that it’s possible that he wasn’t thrown. BUT I bet that he could have been ‘convinced’ to do it as a deal - especially considering his family is still alive.
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Captain Renault: By the way, last night you evinced an interest in Señor Ugarte.
Victor Laszlo: Yes.
Captain Renault: I believe you have a message for him?
Victor Laszlo: Nothing important, but may I speak to him now?
Major Heinrich Strasser: You would find the conversation a trifle one-sided. Señor Ugarte is dead.
Captain Renault:: I am making out the report now. We haven’t quite decided yet whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.
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All doubt was removed when his widow received the final hospital bill which included a “window opening charge” line item from the Ministry of Defenestration.
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I first when with “Russian Window Cancer!” And should have just left it there, but Instead I started thinking about how what happened to Mike Pence is almost the equivalent.
Politicians know that violence can happen to them. The people who commit the violence might be punished, but the people who ORDERED the violence have not been held responsible.
Until that happens, it will keep coming.
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He accidently fell backwards onto the spire of Norwich Cathedral. Happens all the time.
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On the bright side, Moscow high-rise properties are probably selling at bargain prices these days.
Yeah, but reinforced plexiglass windows ain’t cheap.
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Good people on both sides.
… of the window.
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They’re coming for Putin, and it’s going to get worse. Maybe even intercontinentally worse, because Putin badger does not give a fuck.
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It just keeps happening with those Russian windows
" In late December 2020, Alexander “Sasha” Kagansky, a top Russian scientist reportedly working on a COVID-19 vaccine at the time, was found dead with a stab wound after falling from his high-rise apartment in St. Petersburg.
According to Russian outlet Fontanka, the suspect, a childhood friend of Kagansky, told police that Kagansky stabbed himself then jumped to his death."
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