He dies and the next guy gives a secret speech about what a bad dude he was?
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Coming soon to an America near you!
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I’m actually curious too. I expect him to win again of course, but at some point in the future he really will be old. Does he have a successor in mind or will there be mad chaos?
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I am interested in ideas of Putin, and want subscribe to newsletter
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I’d have an easier time swallowing our fearless dictator if they were at least half as bright as Putin… unfortunately we seem to be going more in the direction of puppet presidents we used to force on OTHER countries after “bringing democracy” to them.
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I’m not entirely sure that answers the question of what Russia and the world look like with an 85 year old Putin holding on to power in Russia with 750 billion dollars in the bank
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No, because it was a history joke… 
But to answer your question - I’d guess that that Russia would look pretty destitute for anyone who doesn’t brown nose to Putin and his lackkeys. I’d guess that he gets even more paranoid as he ages, and begins a Stalinist set of purges which causes a major wave of refugees for people who can get out. Perhaps by then he’s not only infirm, but suffering from dementia or some such, and the country is actually being run either by whoever is wife is or by his closest advisers, and you get a situation like you just had down in Zimbabwe with Mugabe, his wife, and the form VP/now president. Either way, Russia is bankrupt and been exploited by Putin and his cronies for so long, that the country is entirely impoverished, full of unrest, crime, various black and grey markets, deeply socially dominated by the Orthodox church, with little to no economic activities that aren’t related to either the church, the few extractive industries (if their oil doesn’t dry up), and those black/grey markets that people have to turn to for any sort of daily welfare. I suspect that the situation would be much bleaker than it was prior to the end of the Soviet Union/communist bloc (at least in the Soviet Union - Albania was a fucking disaster, and maybe 20 years on, Russia will look more like that than the end of the SU).
I guess there is some precedent for despots aging, hoarding wealth, bankrupting their country, and leaving it much worse off than it was before.
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Gosh, I hope he wins.
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Not even close. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who was because he is still surprisingly very unknown to anyone outside of history buffs or trivia geeks. Never mind. Look up Mansa Musa.
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I think that’s the classic formula, for sure. But the scope of money he has and will have at his disposal is unprecedented, and if he succeeds with a concerted effort in AI or something like it, I’m not sure we’ll have ever seen what may come next. As much as we can’t imagine what will happen beyond certain event horizons in relatively stable and predictable places like the US, that I think that uncertainty gets multiplied a hundred-fold when it comes to someone like Putin and someplace like Russia.
Well, to be fair, being potentially the second richest person in the history of the world is, in fact, pretty close to being the richest person in the history of the world.
ETA: to avoid the rabbit hole of “well, this guy’s net worth was actually larger when adjusted to inflation…” I think we can all agree that Putin is likely among the extremely short list of richest people to ever have lived, and the fact that he also controls enough nuclear weapons to destroy a good part of the world and an entire industrial base will make for some interesting times.
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I hear Robert Mugabe needs something to do.
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I’m sure there’ll be some sort of crisis that necessities the suspension or amendment of the constitution…
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“accidentally brutally stabbed himself in the stomach while shaving”
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this sort of trivia.
Thanks @frauenfelder for taking the time to append “of Russia” to the end. Specificity is important in these trying times.
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The calendar didn’t sell well enough for him to quit his day job?
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“Fell down an elavator shaft. Onto a bunch of bullets.”
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Heed the lesson of Rasputin, and be doubly sure.
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Putin actually got divorced in 2014. His two daughters seem to want to avoid association with him, one of them having changed her last name to that of her maternal grandmother’s, and the other staying out of public view entirely. Not much a family man. And aside from vague gossip about various mistresses, no indication that this is going to change.
On the other hand, he does go around releasing videos like this, even though gay propaganda is outlawed in Russia:
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Yes, which is why I said whoever his wife is, meaning in the future, or indicated that it could be an associate.
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