There have been reports of two oligarchs and their families, including children, being brutally murdered over the last few days. The Russians are saying murder/suicide. Uh huh.
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Imagine how precarious your position might feel if you were costing huge monetary losses to all of the most powerful people around you who are necessary to keeping you in power. And also imagine how a developing military defeat from your major miscalculation might cause you to want to have a taster sipping first from every new glass of water that is put in front of you.
The stakes are high…and so are the consequences of failure, no matter how rich you are.
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The thing is those isolation and security rumors started much earlier than this invasion. Reporting has linked to/assumed it had to do with COVID.
But one wonders given the way health claims cropped up later.
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True enough, but it doesn’t change the current dynamics. For myself, there is no bank account large enough, or power significant enough, to make me want to worry about the people around me trying to kill me to take it from me. It doesn’t ever look worth it to me. Seems like it would kind of wear you down and take the fun out of the whole megalomania thing.
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He is certaimly not well. Now is the question if nature will take it course first, or if somebody from his inner circle will “retire” him.
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I imagine that anyone who runs a brutal authoritarian regime that regularly employs assassination against his critics and political rivals is going to be justifiably paranoid. I sure would hate spending my life wondering which members of my inner circle might be next to try putting a knife in my back (or polonium in my tea) but he definitely brought this upon himself.
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In Russia they only have 2 sized conference room tables way to long and not long enough
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Certainly true for Stalin. At his dacha he had short curtains that nobody could hide behind, high-backed bulletproof sofas, uncarpeted floors that were harder to sneak around on, and the whole building was painted green to blend into the surrounding forest.
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Yeah, my BFFs mom has it… looks similar. She’s also miserable. 
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It would help any diagnosis if he would take the rigorous ‘Person, woman, man, camera, TV’ test.
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Did he bump into an umbrella ?
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Probably not that. Unlike the stereotype of Russian politicians, Putin is known to be not much of a drinker.
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Normally I’d say I don’t wish parkinsons on anyone but in this case I’ll just say if he has it I guess it’s fortunate for him that it’s a slow killer…
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Or if he lost a battle of wits and poisoned himself
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Unfortunately nuclear.
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Interesting thing with Sochi.
It’s right up on the boarder with Abkhazia, the Russian backed break away state in western Georgia.
The choice to hold the winter Olympics there in 2014, despite it not having a climate suited to winter sports. Was widely viewed as an attempt to validate Russian involvement in the area, and potentially pave the way for annexing the two break away states after Russia’s invasion in 2008.
A lot of the messaging and press around the games involved presenting Georgian culture as “Russian”. Georgian foods, wine, music and even literary and historical figures presented as deeply traditional Russian things. Part of “Southern Russian” day to day life. Often things that weren’t even from anywhere near by or familiar to people in Sochi.
It was all very “there is no Ukraine” and it was picked up pretty much immediately by international press who weren’t previously familiar with Georgian culture, especially the food stuff. Probably cause Georgian food is real good, so it made for some compelling fluff coverage.
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If it was an illness, would he accept the diagnosis, or slide off into paranoia?
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In the run-up to the invasion a popular rumor was that he was immunosuppressed and that that was why he was so worried about Covid.
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Not absolving him of anything, but impulsive decisions and gambling binges are a side effect of Parkinson’s medications. He’s been a conniving murderous sort his entire career, so it doesn’t explain all his behavior, but I wonder if it factors into his recent history.
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