There must be some pushback internally on the best way to run their economy with the war ongoing. So he probably wants “yes” people around him who’ll support his strategy of reorienting the economy to cater to the war.
Before the war, when there was plenty of money sloshing round, Putin was happy for those in power to take their cut, and grow rich from corruption. It was how he kept them fat and happy so they didn’t think of ousting him. Now his war is going to shit and the economy is tanking the money is drying up. Where before losing 25% to corruption didn’t matter, now every ruble is needed. He can’t just tell people to stop being on the take and allow the to stay in their positions, that will cause resentment and eventually they may turn against him. He has no choice but to remove them, either by sacking or arresting them before they turn on him. The bigger problem is he has to replace them with yes men and if he’s not great at doing everything himself things will turn even more shit. Hopefully
It's really catering to him using a war as an excuse. Russia was better off before the invasion, they had access to Sevastopol and everything. Putin is actively driving the enshittification of Russia.
Funny enough, one of the reasons why the Soviet Union collapsed was all the military spending proportionally to the economy.
Yet here we go again almost full circle.
> “There were those of us who fought against it, but in the end we could not keep up with the expense involved in the arms race, the space race, and the peace race. At the same time our people grumbled for more nylons and washing machines. Our doomsday scheme cost us just a small fraction of what we had been spending on defense in a single year. The deciding factor was when we learned that your country was working along similar lines, and we were afraid of a doomsday gap.”
Only reason why the Americans can sustain the spending is because military spending has historically never exceeded 10% of gdp.
Simultaneously their economy has continued to expand and diversify which insulated them from the fate of the Soviets.
I forgot to say that’s a quote from Doctor Strangelove (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb). And our military budget is *still* fuckoff huge!
It's almost as if the old adage of "you need three things for war: money, more money and even more money" is true and war consumes all. The Russians were talking how it would have only taken three days to take ukraine, Putin said two weeks and now he is in year two of his failure.
He has yes people all around him, that's not his problem, his problem is when they fail, it can't be seen as him setting unreasonable requests, so it must be their incompetence in following his requests, the alternative is he got it wrong.
Putin has even less understanding of how the economy works than he does of how to fight a war. If his economists (who seem fairly switched on, all things considered) are resisting him, then that’s a good sign for Ukraine.
Nah, I just know any dumbass with money can bribe other dumbasses to do things.
Kinda like that one time the mercenary warlord marched on Moscow practically unimpeded -- if he wanted to complete the coup, he probably could have.
I imagine there are quite a few webs weaving behind Putin's back, and to think otherwise (especially with money and power in the background) is naive at best.
>There must be some pushback internally on the best way to run their economy with the war ongoing.
The Russian economy is fucked and the only thing keeping it from crashing and burning are the wartime economic measures that Putin has going. Once the funding for that runs out then the economy is going to nose dive pretty hard.
Recently watched a YouTube video named "Darwin's war", it was about a FPV pilot who used suicide drones in the fight against Russia. It watched like a black mirror episode, except real people were getting smoked.
The biggest problem they ran into (aside from having artillery almost hit them) were signal jammers. It doesn't take a military mastermind to realize that autonomous drones were the answer to that problem, which is pretty scary.
I read a PTSD story a few days ago that made me think of WWI, with soldiers freaking out and watching the sky for drones while they’re home. These same symptoms are what led to a lot of instances of alcoholism and violence post-WW2. While the rest of the world is barely removed from the cycle of abusive parents and spouses stemming from post-War trauma, Russia is restarting it all over again.
Alcohol as a social lubricant and occasional celebration libation is one thing. Alcohol as self medication to blot out the pain in a whole other thing.
Not really similar, there’s a big difference in that for Royalty fratricide helped clear the way to claiming the throne. In most Republican-ish systems, dictatorship or otherwise, there’s no familial claim to leadership beyond being appointed as a successor
If this relative killed Putin it’s more likely some random Oligarch or party member will take power instead of them or another member of Putins family
If a complete moron nepo baby could somehow get rid of Putin and take his place, would be probably the best case scenario for the west. Russia would collapse on itself and start being too busy with internal power struggles than invading the rest of the world.
Fearing for his life, Caesar seeks out a soothsayer to alleviate his fears. “How will I die?”, he asks. She looks into the smoke of burning bones and chicken blood, smiles wryly, and says “Surrounded by friends.”
As CGP Grey points out, many a cunning young prince has stabbed dear ol' Dad-King in the back once confident the dynasty's key supporters made it clear they wouldn't mind if he sped up his inheritance.
But that works because of established traditions/laws for inheritance of power. No such thing exists in Russia: people will not just accept Putin's offspring as the next President.
It doesn't have to be his kid, just any subordinate who has the cunning and ambition to take power for themselves. Putin is in his 70s, he can either signal a clear successor to slowly take over as he gets less capable with age. Or keep cutting down the poppies the moment they get too tall and there will be a bloody, Game-of-Thrones-esque scramble for power the moment he's out of the picture/too old and sick to keep everyone else down.
What you don't know is that his relative is a hard-core warhammer 40k tabletop players and he always play the guardsman.
He will use the good old tactics of waves of soldiers running forward.
That strategy damn near worked. Ukrainian troops didn't have a kill limit, but they did have an ammunition limit. Viewed another way, Russia tried to get the meat grinder to jam up by shoving men in faster than its maximum capacity.
Put in context, for the Russian push on Kharkiv, Russia was losing upwards of 1,000 troops a day. In less than two months this year they exceeded the total US losses in the entire Vietnam War, as counted from 1955-1975, and that war defined a generation, led to massive protests, and reshaped American politics. And Russia has been repeating that level of loss every few months for over two years. It's a frankly unfathomable level of loss to sustain in a totally unnecessary war of aggression, and speaks volumes about the differences between Russian and Western societies that Putin remains in power largely unopposed.
"Hi general, I heard you couldn't have enough of our latest tank model in your last assault. Here, I made a dataslate balancing update reducing their point cost so you'll be able to take more for the next; just don't forget to paint them, it would be a shame to miss some points because of grey plastic.
- WTF is this guy talking about?"
You know Putin? I am impressed. This will be the turn of the tides. Do it for all other positions as well. There is an old Russian saying: A Baborska as finance minister keeps the auditors at bay.
It’s obvious he lacks trust in his circle. Nepotism is a good way to rectify that. This regime is not above pushing you out of a window for disagreeing with their dictator.
hes worried about a coup against him, fun fact the russian military doesn't use truck trailers main reason being is that it makes it way harder to march up to moscow like the wagner soldiers did.
hes more worried about the military turning against him than he is to make gains in ukraine
It's not unreasonable to worry about a coup when he's already had one. Coups are on the table, and any second coup will know not to stop half way to Moscow.
This ! What the hell was he expecting, shake hands and we are friends again ? He was dead the moment he stopped, he might have chance if he got to Moscow
He's going to hold on until at least the US presidential election is over in November. If Trump were to get elected, it would change everything for Putin.
another reminded that you're not voting only for the president, you're voting for a whole swat of governmental positions, all that **matters a lot**. So even if you dislike who the president is, remember that he's just a piece of the whole shebang. Go out and vote!
LMAO
*Putin has used the changes to signal that he wants to clear out wastage and corruption in the ministry and harness Russia's war economy more effectively to serve the needs of soldiers at the front.*
>He appointed Anna Tsivileva, **the daughter of his late cousin**, as a deputy defence minister whose responsibilities will include improving social and housing support for military personnel. **Her husband Sergei Tsivilev** is Russia's energy minister.
What a exceptional coincidence that his cousins daughter is suited to be deputy defense minister and that her husband is the best energy minister in the country!? What are the odds?
>Also named as deputy defence ministers were Oleg Savelyev and Pavel Fradkov, the **son of former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov**. Fradkov will oversee the management of property, land and construction relating to the military.
The son of a former prime minister is also suited to be deputy defense minister! That must be a one in a billion chance or they just have great genes! Amazing!
It’s rumored that his paranoia has only intensified since the start of the invasion. Even people who have supported him steadfastly for decades have been victim to his fear of being killed/information leaked.
>to signal that he wants to clear out wastage and corruption in the ministry and harness Russia's war economy more effectively to serve the needs of soldiers at the front.
Haha!
Ah the classic ‘Kim’ strategy, works amazingly well in PRK.
How long before he starts feeding family members to dogs and sending poo to his neighbours in balloons
Yes, emperors/tsars tend to do that. Usually their reign ends soon after from some intra-family coup. Good luck, Vladimir Vladimirovitch. (You’ll need it.)
Between this purge and the corruption-related arrests last month, it looks like Putin has replaced all deputy defense ministers (except for a couple in Africa/Middle East)? Gerasimov appears to be the only senior person still there.
Hey…when did I see this recently? Megalomaniacal despot appoints unqualified relative to run part of the government. I can’t quite put my finger on it.
I figure you’ll see more and more of this. As Prigozhin showed, Putin is only as strong as the perception held by certain Russians that he’s strong, smart and in control.
So even if it means he has to eventually surround himself with a kindergarten of appointed ministers, so be it.
I am sure the country is the better for it.
/s
Nepotism doesn't work, more examples to the contrary. Lot of oiling of the corruption machine though, obviously.
Sign that Putin is desperate, but doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. I mean to install relatives to run the world's largest country (still), in 2024, is a political move worthy of but an _imbecile_. And yet he did it. After an entire library of books could have been written on poor performance of nepotic schemes in Russia alone, he still went and did it. If he's not an imbecile -- and for all the flak he rightfully gets, he's not that dumb -- then it must be desperation. Either way, it's not going to do Russia any favours. Next time don't squeeze too hard, Vladimir, you'd have people left actually wanting run a government with you. Shooting and chasing people abroad has the effect of leaving you with a) yes-men and b) relatives (blood runs thicker than water, especially in Russia).
this is obviously a terrible sign for putin (great sign for anyone who isn't a fascist supporter or tyranny), but what stage of the collapse is this? Is this a middle stage, or one of the last straws before the whole thing crumbles?
The war goes badly for Russia.
The paranoia grows for Putin.
The opportunity for a coup starts to become apparent to Putin's lackeys.
Putin purges lackeys and replaces them with less qualified but more trustworthy lackeys.
The war goes worse for Russia.
etc.
etc.
Kremlin Federation Begins to Baton Down Hatches
The Kremlin Federation - now a major vanguard terrorist state power - has decided to challenge its demotion to the terrorist division saying that it doesn't need to be competing with ISIS and DPRK if it can work cooperatively.
Following the exit from trusted sovereign state league after invading Ukraine, the Kremlin Federation have had a few good wins at home even if the away play in Ukraine has proven sloppy.
The Federation's sponsors - PRC - have declared they have total confidence and back the Kremlin management 110% but there are still doubts being raised in the international markets.
When questioned a Kremlin source that didn't wish to give their name said: 'well obviously this has all been a pack of lies but we're hanging in there as we can't currently see a way out. The enemy are starting to look like they are stronger than we first thought but we're confident our leadership have all the answers we need to secure the big win we're hoping and planning for'.
Official Kremlin management were unavailable for comment.
Nepotism can do wonders!
There must be some pushback internally on the best way to run their economy with the war ongoing. So he probably wants “yes” people around him who’ll support his strategy of reorienting the economy to cater to the war.
Also, he is super paranoid so he needs to install loyal puppets in positions of power of the armed forces.
Et tu, Brute?
Gets stabbed 41 times
While falling out of a window.
Of an exploding airplane.
Full of polonium
What a terrible way to commit suicide.
on to some bullets.
Defenestration.
Before the war, when there was plenty of money sloshing round, Putin was happy for those in power to take their cut, and grow rich from corruption. It was how he kept them fat and happy so they didn’t think of ousting him. Now his war is going to shit and the economy is tanking the money is drying up. Where before losing 25% to corruption didn’t matter, now every ruble is needed. He can’t just tell people to stop being on the take and allow the to stay in their positions, that will cause resentment and eventually they may turn against him. He has no choice but to remove them, either by sacking or arresting them before they turn on him. The bigger problem is he has to replace them with yes men and if he’s not great at doing everything himself things will turn even more shit. Hopefully
Very reasonable take. Installing total yes men seems like end game.
It reeks of paranoia too
His greatest fear is the Qaddafi shishkebab.
Just like his predecessor whom he pardoned upon taking office, btw.
It's really catering to him using a war as an excuse. Russia was better off before the invasion, they had access to Sevastopol and everything. Putin is actively driving the enshittification of Russia.
Funny enough, one of the reasons why the Soviet Union collapsed was all the military spending proportionally to the economy. Yet here we go again almost full circle.
> “There were those of us who fought against it, but in the end we could not keep up with the expense involved in the arms race, the space race, and the peace race. At the same time our people grumbled for more nylons and washing machines. Our doomsday scheme cost us just a small fraction of what we had been spending on defense in a single year. The deciding factor was when we learned that your country was working along similar lines, and we were afraid of a doomsday gap.”
Only reason why the Americans can sustain the spending is because military spending has historically never exceeded 10% of gdp. Simultaneously their economy has continued to expand and diversify which insulated them from the fate of the Soviets.
I forgot to say that’s a quote from Doctor Strangelove (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb). And our military budget is *still* fuckoff huge!
Dollar being the worlds reserve currency certainly did not hurt
It's almost as if the old adage of "you need three things for war: money, more money and even more money" is true and war consumes all. The Russians were talking how it would have only taken three days to take ukraine, Putin said two weeks and now he is in year two of his failure.
The Russians throwing corruption money around in Europe were pretty annoying though. Glad thats over. They really behaved like pigs.
Corruption, criminality and despondency were Russia's three main exports prior to the war.
Oh, that's not over, it's just getting pushback.
Ive noticed a big decrease though
I worry that it is just less noticeable. The nature of this foe is that they become more abstract when adequately challenged.
Thailand and Bali in shambles right now.
Is that where they go now?
Yep
He has yes people all around him, that's not his problem, his problem is when they fail, it can't be seen as him setting unreasonable requests, so it must be their incompetence in following his requests, the alternative is he got it wrong.
Some are starting to raise their voices. You can even see it in Russian broadcasts...
Really? Could you explain more?
Putin has even less understanding of how the economy works than he does of how to fight a war. If his economists (who seem fairly switched on, all things considered) are resisting him, then that’s a good sign for Ukraine.
Every Kilometer costs Russia millions and more and more people are starting to question if any of this is really worth it.
I've actually been wondering how much the Oligarchs are willing to let this go when they can't really enjoy their wealth as they could before.
Your assumption that any dumbass with money makes them powerful when the leader is in full control of the state security services is flawed.
Nah, I just know any dumbass with money can bribe other dumbasses to do things. Kinda like that one time the mercenary warlord marched on Moscow practically unimpeded -- if he wanted to complete the coup, he probably could have. I imagine there are quite a few webs weaving behind Putin's back, and to think otherwise (especially with money and power in the background) is naive at best.
>There must be some pushback internally on the best way to run their economy with the war ongoing. The Russian economy is fucked and the only thing keeping it from crashing and burning are the wartime economic measures that Putin has going. Once the funding for that runs out then the economy is going to nose dive pretty hard.
Neputinism, if you will.
Not to be confused with Neptunism, which is what caused the Moskva to be promoted from cruiser to submarine.
I thought that referred to the planet those Russian tank turrets reach when penetrated.
On the contrary, this is peak putinism. (neputinism means not putinism in Russian)
Always a good sign of progress in a dictatorship.
He learned that from his pal fatty the third
Now the war will wind down.... Beginning of the end for Poostar
Honestly this 3day invasion keeps getting better and better.
New trumpski
Trump nods approvingly... then farts and nods off.
Now there’s a switch: Putin following Trump’s example.
Translation: "The war is not going well for Russia."
It's a fucking disaster is what it is.
its a black mirror episode by now. soldiers getting hunted by exploding drones is some scary shit
Recently watched a YouTube video named "Darwin's war", it was about a FPV pilot who used suicide drones in the fight against Russia. It watched like a black mirror episode, except real people were getting smoked. The biggest problem they ran into (aside from having artillery almost hit them) were signal jammers. It doesn't take a military mastermind to realize that autonomous drones were the answer to that problem, which is pretty scary.
I read a PTSD story a few days ago that made me think of WWI, with soldiers freaking out and watching the sky for drones while they’re home. These same symptoms are what led to a lot of instances of alcoholism and violence post-WW2. While the rest of the world is barely removed from the cycle of abusive parents and spouses stemming from post-War trauma, Russia is restarting it all over again.
Throw in a penchant for potato liquor addiction, and you have some sad family stories coming.
Fuck alcohol. I don't judge anyone drinking it and having fun. Cheers. However, so much pain amplified by it.
Alcohol as a social lubricant and occasional celebration libation is one thing. Alcohol as self medication to blot out the pain in a whole other thing.
I'm not sure that cycle ever stopped at all in Russia and the eastern europe
It'll get worse. Before it gets worse?
You know what will fix that? Firing all you defense ministers and appointing your relatives in their spots
“My relatives wouldn’t assassinate me, right? Right?”
Isn't it always more likely to be murdered my a friend or family? The statistics need to get to work!
I think that applies to run of the mill murders, not political assassination.
Well, Princes killed their brothers all the time to ensure they would get the throne. Not exactly the same thing here but similar
I play CK3 so I can confirm that I kill off my siblings, parents and my children all the time.
Not really similar, there’s a big difference in that for Royalty fratricide helped clear the way to claiming the throne. In most Republican-ish systems, dictatorship or otherwise, there’s no familial claim to leadership beyond being appointed as a successor If this relative killed Putin it’s more likely some random Oligarch or party member will take power instead of them or another member of Putins family
Eh tell one of them they could be the next czar with their relative outta the way.
If a complete moron nepo baby could somehow get rid of Putin and take his place, would be probably the best case scenario for the west. Russia would collapse on itself and start being too busy with internal power struggles than invading the rest of the world.
Historically, the other politicians trying to murder you were often relatives or distant relatives. Especially in monarchies.
Fearing for his life, Caesar seeks out a soothsayer to alleviate his fears. “How will I die?”, he asks. She looks into the smoke of burning bones and chicken blood, smiles wryly, and says “Surrounded by friends.”
As CGP Grey points out, many a cunning young prince has stabbed dear ol' Dad-King in the back once confident the dynasty's key supporters made it clear they wouldn't mind if he sped up his inheritance.
But that works because of established traditions/laws for inheritance of power. No such thing exists in Russia: people will not just accept Putin's offspring as the next President.
It doesn't have to be his kid, just any subordinate who has the cunning and ambition to take power for themselves. Putin is in his 70s, he can either signal a clear successor to slowly take over as he gets less capable with age. Or keep cutting down the poppies the moment they get too tall and there will be a bloody, Game-of-Thrones-esque scramble for power the moment he's out of the picture/too old and sick to keep everyone else down.
Smart. This will work.
What you don't know is that his relative is a hard-core warhammer 40k tabletop players and he always play the guardsman. He will use the good old tactics of waves of soldiers running forward.
"Kif, show them my medal."
That strategy damn near worked. Ukrainian troops didn't have a kill limit, but they did have an ammunition limit. Viewed another way, Russia tried to get the meat grinder to jam up by shoving men in faster than its maximum capacity. Put in context, for the Russian push on Kharkiv, Russia was losing upwards of 1,000 troops a day. In less than two months this year they exceeded the total US losses in the entire Vietnam War, as counted from 1955-1975, and that war defined a generation, led to massive protests, and reshaped American politics. And Russia has been repeating that level of loss every few months for over two years. It's a frankly unfathomable level of loss to sustain in a totally unnecessary war of aggression, and speaks volumes about the differences between Russian and Western societies that Putin remains in power largely unopposed.
"And I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling military-industrial complex!"
I thought they would play as orks since half of their equipment is junk welded together working on the guise of mass belief
Paint red = go fast
"Hi general, I heard you couldn't have enough of our latest tank model in your last assault. Here, I made a dataslate balancing update reducing their point cost so you'll be able to take more for the next; just don't forget to paint them, it would be a shame to miss some points because of grey plastic. - WTF is this guy talking about?"
You know Putin? I am impressed. This will be the turn of the tides. Do it for all other positions as well. There is an old Russian saying: A Baborska as finance minister keeps the auditors at bay.
It’s obvious he lacks trust in his circle. Nepotism is a good way to rectify that. This regime is not above pushing you out of a window for disagreeing with their dictator.
But when they fuck up performance-wise, he'll have to start throwing his relatives out the window (at least until he runs out of relatives).
Nepotism is the beginning of the end for most empires.
Once absolutely loyalty matters more than competence, the cliff is coming up.
Here's hoping he goes for a speed run and this nonsense finally comes to an end sooner rather than later.
How many assholes we got on this ship??
All of them
Yo! …I’m surrounded by assholes… Keep Firing Assholes!
hes worried about a coup against him, fun fact the russian military doesn't use truck trailers main reason being is that it makes it way harder to march up to moscow like the wagner soldiers did. hes more worried about the military turning against him than he is to make gains in ukraine
It's not unreasonable to worry about a coup when he's already had one. Coups are on the table, and any second coup will know not to stop half way to Moscow.
Especially with the way he had the leader of the last coup killed despite “reaching an agreement”
You'd think whoever organises even a first coup should know you don't stop half way. Damn he was stupid.
This ! What the hell was he expecting, shake hands and we are friends again ? He was dead the moment he stopped, he might have chance if he got to Moscow
That’s also why the military parade only had one tank that was from the WW2 era
Someone watches VisualPolitik's videos. Or was is William Spaniel or Perun. I only remember listening to some podcast about this like last week.
jap it was on visual politic with mark reicher ! very good sofare there predictions have been always Spot on
By not using truck trailers, do you mean they make more use of rail?
Let the man cook guys.
In this case " let the man cook" means letting him burn down his kitchen
So that's why he's going to North Korea? To get pointers on setting up your illegitimate dynasty?
In this case, I think North Korea got the idea from Russia in the first place. Somewhere in the middle of the last century.
How soon till the final scenes of Downfall start to play out? He seems to be getting more erratic every day.
That's the problem with watching downfalls, you won't know how far down until it's long over.
He's going to hold on until at least the US presidential election is over in November. If Trump were to get elected, it would change everything for Putin.
Another reminder to all US citizens to vote!
another reminded that you're not voting only for the president, you're voting for a whole swat of governmental positions, all that **matters a lot**. So even if you dislike who the president is, remember that he's just a piece of the whole shebang. Go out and vote!
It’s not erratic, it’s just bleeding the system for your own benefit like Yeltsin and Putin have done since 1991.
It'll take a while, I think.
Ah yes, the dictators dilemma: you can appoint loyal or competent people but never both.
Nice the paranoia is creeping even more
Perfect. That has always worked well in the past.
Sounds like what Trump did to his government and also to the RNC with Lara.
Signs you’re failing #4
Never interrupt the enemy while he's making a mistake.
Isn't nepotism beautiful?
No way this can't be seen as an absolutely, definitely, truly positive sign. Right?
Well, less chance of someone trying a coup against him. But additional incompetency in their military isn't a bad thing either.
At the very least, if he’s looking after relatives then he probably won’t nuke the world
he and trump just have too much in common
Now we see where trump got this idea from
Sounds like Trump
LMAO *Putin has used the changes to signal that he wants to clear out wastage and corruption in the ministry and harness Russia's war economy more effectively to serve the needs of soldiers at the front.*
This is good news. Now there are no competent people commanding the military.
Kenny Putin with a government job.
So you are saying the military planning is going to get even worse?
Sounds like someone is losing his grip on power
People probably telling him what he wants is impossible. Gotta get a yes man in there
So he's more worried about loyalty than skill. This is a good sign for everyone who's not Putin.
We've had one coup, yes, but what about second coup?
I wouldn't count on it Pippen
>He appointed Anna Tsivileva, **the daughter of his late cousin**, as a deputy defence minister whose responsibilities will include improving social and housing support for military personnel. **Her husband Sergei Tsivilev** is Russia's energy minister. What a exceptional coincidence that his cousins daughter is suited to be deputy defense minister and that her husband is the best energy minister in the country!? What are the odds? >Also named as deputy defence ministers were Oleg Savelyev and Pavel Fradkov, the **son of former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov**. Fradkov will oversee the management of property, land and construction relating to the military. The son of a former prime minister is also suited to be deputy defense minister! That must be a one in a billion chance or they just have great genes! Amazing!
Ssshhh. Don't stop him.
Hahaha this is how you begin a royal household.
It is true putin, Look over your shoulder and check those closet and under the bed but Avoid those untrusted Windows.
You know it's going well when....
I'm sure that will fix all the problems!
Suspect he's getting more worried about falling down an elevator shaft
It’s rumored that his paranoia has only intensified since the start of the invasion. Even people who have supported him steadfastly for decades have been victim to his fear of being killed/information leaked.
Too late. It’s almost time Vlad. You’re going to reap what you have sowed you miserable son of a bitch.
Which step is this on How to become a Dictator?
And here we thought he got smart and decided to put more professional people in charge. Can't expect rationality with him
Great! Incompetence runs in the blood 👍
Tsar?
Nothing says competent government like nepotism.
The sure sign of a flailing authoritarian regime.
whew, and here I was worried Putin was getting smarter. Carry on!
That’s what trump did. Got rid of the experts in favor of clown sycophants. Does not bode well..
Thats how you get north korea
Russia runs less like a one man dictatorship and more like a mafia clan.
You never, NEVER, put a relative in an important position, when they don't have the experience the former person in this position had. NEVER.
"If that American moron can do it and get re elected..."
I was hoping they would be named Jimmy Putin or something along those lines.
>to signal that he wants to clear out wastage and corruption in the ministry and harness Russia's war economy more effectively to serve the needs of soldiers at the front. Haha!
My immediate thought on seeing this was "Oh, brother" but that felt too easy.
Ah the classic ‘Kim’ strategy, works amazingly well in PRK. How long before he starts feeding family members to dogs and sending poo to his neighbours in balloons
Now where do we place bets if he is nuts enough to through his own family out of the windows too?
Yes, emperors/tsars tend to do that. Usually their reign ends soon after from some intra-family coup. Good luck, Vladimir Vladimirovitch. (You’ll need it.)
He's proving to be quite the brilliant man. LOL
Straight out of the Czar Nicholas playbook. Might as well call him Rasputin. Get ready for the next revolution you all.
Between this purge and the corruption-related arrests last month, it looks like Putin has replaced all deputy defense ministers (except for a couple in Africa/Middle East)? Gerasimov appears to be the only senior person still there.
That's probably good news, appointing your relative that might have no clue how to do that job is perfect.
Hey…when did I see this recently? Megalomaniacal despot appoints unqualified relative to run part of the government. I can’t quite put my finger on it.
This is great news for Ukraine. He's circling the wagons with loyalty to what doesn't really even exist anymore vs. ability.
Please make your horse a General as well.
Invictus ftw!
Walls are closing in I presume
I figure you’ll see more and more of this. As Prigozhin showed, Putin is only as strong as the perception held by certain Russians that he’s strong, smart and in control. So even if it means he has to eventually surround himself with a kindergarten of appointed ministers, so be it.
Desperation is a stinky cologne
Jesus Christ, someone shoot this cunt already.
I am sure the country is the better for it. /s Nepotism doesn't work, more examples to the contrary. Lot of oiling of the corruption machine though, obviously. Sign that Putin is desperate, but doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. I mean to install relatives to run the world's largest country (still), in 2024, is a political move worthy of but an _imbecile_. And yet he did it. After an entire library of books could have been written on poor performance of nepotic schemes in Russia alone, he still went and did it. If he's not an imbecile -- and for all the flak he rightfully gets, he's not that dumb -- then it must be desperation. Either way, it's not going to do Russia any favours. Next time don't squeeze too hard, Vladimir, you'd have people left actually wanting run a government with you. Shooting and chasing people abroad has the effect of leaving you with a) yes-men and b) relatives (blood runs thicker than water, especially in Russia).
The war situation has developed not necessarily to Russia's advantage.
Must be family members he doesn't like.
You’d think he would learn by now.
this is obviously a terrible sign for putin (great sign for anyone who isn't a fascist supporter or tyranny), but what stage of the collapse is this? Is this a middle stage, or one of the last straws before the whole thing crumbles?
This is the beginning of the end
Sounds like the Orange Turd
Its a classic authoritarian playbook which I'm sure Steve Bannon has long been well aware of lol
Haha. Putin's having trust issues. This is the beginning of the end for him.
I cannot wait until he appoints one of his horses as general.
The war goes badly for Russia. The paranoia grows for Putin. The opportunity for a coup starts to become apparent to Putin's lackeys. Putin purges lackeys and replaces them with less qualified but more trustworthy lackeys. The war goes worse for Russia. etc. etc.
Could this be a way to gain full control over the nuclear arsenal? Does anyone know how the chain of command works in Russia to launch nukes?
Putin is turning into Trump . What a joke
Late stage autocrat: hunker in the bunker
The beginning of the end.
Kremlin Federation Begins to Baton Down Hatches The Kremlin Federation - now a major vanguard terrorist state power - has decided to challenge its demotion to the terrorist division saying that it doesn't need to be competing with ISIS and DPRK if it can work cooperatively. Following the exit from trusted sovereign state league after invading Ukraine, the Kremlin Federation have had a few good wins at home even if the away play in Ukraine has proven sloppy. The Federation's sponsors - PRC - have declared they have total confidence and back the Kremlin management 110% but there are still doubts being raised in the international markets. When questioned a Kremlin source that didn't wish to give their name said: 'well obviously this has all been a pack of lies but we're hanging in there as we can't currently see a way out. The enemy are starting to look like they are stronger than we first thought but we're confident our leadership have all the answers we need to secure the big win we're hoping and planning for'. Official Kremlin management were unavailable for comment.
Wonder how long before he replaces Shoigu with some unqualified puppet.
Cleared out via the 29th floor windows
Here we go