Yes, but political support is also in the equation. Stalin might have been able to keep this up forever, since his power was based on ideology and fear. Putin's power is based on greed and fear, and he's actively encouraged political apathy, so once people start personally hurting I have trouble imagining him sticking around for long.

(Meanwhile, the West is so ideological it doesn't even know it's ideological, so it's all down to a stupid election on our end)

Also Russia can just print Rubel. It hurts the economy long term, but Putin does not care.

A good point. It's a subtle difference, but so far he's resisted making any cuts. He's spent on the war on one side and handouts on the other, and just taken the resulting inflationary pressure. If he keeps that pattern up it will be hyperinflation that marks the end of his capabilities.

[–] MrMakabar@slrpnk.net 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sorry to be so negative, but people being angry, still requires them to be organized and work on overthrowing Putin. Unfortunately Putin killed all opposition leaders.

This makes Putin falling more likely, but it needs a spark of hope and that will be hard to find in Russia.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 months ago

I don't expect a popular revolution, more like a series of coups. Right now it doesn't happen, because Putin is still preferable to instability for the Russian elites. Once that's no longer true, I'd think any kleptocrat would be in danger.

In a way, that's actually more negative than what you said. I suppose he could just give up on the war, too, but Kamil Galeev says that's politically impossible and he's actually Russian, while I'm just a vaguely international Westerner.