The possibility of a coup toppling Pooty & Co exists, but there may not be any power base that can seize and retain control. The biggest threat was the Russian military but after being savaged in Ukraine and humilated around the world, they're probably out of the running. It is one thing to break the current structure, it is quite a different thing to have the wherewithal to grab the wheel and drive. Any one of the kleptocrats just inherits the current situation made worse by their efforts to run the thing. None of them could get sanctions lifted or draw foreign capital back in. The Ukrainians definitely aren't going to give up and they're driving the Russians totally out of Ukraine would embolden other factions to revolt. Whether or not they could be successful is incidental, trying itself stresses the system more. So the chances of Russia as we know it collapsing are good but chaos breeds opportunity. Russians have spent the last thirty years seeing the rest of the world as it is instead of the crafted version the government fed them for most of a century. Instead of being some scary place full of people just waiting to attack Mother Russia, they've seen that for the most part it just rolls along and doesn't pay them much attention at all. They know what they lack that others take for granted. The younger generations want to be part of the world. They really prefer to have actual lives instead of just being held hostage for the chance to disrupt things elsewhere out of spite.
So what happens? I've been saying it forever, history is so damned unlikely, it's just shown us over and over again that the "experts" can only predict from the last data set, there is little or no vision in their opinions. The predictable thing rarely occurs and when it does, it meanders along finding it's own version of events. So I am all in on something unlikely, unpredictable and unbelieveable happening here.
I would love to see the women of Russia rise up and assume their birthright of having a say in their future. They are the sole demographic in Russia that could be cohesive enough to actually make things work, and the only one that could garner any outside support for their efforts. They are the one powerbase that could be seen with clean hands about all of Russia's baggage. They would instantly get the benefit of the doubt from other women's groups internationally just based on the sisterhood. Even one tiny glimmer of progress would be seized elsewhere by people desperate to believe in something better, and that could nudge it all forward. They could come in and do a lot right away that wouldn't cost a cent but would buy them some respectability internationally, like transparency about all the crap the previous regimes have done. Turn off the tap for all the efforts to destabilize the third world, and do it openly, that will get some attention. Genuinely open themselves to international aid, starting with the simple easy stuff like feeding children. This could change not only the future of Russia but literally the course of humankind.
But yeah, that would be so unlikely.......
Lawyers with supreme court business paid Clarence Thomas aide via Venmo https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/12/clarence-thomas-aide-venmo-payments-lawyers-supreme-court?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
