Every nafoid should light a candle and say a little prayer every day for Putin’s continuing good health. Or maybe a little dance.
Putin’s main political advantage is that he has a lot of street cred for rebuilding the Russian economy almost from scratch. He can get away with so much restraint because, literally, “trust me, bro.” A new guy in office wouldn’t have any street cred, so would be under immense pressure to take the gloves off. And I don’t mean by bombing Ukraine more. Let’s face it, no one cares about Ukrainians. The problem is that Europeans have gotten too comfortable fighting opponents who politely stay on their side of the board. That needs to change.
I think almost everyone outside his immediate circle is tired of endless unreciprocated reconciliation attempts with the USA and western countries.
Muscovites tend to be more liberal than the average Russian, so western journalists can have a misleading impression of public opinion if they never leave their little urban echo chamber.
There just isn’t much justification for restraint anymore, especially after the US military’s embarrassing performance against Iran.
Ian Kummer
I now have a new YouTube channel that I will use to upload videos from my travels around Russia. Expect new content there soon. Please give me a follow here.
Also feel free to connect with me on Quora (I sometimes share unique articles there).
