Anne Applebaum

"This was the most remarkable aspect of the whole day: Nobody seemed to mind, particularly, that a brutal new warlord had arrived to replace the existing regime—not the security services, not the army, and not the general public"

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/putin-caught-in-his-own-trap/674524/

Russians Didn’t Care Enough to Save Putin

After spending years cultivating public apathy, the Russian president found his people indifferent to his fate.

The Atlantic
Jun 25, 2023 at 2:35pmWeb
Show threadJohn GordonJun 25, 2023
@anneapplebaum That is a great observation. Putin must be feeling the cold hand of Russian history …
Show threadAlexJun 25, 2023
@anneapplebaum Yeah, that’s exactly what struck me as well… you have an armed insurrection in your country and it’s more or less… business as usual? Tells us a lot how much the public has been numbed and is indifferent about what is happening.
Show threadBenjaminJun 25, 2023

@anneapplebaum I have two other big take-aways.

1. Reports are Putin fled Moscow. To the extent that he needs to look like a “strong man”, he now looks cowardly and impotent.

2. Wagner sure made an actual coup look easy. The next group considering one will be a little more confident.

Show threadgavinisdie Jun 25, 2023
@anneapplebaum what's sad is that Russians have never Experienced Any long term Freedom and the best they can hope for is a new Dictator that is ever so slightly less brutal
Show threadDarryl Collins 🚴🏻Jun 25, 2023
@anneapplebaum frightening to see Russian civilians lauding murderous fascists in the street.
Show threadzeemeerminJun 25, 2023
@anneapplebaum in other words, said warlord is gonne be dead in a month.
Show threadChristian SalcianuJun 25, 2023
@anneapplebaum No one says anything…. indeed (I mean the ones in power, though some people clap). They wait to see who wins and then they take the winner’s side. No courage at all. Not to mention that one is worse than the other. Why choose then? We will see the crumbling fall of this Babylon!
Show threadxs4me2Jun 25, 2023

@anneapplebaum

And that is what should worry Putin very much…

Show threadMikeJun 25, 2023
@anneapplebaum It didn't seem to me that anyone in the world would lift a finger to stop it
Show threadDr. B Learned HandJun 26, 2023
@anneapplebaum
In fact the RUSSIAN BYSTANDERS were merely recording a movie with their phones.
No one civilian lifted a finger on behalf of either side.
Some REVELOUTION
Show threadabs(in)theJun 26, 2023
@anneapplebaum insightful article, but Oh God how do you handle those replies - and that's just the public ones. (Obviously not expecting a reply or for this to even be read, but have to wonder if dealing with the responses to an article can end up stripping away more of your soul than reporting on the horror in the world)