Let me tell you of a socialist kleptocracy in Eastern Europe and how it ended:
Romania
Romania was ruled by the socialist dictator Nicolai Ceausescu. An unassuming mediocre man, with neither intelligence nor charisma, who had somehow managed to become the totalitarian ruler of a country.
Socialist Romania was a rich country in theory, with ores, timber, oil, and a huge agrarian sector. However most of that was sold abroad to finance the country's expenses. The general population was able to get by, at least in the beginning. However, Romania was ruled by a brutal kleptocracy that sucked the country dry. Any civil disobedience was put down with UTMOST brutality by the secret police, the "Securitate".
The economy declined. Food became scarce. The people in the countryside could still somehow provide for themselves, but the people in the cities faced hunger on a daily basis.
The only way the Romanians really could vent their frustrations was in cynical and vulgar political jokes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_Revolution
It began on a Saturday...
There was an outspoken pastor. The regime reacted by issuing a command that he would be transferred to another parish at the other end of the country. But the villagers staged a protest and prevented the police from taking him with them. The regime reacted by sending in special forces to put down the protest... with baronets. Many protesters were stabbed to death then and there.
On Sunday, even more and even bigger protests happened in nearby Timisoara, the second-largest city of Romania. This was no longer about the pastor. This was about all the frustrations built up inside them. The regime assembled everyone they could and they used live ammunition against protesters, but the unrest had begun.
On Monday, the entire city of Timisoara was put on lock-down. 800 protesters had been arrested and were to be put on trial.
On Tuesday, the protests again anew, but this time non-violent, by workers simply refusing to go to work.
On Wednesday, a new protest was held in Timisoara, tens of thousands of people strong. The soldiers did not dare to provoke such a huge crowd and stood down.
On Thursday, a huge public speech by Ceausescu was organized. He was to speak from the balcony on his palace and address the current situation. A crowd 110,000 people strong was listening.
But instead of promising better living-conditions and more civil-rights, Ceausescu gave a boiler-plate speech with the usual Stalinist tripe. The crowd became unruly and started chants of "Timisoara", demanding that he address the protests there. It is unknown what exactly happened next, but the chanting crowd somehow erupted into full-fledged violent revolution.
Here is the interesting part:
Faced with an uprising, nobody stood with Ceausescu. Every single one of his kleptocratic cronies and bootlickers abandoned him, one by one. The police, the army... there were brutal gunfights, but many of them defected to the protesters or simply stood down.
With Ceausescu's power gone, all of the loyalty of his cronies was sucked out from them. Ceausescu tried to flee but was eventually caught and arrested.
What I am trying to say is:
As soon as Putin's power over Russia weakens, the backstabbing will begin.
Putin's cronies are only in it for the money and the power. They obey Putin because obeying Putin guarantees money and power.
As soon as the bootlickers come to the realization that Putin's continued rule is a threat to their money and their power, they will abandon him without a second of hesitation.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I really hope this is the time they finish him off, because I'm damn sick and tired of this guy. I'm damn tired of the shit he's done to our country and others. He's as bad as Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini. It has to be the job of the Russian people to get rid of him. Pootie has skewed the system so bad that he can't be voted out. There needs to be a coup, and somebody close to him will finally finish him off.
It won't be us, and it won't the Ukrainians either. The Russian people have to do it.
We all should pray for peace. Even if you don't believe, your prayers still have meaning.
