37 pointsby bazzmt5 hours ago18 comments
  • chistev4 hours ago
    I've heard this about a hundred times over the years.
    • JimBlackwood4 hours ago
      I think the same every time I read this, but at one point it has to give, right?

      Nothing is going well and economically the population is feeling it. I imagine this can’t go on much longer.

      • chistev4 hours ago
        >I think the same every time I read this, but at one point it has to give, right?

        If you repeat this same news every time, then you'll eventually be right, yes.

      • torben-friis4 hours ago
        Anecdotally, the people I know who recently visited Moscow and St Petersburg claim they're not seeing significant struggle, and definitely not the 'risk your life for violent revolution' type of issues.
        • victorbjorklund3 hours ago
          Because they are rich people who are in the rich parts of the richest cities. I’m sure if you walked the streets of Moscow in 1988 you wouldn’t see any significant struggle among the elite.
        • armada6514 hours ago
          Moscow and St Petersburg will be the absolute last places where you will see people struggle precisely because Putin knows it's important to keep those cities prosperous even if it's at the cost of people living outside of the major cities.
          • torben-friis4 hours ago
            Sure, but that's already 20% of population counting metro area. Add other well off areas, university towns, upper class in small towns, etc. and it doesn't seem to be looking super bad in the short term for them.
          • enoint3 hours ago
            The enlistment bonuses tell that story: from St Petersburg, you get 10x the bonus compared to Dagestan.
      • andrewinardeer2 hours ago
        Are you talking about Russia or USA?
      • Simulacra3 hours ago
        I don't think so. An oligarchy can hold on for generations, look at North Korea.
      • nutjob24 hours ago
        The Soviet Union, which was much worse, went on for a very long time. But it fell under similar circumstances, essentially bankrupted by a war in Afghanistan.

        It's not so much when the population feels it, rather the elites who prop Putin up.

    • timnetworks3 hours ago
      Me too. What I haven't heard until very recently is normal people either unafraid to say it, or afraid of the consequences of saying it less than the consequences of what is happening.

      They lost the plot, it's a little too late, but it's new.

    • cosmicgadget16 minutes ago
      Yes it's pretty clear the world gives the Russian people far more credit than it deserves.

      But there have been some clear cases of Putin's omniscience leaking - the "3-day war" failure, the milbloggers he's has to imprison, the rebellion and loss of Wagner, the inability to protect Syria and Iran, every oligarch he has to execute, 20% interest rates. These aren't the indicators of a firm grasp of power.

    • jemmyw3 hours ago
      The mistake that we seem to see repeatedly is blindness to adaptation. Russia's economy would have collapsed had the Russian government carried on exactly as things were before sanctions. No economy will really truly collapse while the people in it need an economy: they will make changes.

      At some point those changes might include stopping the war and getting rid of Putin.

      I don't think all commentators fall into this trap, but more thoughtful predictions get overwhelmed by those expousing more impactful ideas.

      It does seem that Putin has lost something recently, a grip on the hearts and minds of a subset of Russians that previously backed him come what may. The war has been quite static this year, Russia still losing a lot of men, and hardening domestic policy on Internet use. I doubt it's enough for violent protests.

      • thisislife23 hours ago
        I agree with you that war can easily become unpopular and turn people against their government. But is there any country, whose economy has been sanctioned by the foreigners and crippled by it, where the people then decided to overthrow their government? As far as I know my history, no. Foreign sanctions easily give every country an easy excuse to blame all economic problems on the foreigners. In every instance, they've actually united nations against their "common" enemy (i.e. the foreign sanctioner). They also provide an excuse to stifle criticism using state powers as any criticism on the government handling of the economy can be conveniently labelled as speaking the language of the "enemy" and / or supporting the "enemy".

        While I understand that the true purpose of sanctions is to weaken a country's military, sometimes I do wonder if it is a war crime as it also ends up effectively "punishing the people".

        • ch_sm3 hours ago
          Isn‘t Iran a good counter-example? Heavily sanctioned, huge uprisings.
          • thisislife2an hour ago
            No. While Iran is heavily sanctioned, the current "uprising" was foreign-instigated, and a poorly executed intelligence operation that tried to hijack what was otherwise a normal political protest (that is actually a usual occurrence in Iran, despite western media claims of "no democracy"). The hope was that just as in Ukraine, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, peaceful political protests could be transformed into violent ones through planted intelligence operatives in them, which would naturally force the government to use state violence to control it. Amidst a disinformation campaign, this would result in an escalation of violence from both sides, which could then be fanned further through foreign-controlled social media platforms to instigate young idiots to join the "mass" protest and foment a "revolution".

            The reason it succeeded in Ukraine and Bangladesh was because of a clear polity divide amongst the population, and huge local support from one of the political sides (including, very importantly, the army), which meant the double goal of (1) getting rid of an "unfriendly" government and (2) installing a "friendly" government could easily succeed. In Sri Lanka and Nepal, it has meant a regime change, but it isn't clear if whoever fomented the "revolution" - the west or the Chinese - have managed to get the desired "friendly" government. However, in all 4 cases, the so-called "revolution" has replaced experienced democratically elected leaders with inexperienced politicians at the helm (which is the second-best option you could hope for, if you can't install a puppet, as inexperienced leaders are more susceptible to political manipulations).

            In Iran, what went wrong with this "revolution" is that, first, there is no real local support for pro-west or pro-Israel polity. All those who remember the Shah's regime (when Iran was an ally of the west) and had fond perceptions of the west are now either old or dead. Most of Shah's political supporters were either purged or left with the Shah to the US (or elsewhere). The later, and current, generation has only grown up experiencing American and Israeli hostilities. Irrational western Islamophobia and Israeli-right's hostility to Islam also doesn't help. Along with an understanding of imperialistic history, they despise repeated western attempts of interference in their politics and thus, overall, have have no goodwill to either regimes. Thus, those hoping for a regime change and the installation of the Shah were always delusional that any hostility for the Ayatollah could be translated to support for the west and the Shah. (Moreover, the current "Shah" - the son of deposed Shah - who the west hope to install in power, chooses to stay in US or Europe and thus has no support or understanding of the domestic politics of Iran, and he largely perceived as a puppet of America and Israel amongst the local Iranians).

            Second, Trump and Netanyahu's regime underestimated the Ayatollah regime. They figured that just as in Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the government would somehow cave-in under the violent protests rather than opt to suppress the political violence because of the high death toll. Perhaps they might have partially caved-in, if not, for Trump's and Netanyahu's very public "appeal" to the Iranians to "seize the moment" and overthrow the government. This immediately made the Ayatollah regime resolute that the revolution was foreign-instigated, and gave it a public excuse to unleash State violence as an emergency measure (that any State would normally do when faced with a foreign backed insurgency) against protestors. And as Trump's regime claims, the "revolution really failed because the guns that were supposed to be distributed amongst disgruntled Iranians never reached them. Moreover, Iran, that has been surrounded by west and western allies, that has repeatedly sought to undermine it, has been studying western imperialism and destabilisation strategies for decades now. After seeing what happened in Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka (who were genuinely unprepared for an unexpected violent political protests, in their political planning), it probably already had a contingency in place for a similar situation that the west never anticipated.

            Also, if the Americans and Israelis had been more patient, and not immediately attacked Iran, the high death toll (around 3000 or so) of the Iranian protestors could have been used against the Ayotallah regime. The deaths (and arrests) had resulted in a rise of anger and hostility against the regime, which could have been tapped in by the local opposition (who have been demanding further reforms in Iran's pseudo-democracy). All that political potential has been forever lost now because of the rash decision to kill the Ayatollah (who is now considered a martyr, and even more revered) and invade Iran.

            Everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong, with the current political strategy against Iran ...

    • kingleopold4 hours ago
      right, journalist a just liars at this point, lol
  • 4 hours ago
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  • selivanovpan hour ago
    It's ironic that Economist keeps pushing this propaganda year after year, but it's UK that has worse and worse performing PM's, but every single one of them keep dreaming not about their own country and economy, but how to topple Putin.
    • cosmicgadget23 minutes ago
      Writing an article is not an attempt to depose someone.

      There are many, many articles on the front page of this publication that are not about Russia, so clearly "every single one of them" isn't even hyperbolically true.

      Writing an article about the problems of a foreign nation when your own nation has problems isn't - and has never been - ironic.

    • FlacksonFive27 minutes ago
      This article was written by a guest author, and The Economist has plenty negative to say about the current state of UK affairs.
  • OutOfHere2 hours ago
    The faster the world can go green, the faster Russia can collapse economically. It is the West that is holding this back by delaying global greenification. Imagine a world where the West was an exporter of green energy.

    The only other way I know to weaken Russia, if only temporarily, is by funding Ukrainian drones targeting its fuel infra.

  • lifestyleguru2 hours ago
    The more Russians are desperate the more coarse their propaganda is. Basically most nationalistic and even patriotic movements in Europe are fuelled by Russia, the closer to their borders the more it is true.
  • buran773 hours ago
    Age and health issues can erode someone's power. But news like this are a dime a dozen. They might be right but this is propaganda 101. Eventually the prediction comes true and the news outlet can pin a medal to their chest.

    Every once in a while they get to throw one about the enemy or any world leader out into the world and see if it sticks. Here's the Economist being super worried about Xi's grip on power [1].

    [1] https://www.economist.com/china/2025/07/20/xi-jinping-is-gro...

  • drakedrepar4 hours ago
    The article is paywalled
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  • rodwyersoftware4 hours ago
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  • 0dayman4 hours ago
    bullshit
  • doopnottagen4 hours ago
    I had this strange dream where Putin died of natural causes and Russia replaced him with a body double and AI to keep the war and world affairs running indefinitely as a continuous psyop.

    And then I woke up and wondered if it were true ;p

    • hiccuphippo3 hours ago
      In this hypothetical scenario, who gets to decide how the body double should act or what decisions he takes? And Why wouldn't they just take the power themselves?
      • apothegm2 hours ago
        The latter because as soon as it’s know Putin isn’t there a power vacuum is evident and a broader struggle for power ensues. Then whoever wins has to establish legitimacy.

        Whereas a few people in agreement about how to direct a widely-recognized figurehead can hang on to power indefinitely and without contention (the latter being potentially costly along many dimensions).

    • thunderbong4 hours ago
      This isn't Reddit
      • yepyoukno4 hours ago
        I don’t mean to encourage anyone though they are known to use body doubles, AI, and psyops.
    • black_134 hours ago
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