That's the kind of threat model at stake here. Another Putin emerging. And this one may be much less predictable.

If Satoshi were around, his opinion would carry weight. He's the spiritual leader and mysterious benefactor, the only person to have ever solved the byzantine generals problem with sybil resistance. If he spoke, people would listen more closely than to others.

In fact, people are resisting change mostly because they want to stick to satoshi's original vision. So he is speaking to us, in a way, by saying nothing. That's him communicating his vision to us, and us agreeing with it.

If he were still around, he might very well say "I only did that to ensure the network stayed healthy! We still have an endgame to think about! The miners will eventually run out of coins to mine, and it's in our interests to continue the status quo rather than degenerate into that world."

You can't thrown Putin in prison because he's not a resident of a country you control.

Likewise, you can't steal his money, even under the current system.

Can we present the argument without appealing to a fear of the evil Russian boogeymen?