This cynical attitude would condemn the OP to a mundane life rather than being poisoned by a dictator. Opposition politicans in dictatorships are brave... And arguably suicidal...
In some cases, it happened literally in a revolution. In other cases, it was because a popular figure was assassinated.
Since a revolution is impossible against a major military power, it's likely that the latter is one of the only ways to inspire popular action (other than total collapse of the economy, of course).
It already happened there in 1990. That time the collapse of the soviet economy was in part caused by economic sanctions for the war in Afghanistan in 1979-1989: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War This time the sanctions are for the war against Ukraine, which started in 2014: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War
One difference however, in 1985-1991 Russians were lucky to have a leader (Gorbachev) smart enough to not start a full-scale civil war when Moscow started to lose control, instead he managed to dissolve USSR with only moderate amount of bloodshed.
The bloodshed only happened in remote regions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Abkhazia_(1992%E2%80%93... The majority of population of modern Russia was unaffected. Probably for this reason Russians have not learned their lesson, elected Putin, and did nothing while he was transforming the country towards authoritarian dictatorship.
Many Russians would disagree with you [1]. And would you have appetite if you would be treated like the protesters are treated in Russia?
No, of course not! And that is exactly what I'm saying. I admire the bravery of people who stand up regardless.
You do not have to endorse his views, but they are at least clear and well-reasoned.
That's too bad.
> I'm an admirer of his bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.
Interesting. Are you consistent about that?
Consistent about admiring bravery in the face of overwhelming odds? I guess I'm about as consistent with that as most people are. It's not something I've given a lot of thought to. Why the inquisition? Is this a harmful sentiment somehow?