Re:Russians are trying to flee – data from Google Trends
by avar on Saturday March 05, 2022 @07:17PM
(#30573476)
One reason sanctions against Putin aren't harder than they are, is because those of us in western Europe are still taking the relative luxury of (in my case) typing this comment sitting inside wearing an t-shirt, instead of having to wear my skiing inside my apartment.
I.e. the current sanctions explicitly excluded natural gas etc. Russia supplies around 40% of the EU's gas, demand is around 2x as higher.
We could just wear coats, but we're not. We could also do something more about it, but we're not.
Putin's generals have over the years been carefully winnowed down to a bunch of spineless bastards, it's clear that near a dictator of such power you will not find any credible competition, those are either in jail or six feet under. Interesting side effect, that also means that the really competent people have left or have been pensioned off.
And yet, those that are left are the only people with a credible shot at this. And the world - and their country - would likely love them for it, assuming they would live. Let's see which Russian fat cat grows a pair first. I think the touchstone will be when Putin gives the orders to deploy a nuke.