Gaining Authority by Losing a War

[David Morris]

https://twitter.com/markgaleotti/status/1520738002905223168?s=21&t=WssJASnb44npStfaSbtQxA

In Moscow's Shadows 66: Silovik, Nuclear, Criminal and Religious - a Choice
of Victories.  Can Patrushev win political victory through military
failure? What're the war's effects on the Russian mafia?

A week before Victory Day,  I consider some different constituencies'
notions of victories. For Patrushev and the hard-liners, they could win
politically not despite failing in the war, but thanks to it. Nuclear
rhetoric may be scary, but it is also a reflection not of victory but
failure. The war and sanctions are reshaping the opportunities in the
Russian underworld, and this create new winners and losers. And what does
Patriarch Kirill hope to win?