Gaining Authority by Losing a War

[Darah Kehnemuyi]

 Good question  David,   If Putin is no longer in place, what will the ensuing power struggle produce ?  Oligarchs ?  Mafia ? Military ?  Navalny ?  Will Nationalist tendencies prevail ? Will the next leader have to commit another Chechnya-style atrocity like Putin so as to convince the Russian people they are a "good" leader ?  And is there anyway for outsiders to influence any of that ?   Just asking...
    On Sunday, May 1, 2022, 11:03:18 AM EDT, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 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?
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