The State of Affairs in Russia

[DGuller]

Holy shit!  I guess Putin fears absolutely nothing now.

A man who does not fear does not kill his enemies.

He does if it brings him joy.

[Liep]

Stalin killed because he feared so we can finally get beyond that comparison.

[grumbler]

Stalin killed because he feared so we can finally get beyond that comparison.

Wow!  You are just now finally getting past that comparison?    Welcome to the post-1955 world!

[Razgovory]

Holy shit!  I guess Putin fears absolutely nothing now.

A man who does not fear does not kill his enemies.

The fuck he doesn't.  He kills because he can.

He's not a serial killer or a movie villain.  We don't even know if he ordered it.  It's possible he only indirectly responsible, labeling this guy and enemy so that fanatical Russians would kill him or one his henchmen knocked him off to curry favor with the boss.  If Putin is killing high profile targets, it's because he knows the next year will be tough and he needs to clear the board of potential problems.

[DGuller]

He's not a serial killer or a movie villain.  We don't even know if he ordered it.  It's possible he only indirectly responsible, labeling this guy and enemy so that fanatical Russians would kill him or one his henchmen knocked him off to curry favor with the boss.  If Putin is killing high profile targets, it's because he knows the next year will be tough and he needs to clear the board of potential problems.

I think your theory that bloody dictators only kill people that are a potential danger to them has been shown to be false throughout history.  Some kill to set an example, some kill out of spite, and some really do enjoy it.

[Liep]

Stalin killed because he feared so we can finally get beyond that comparison.

Wow!  You are just now finally getting past that comparison?    Welcome to the post-1955 world!

Putin wasn't that big in 1955.

[Razgovory]

He's not a serial killer or a movie villain.  We don't even know if he ordered it.  It's possible he only indirectly responsible, labeling this guy and enemy so that fanatical Russians would kill him or one his henchmen knocked him off to curry favor with the boss.  If Putin is killing high profile targets, it's because he knows the next year will be tough and he needs to clear the board of potential problems.

I think your theory that bloody dictators only kill people that are a potential danger to them has been shown to be false throughout history.  Some kill to set an example, some kill out of spite, and some really do enjoy it.

Use history to demonstrate.

[DGuller]

Use history to demonstrate.

Stalin killed plenty of enemies that have been political corpses for years, and were just trying to live their lives hoping he would forget about them.  He also killed plenty of their family members, including apolitical wives.  I imagine those weren't much threat to him either.

[Tonitrus]

Perhaps sometimes you just gotta kill someone to keep all the other pretenders from getting ideas.

[mongers]

Shades of Thomas a Becket?

[DGuller]

Perhaps sometimes you just gotta kill someone to keep all the other pretenders from getting ideas.

And sometimes what happens is just a simple thuggish reaction, without any political calculation.  Maybe one day Putin was shown the video of Nemtsov mocking his height or cursing him out, and he just said "okay, that's enough, have that piss-ant killed".  When you have absolute power, you can get away with temper tantrums like that.

[Razgovory]

Use history to demonstrate.

Stalin killed plenty of enemies that have been political corpses for years, and were just trying to live their lives hoping he would forget about them.  He also killed plenty of their family members, including apolitical wives.  I imagine those weren't much threat to him either.

The man was paranoid, he killed people who he thought were dangerous.

[DGuller]

Use history to demonstrate.

Stalin killed plenty of enemies that have been political corpses for years, and were just trying to live their lives hoping he would forget about them.  He also killed plenty of their family members, including apolitical wives.  I imagine those weren't much threat to him either.

The man was paranoid, he killed people who he thought were dangerous.

Saddam Hussein sure enjoyed killing people for sport and murder boner.

[alfred russel]

Holy shit!  I guess Putin fears absolutely nothing now.

A man who does not fear does not kill his enemies.

No man in history was more scared than Genghis Khan. 

[CountDeMoney]

And sometimes what happens is just a simple thuggish reaction, without any political calculation.

Especially when a country, like Putin's Russia, becomes the ideal of what a country looks like when it's run by the Mob.  Nazi Germany was run by street thugs, but today's Russia?  It's Goodfellas in track suits.