Vanda Barkham

Why didn’t they bring out their latest innovation to the parade?

Putin has (re)established himself as the Russian emperor. His goal is to rule for as long as he possibly can and die his own death in this status. From now on, Putin is the center and the foundation of all power in Russia. His system of governing has shifted from being based on competition between the different "Kremlin towers" to a "Politbureau" of a small number of people, each of whom is responsible for specific areas, experts believe. Putin holds the final decision-making power, but he won't get into details of things that do not concern his end goal - being in power for as long as he is alive. Putin as tsar has absolute power. He expects and rewards absolute loyalty. Among other things, this means that social lifts in Russia are non-existent now. Any modernization of the system is impossible. Obedience becomes the key virtue. This will obviously lower the quality of executive decisions made on all levels. What this might mean for Ukraine and the world? ◾️As it happened with the USSR, this system is not sustainable and will decay. However, that will not happen soon enough as Russia has a lot of resources and its people don't expect much in terms of quality of life. ◾️ The war becomes an important "component" of Putin's power and authority. He will not stop and won't care about any number of Russian losses. He must be stopped with force and power, militarily. ◾️ Putin will look for subtle(ish) ways to undermine NATO and EU as whole institutions and their member states separately. Provocations, propaganda, uncertainty, clashing groups between each other, creating discord and mistrust - these are all tried and tested Russian tools. Russia is prepared to invest huge amounts of money into that. ◾️The importance of sanctions increases further, especially in cutting Russia off from technological advances - equipment, technologies, specialists. ◾️Timely and full military and financial assistance to Ukraine is key. There is no time for lingering and hoping Russia will collapse on its own or something unexpected will happen that will alter the course of history. Challenging times require sturdy leaders who think strategically. 📷: Metro UK