RE: Events2 Apr 2022 22:32
reflecting, I am coming more to the view that over time the obstacle to a peace agreement will increasingly become putin. and only putin. with putin alive there will always be the impossible task of trying to square the circle with a madman. on the separate issue of sanctions being lifted - this cannot occur whilst he is in power.
put simply, without putin, a peace agreement becomes immeasurably easier. as does a sanction-removal timetable.
it will take time for the clarity of this picture to be seen by the armed forces, FSB, and oligarchs. it will take further time for those 3 power groups to talk frankly with each other. but it will occur. each power group's best hope of intact survival is speedy peace, with hope of eventual sanction lifting.
the single action most speeding this reality-realisation will be escalation/prolonging of the war. putin will prolong the war. he lacks the intelligence not to prolong it.
merely to illustrate - for the oligarchs, putin gone + peace + sanctions-lifting timetable means not only business survival but, since collectively they are proxy holders of putin's wealth (the richest man n the world), that they collectively retain his wealth, and rid themselves of a fearful life
i put putin's chances of not being killed by one, or a collective, of the 3 power groups as no more than 50-50. stalin's famous saying...'no man-no problem' is more and more likely to be, in this instance, russia's saviour