Weekend Of Kremlin Chaos.
“The last few days have been alternately strange, confusing and nerve-wracking. The world watched as tension between several of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most loyal lieutenants broke into the open, and one of them turned his guns on targets in his own country.
For now, the situation appears to have been resolved with an offer of exile to Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the mercenary Wagner Group, who resisted having his forces integrated into the Russian army and sent them into Russia to confront the military leadership. But it remains unclear to what extent Putin and the autocratic regime he has spent the last 23 years building has been damaged by the display of defiance, either short term or long term.
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Vladimir Putin has an iron grip on the nation he rules over and his legitimate claim to governing power rests on his ability to strong arm anyone he views as an adversary. The attempt to wrestle that power away from him over the weekend was shocking because it was on the brink of success when all of a sudden it was called off and the insurrectionists retreated. China, a nation that has increasingly relied on Russia for as an ally in the ‘West’ must be reconsidering its geo political alliances in the wake of the nearly successful brazen coup. Putin’s future is very much in doubt with more coup attempts probable in the coming months.
