You're right, it's kind of impossible to rule over a territory as large, populated by tribes as diverse as Russia, without some kind of iron fisted imperialism.

Chinese history under dynasties of brutal emperors, and now the brutal Chinese Communist Party, is also a testament to that.

I'd personally prefer to have Russia's internal security, i.e. their internal occupying forces, weakened enough by being trashed in Ukraine for multiple ethnic republics to break off and chart their own path.

Navalny's like the Emmanuel Goldstein character in 1984: Demonized token opposition who's just ineffective enough to let live. I know I know, they tried to poison him even...

This is as opposed to Prigozhin, who was immediately assassinated on showing some worthwhile opposition.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm much more optimistic about democracy coexisting with diversity than you, but yeah, it doesn't look possible in the short term in Russia.