But putin didn’t even have to work that hard to consolidate power- all the tools of authoritarianism fell into his lap.
Are we still pretending Putin wasn’t behind to the FSB blowing up apartment buildings in Moscow in a false flag operation to justify a brutal war in Chechnya? That’s how he consolidated his authoritarian power, seems like a bit of work to me.
I would say no. It isn’t as much “work” as sending in the tanks from the regular army to shell a competing but legitimate branch of government, and having a SWAT team machine gun hundreds of protesters.
Are we still pretending Putin wasn’t behind to the FSB blowing up apartment buildings in Moscow in a false flag operation to justify a brutal war in Chechnya? That’s how he consolidated his authoritarian power, seems like a bit of work to me.
I would say no. It isn’t as much “work” as sending in the tanks from the regular army to shell a competing but legitimate branch of government, and having a SWAT team machine gun hundreds of protesters.