From what I gather, he backed down because all his top men’s families were being threatened. Prigozhin’s family was kept safe, of course, but I don’t think they expected Russia to threaten the families of those further down the ladder.
Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies
-- Machiavelli in the Prince
Not to call out Putin’s Russia for being amateur hour, but the Prince is probably the first thing to read for an aspiring dictator.
I mean he had to know, right? With guys like Putin if you go hot, you either kill him or he has you killed. There is no in-between. His entire image relies on that. Maybe they had Prigozhin’s family or something?
One of the cardinal rules of power struggles is “If you’re gonna shoot for the king, don’t miss.”
Man didn’t even miss, he just got scared halfway through
From what I gather, he backed down because all his top men’s families were being threatened. Prigozhin’s family was kept safe, of course, but I don’t think they expected Russia to threaten the families of those further down the ladder.
This all just makes him seem naive and unprepared for the position he was in.
I have a theory.
I think the Slavic Russian Nazi a total dictator let run a private army might have been a little dumb.
It was just a prank, bro!
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Furthermore,
-- Machiavelli in the Prince
Not to call out Putin’s Russia for being amateur hour, but the Prince is probably the first thing to read for an aspiring dictator.
Wait, I’m listening to The Prince in audiobook form. Does that mean I’m an aspiring dictator?
Well, if you are, there might be a job opening in Russia for you soon!
He just stopped. It was the most bizarre coup attempt, really.
I mean he had to know, right? With guys like Putin if you go hot, you either kill him or he has you killed. There is no in-between. His entire image relies on that. Maybe they had Prigozhin’s family or something?
It might be that he was counting on the support of one or more Generals. That fizzled at the last minute, and then he didn’t know what to do.
When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.
“When you play the game of thrones, you win, or you die. There is no middle ground.”