Меня тут один иностранный канал попросил порассуждать о той стратегии, которую Кремль использует для защиты от предъявляемых ему обвинений. Я стал формулировать и набросал такой маленький текстик. Если кому интересно, можете почитать: The underlying Kremlin principle sounds like: “Just deny all the accusations - no matter what. Do not try to be realistic. There would always be somebody who would believe you”. In general, why are politicians trying to be realistic? Because they want to be convincing. Kremlin is not trying to be convincing. What it needs - is not to convince you. Rather - to display “strength”. In an authoritarian country you don’t have to worry about the opinion of the majority. What is more important is to mobilize the like-minded - people as immoral as you are. They are concentrated in the military and law enforcement, so as long as they are loyal, everything is going to be ok with you. And they are loyal as long as you show “strength”. By denying even the most obvious evidence of your wrongdoing, you are demonstrating your “strength”. You are not “yielding”. You are “fighting” and your opponents can’t do anything about it. Let it look like impudence - in the eyes of your base impudence is “strength”. When you don’t care about the other people’s opinion, it means that you are “strong” - that you can live without their support. It’s basically criminal mentality - “do not defend, attack”, “defense is weakness”. The problem with that approach is that sooner or later it will really set the majority against you. People will get tired of your constant lies, and since you are not trying to be convincing your lies will become obvious. This is exactly what is happening to Putin’s regime now.