On The Assassination of Nemtsov, Russian Opposition Leader

Stalin got into power by a fluke of events... He was only included in Lenin's inner circle because Lenin figured they needed one of the prole's... After all, it was a "worker's revolution", but the leaders were all intellectuals. So Stalin, a token yob, but also a petty burglar, was included.

Problem is, the Bolsheviks wrote a slapdash constitution which emphasized putting control into the hands of one guy. Not a lot of thinking went into this. It was a system which, as is the achilles heal of communism, was susceptible to the cult-of-personality.

Then Lenin died unexpectedly of a stroke. And somehow things just gravitated to Stalin. Stalin, having more streetsmarts than the rest of the booksmart inner circle, knew how to manipulate things at the personal level. He was a good liar and not hesitant to knock off anyone who got in his way.

We then see the various purges and so forth, and we all know Stalin's rule was marked by unbelieveable atrocities, incomptence and terror.

There begins also a long chain of power passing from one hand to the next.

With Stalin's death in the 50s, all who were left were incompetent yes-men. So began the "crapulent" phase of Communism... shortages, economic stagnation, etc... leading all the way to Glasnost and the collapse of communism.

Putin got in essentially by proving himself as a yes-man for Yeltsin, and guaranteeing his (Yeltsin's) safety.

But we see today the shadow of those past mistakes, echoing again in what's going on now in Russia. Rule via the cult-of-personality continues. Putin's expression of condolence following Nemtsov's assassination is particularly chilling.

The problem is, nobody is guaranteeing Putin safety. And he knows that. As soon as he's out of power he'll probably be arrested.

And this is why we are here now.

--- 27 February 2015