Nothing is going well and economically the population is feeling it. I imagine this can’t go on much longer.
If you repeat this same news every time, then you'll eventually be right, yes.
It's not so much when the population feels it, rather the elites who prop Putin up.
They lost the plot, it's a little too late, but it's new.
At some point those changes might include stopping the war and getting rid of Putin.
I don't think all commentators fall into this trap, but more thoughtful predictions get overwhelmed by those expousing more impactful ideas.
It does seem that Putin has lost something recently, a grip on the hearts and minds of a subset of Russians that previously backed him come what may. The war has been quite static this year, Russia still losing a lot of men, and hardening domestic policy on Internet use. I doubt it's enough for violent protests.
While I understand that the true purpose of sanctions is to weaken a country's military, sometimes I do wonder if it is a war crime as it also ends up effectively "punishing the people".
But there have been some clear cases of Putin's omniscience leaking - the "3-day war" failure, the milbloggers he's has to imprison, the rebellion and loss of Wagner, the inability to protect Syria and Iran, every oligarch he has to execute, 20% interest rates. These aren't the indicators of a firm grasp of power.
>I have the impression that part of the system is already starting to work against Putin … It’s essentially … similar to what happened at the end of the Soviet Union, when people hated the [Communist] Party and did everything for it to end. Putin’s Russia will follow the same path as the Soviet Union. Everything is being repeated.
And the competing narratives that Russia is going to invade us all, but at the same time, is being defeated.
> China is failing
> Russia is done for
> X is over
There are entire youtube channels dedicated to these circlejerks and they are forced into my recommendations all while we loose freedoms to 'fight foreign propoganda'.