Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a video address as Wagner Group mercenaries stage a rebellion on June 24. Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

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Ralph Waldo Emerson is regularly credited as having said, “When you strike at a king, you must kill him”. But even if reports are accurate that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has negotiated a truce between Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin’s revolt has already revealed Putin’s domestic control to be slipping, and we are just in the first innings of a new era. With Putin no longer able to control the rival armed gangs of his own creation, his armor has been pierced, and his formidable aura is dissipating.

Having a 25,000-strong force of armed mercenaries seize Russia’s operational command center for the Ukraine war and advance toward Moscow was the biggest existential threat Putin has faced in his more than 20-year rule.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 20. MIKHAIL TERESHCHENKO/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

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Cynics have been quick to sound off over the supposed inefficacy of  multinational business retreats and global government sanctions in changing the behavior of brutal autocrats such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, pointing to ineffective examples such as Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and North Korea. French politician Marine Le Pen recently called for an end to “useless” sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, echoing a Guardian columnist who declared that “Western sanctions against Russia are the most ill-conceived and counterproductive policy in recent international history”. The New York Times’ Paul Krugman, too, selectively listed examples of ineffective economic embargoes reaching far back into the 19th century in a recent op-ed.…  Seguir leyendo »