• sab@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Furthermore,

      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.

      • Cylusthevirus@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        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?

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          1 year ago

          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.

    • slaacaa@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      “When you play the game of thrones, you win, or you die. There is no middle ground.”