[FRIAM] Patriotic Millionaires

[glen]

I continue to think more about how to transform Russia from the inside than directly about their military assault. Although the Putin:Trump analogy is terrible, there's a lot of meat there. E.g.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-if-trump-were-still-president
https://theconversation.com/meet-russias-oligarchs-a-group-of-men-who-wont-be-toppling-putin-anytime-soon-178474
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/08/donald-trump-power-trumpism-danger-now

To spell it out, Putin and Trump are irrelevant, bit players filling their role temporarily, much like the individuals participating in Patriotic Millionaires. Focus on the individuals is silly and useless. The systems are open to material cause (though obviously not entirely open). What matters are the trends, roles, objectives, & ends.

On 3/8/22 08:19, Prof David West wrote:
> I have a very good friend, Ukrainian living in Moscow wrestling with the dilemma of giving up his professional and very very lucrative career to go home and fight; recognizing the almost certain probability that he would not be allowed out of Russia.