The last few days in Ukraine have shown that things often turn out differently than most people think. Same here. The Ukrainian army threw back the Russian invaders.
So we should think ahead as soon as possible: What happens if Russia collapses. The corrupt system around Putin will not survive defeat. Power in Russia is such that it converges on one person – Putin – and is supported by a delicate system of courtiers. The system is based on illusion, violence and corruption. And with that, it’s inherently unstable.
A defeat like the one now looming deprives the system of the resources it needs to continue to support it. It will collapse.
So we have a real challenge in Europe and America: How do we deal with the remnants of a system that still has thousands of nuclear weapons?
