On the heels of tens of thousands of Russians leaving their country over its aggression in Ukraine and its increasing domestic crackdown on dissent against the war, Russian thug and authoritarian Vladimir Putin took to Russian state media to issue this chilling threat:
"The collective West is attempting to splinter our society, speculating on military losses, on socioeconomic effects of sanctions, in order to provoke a people's rebellion in Russia.
But any people, the Russian people, especially, are able to distinguish true patriots from bastards and traitors and will spit them out.
I am certain that this necessary and natural self-cleansing of society will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, togetherness, and our readiness to answer any calls to action." (our emphasis)
As is true with all totalitarians of his stripe, Putin wants a totally submissive and obedient population to follow his fascistic, neo-imperial policies. The former KGB officer is an unreformed Chekist, a committed and paranoid zealot devoted to the idea of an expansionist Russia with one absolute leader -- himself -- who won't tolerate the dissent of who he calls "bastards and traitors." As he's backed himself into a corner with his Ukrainian invasion, he's dropped the remaining masks that hid his dangerous beliefs.
