• Miles O'Brien
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    442 months ago

    I always see people commenting on stories like this with things like “how does anyone actually believe that/think anyone will believe that?”

    Well, that’s exactly the point. It’s not about the death being convincingly accidental. It’s very much about sending a message to others.

    You don’t eliminate the competition and agitators with the exact same method of execution for 30+ years (with a few false-flag apartment bombings thrown in for good measure) and expect to keep things covert.

    The only way they could make it more obvious is the “he hogtied himself, ate a cyanide capsule, jumped out the window and shot himself twice in the back of the head on the way down” trope.

    • @surewhynotlem
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      102 months ago

      If it was a good deterrent, why does it keep happening?

      I’m serious. I don’t get it.

      • @chonglibloodsport
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        212 months ago

        Putin has been in power for 25 years. He arguably has more enemies than anyone else on the planet. I’d say the deterrent factor is pretty strong with this one.

        It’s not perfect though. When you’re destroying your own country with the most disastrous war in living memory then you need stronger deterrents.

      • @clutchtwopointzero
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        2 months ago

        In some cases, the people in power change their minds and suddenly an oligarch who was compliant becomes a target.

      • Miles O'Brien
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        62 months ago

        As chonglibloodsport said, it’s a numbers game.

        When you have enough enemies, and keep making more, you’re going to keep getting people who have had enough and don’t care about the risk.

        If it weren’t for the “Russian suicide”, putin would have been black bagged long ago by someone who WOULD.

    • Flax
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      42 months ago

      It’s the same with the vote rigging being caught on camera. It’s deliberately careless. “I’ve rigged the vote, so don’t even try”

    • @captainlezbian
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      22 months ago

      Exactly. They don’t have a signature poison because they don’t want people to know what happened