I've seen some here suggest that if the oligarchs, as a group, get mad enough they could remove him from power; I suppose, but functionally, I think the opposite is true. THEY KNOW, the ONLY reason they're as rich as they are, is because The State allows it, and Putin IS The State.
One of them said in an interview (maybe it was Mogilevich?) that
'Putin is the Czar, and you (meaning himself) are his Serf.' RICH serfs, to be sure, but serfs nonetheless, because they know they're wealth came from stolen State assets, and if the State ever decides it wants those assets BACK, it's a matter of putin giving a few orders to the right people, and the next thing you know you're accounts are empty and you've shot yourself twice in the head.
Russia is run by Putin as a Mob State.
But its STILL State Power, and if you're not the guy at the top, that's not Power to fuck around with.
You're right that the message needs to be directed to the great mass of the russian people (who I have never really considered 'enemy').
But theres a lot of history 'baked into' the psychology of russian political-economics, not all of it is good and some of it's probably our own fault. I'm not gonna be mad about the russian people being aware of these facts, so back to your original point, yes they're the target of the message, but I think part of the message should be 'not all your fault'.
= new reply since forum marked as read
