The Soviet Union before the wall fell was brought to its knees through economic mismanagement. Putin was a stable entity until a few years ago. Sure he made unf

The Soviet Union before the wall fell was brought to its knees through economic mismanagement. Putin was a stable entity until a few years ago. Sure he made unfortunate choices and policy decisions that probably cost Russia a lot in terms of economic development. But as a whole the country had economic growth and some notion of stability and wealth. That's why he was so popular. I think it's safe to say that most of that progress is now undone and Russia is close to being back on its knees begging for access to international markets with very little else to offer than violence, vodka, and gas/oil. The only problem with that is that the rest of the world just learned that depending on Russia for gas/oil is not such a great idea. Rebuilding that trust is going to take a few things; it's not a given that Russia will sell a lot of gas to Europe in the next years. Putin simply isn't the right person to rebuilt that trust given that he just made this issue very personal. He's now the primary obstacle between some very pissed off oligarchs and access to their money. A little Kremlin coup is nothing unusual. It's an old tradition there. Just ask Gorbachev. All it takes is a few generals deciding their orders suck and that they'd rather take them from somebody else. I hear Navalny is available. Perfect guy for it given he's best buddies with several European leaders and he'd probably be able to restore some normality pretty swiftly. All that takes is a few of his recently locked out their accounts billionaire buddies to pool together and make it happen. Whether it is Navalny or someone else doesn't matter. All they need is somebody that is less of a liability than Putin currently is. Putin has burned a lot of bridges lately and quite a few domestically in the last few years. Lots of powerful people with grudges. Possibly that's why Putin is so paranoid right now: they really are after him. They have been for years. Recent events are not helping him.