Perhaps the "correct" way to view the collapse of Russia is like the Ottoman empire. The ottomans fell apart in stages over 300 years, gradually losing direct control and influence over the hinterlands, then suddenly in quick, sharp wars against their former vassals in Africa and the Balkans. Eventually, they end up with a relatively small rump state in Turkey. I think that's possibly the most likely outcome with Moscow/St. Petersburg retaining a much reduced ethnic russian rump state and nearly everything else breaking away. But - the point is - it happens slowly, in stages, and in response to losing wars. Longer than single human lifetimes, so it makes it harder to recognize and comprehend until it's all over.

[–] doo@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 weeks ago

I think the main factor to the collapse as well as to why it was taking this long was the speed of communication. Those vassals had the luxury of 10 messages a year from the boss.

Interestingly, when it comes to (hopefully soon) collapse of russia, there are two parts to it. First are the instant communication channels that are useful to the crash and second is the human hierarchy that pootin uses (and has to) to get information. So he's at the Ottoman speeds of processing information, but at the modern speed of attack.