re: #93 freetoken

In which PaleoPat defends Putin taking Crimea, in that special PaleoPat way:

Behind the Russian Rage

That is why the simply let the USSR fall apart: if they had tried to negotiate the separation then, from a position of weakness, the Russians would have had to make too many concessions.

So they let things really apart: milions of Russian suddly living outside Russia, trade disrupted, the social system a shambles, pensions nearly worthless, etc.

So they let total chaos reign for a couple of decades. Then the Russians welcomed a strong authoritarian ruler who is in a position to re-establish the Russian Empire under more favorable terms.