Political repression in #Russia is now the work of thousands of officials, none of whom individually carry any political responsibility. People are now persecuted on autopilot, which means that anyone can be defined as “anti-regime,” warns @Stanovaya https://t.co/2eTNc8EZ5r

— Carnegie Russia (@CarnegieRussia) June 11, 2021

This is an interesting take, and explains a few things. We’re very prone to assuming our opponents to have Borg-like organization dominated by an evil genius (while also assuming we ourselves are a bunch of hopelessly muddled weaklings, natch). Probably not the case. And repression can escalate basically by accident by regime minions trying to outdo each other for political points with nobody willing or able to direct them.