What is taking place in #Russia right now bears less resemblance to the events of 1917 than to those of an earlier era: the so-called Time of Troubles, or Smuta, which lasted from 1604 to 1613. During this period, the #Russian dynasty of the Rurikids came to a violent end, and it took a decade of war and civil upheaval before the Romanov dynasty consolidated monarchical authority.
@ukraine The prospect of a nuclear power sliding into a modern Time of Troubles should scare Western countries as it scares the #Russian people. The odds of a quick transition from wartime autocracy to a more accommodating, liberal regime in #Moscow are long. And they are made longer still by the scripts of #Russian history.
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