Former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev gave the US an unusual warning: Getting rid of Putin would make things more dangerous rather than less.
"This means that Russia must be humiliated, limited, shaken, divided and destroyed," Medvedev wrote, saying if Americans succeed in that objective, "here is the result: the largest nuclear power with an unstable political regime, weak leadership, a collapsed economy and the maximum number of nuclear warheads aimed at targets in the US and Europe."
Such a warning necessarily implies that such a regime change in Russia by the US is possible. The danger of an American success would be irrelevant if there were no chance of success.
Dmitri Medvedev is hinting that Putin is vulnerable. Why would he do that?
On the surface that's exactly what it is. However, a risk in any warning is that of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Regardless of Medvedev's apparent or actual motivation, the warning could help catalyze the very thing he's presumably attempting to prevent: Russian regime change.
You might be reading too much into it. Most likely it's just a warning not to try anything.
On the surface that's exactly what it is. However, a risk in any warning is that of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Regardless of Medvedev's apparent or actual motivation, the warning could help catalyze the very thing he's presumably attempting to prevent: Russian regime change.
"All warfare is based on deception...."
But who is being deceived?
An autocrat like Putin does not have the luxury of being vulnerable. Or being perceived as such.
Medvedev is supposed to be a close ally of Putin. It's a risky maneuver for Putin to even hint at weakness, so why is Medvedev hinting it?
And if he's not hinting that, what is he doing?