Stalin and Putin

Putin is now only second to Stalin as the longest ruler of Russia. Putin is on record as lamenting the dissolution of the Soviet Union as a historical mistake, and his actions in the past 20 years have been interpreted as an effort to reassemble the broken Humpty-Dumpty of the USSR.

There are several problems with this. Stalin was in his 40s when he succeeded Lenin, while Putin is nearly 70. After 20 years, Putin's leadership vision has become ossified, which is what brought down the Soviet Union. In addition, the media of Stalin were print, radio and television, while the media of Putin is the internet, which is much faster and impossible to block. And Stalin held regular ruthless purges; Putin has certainly assassinated opponents, but he has so far only arrested those he deems responsible for the failing Ukraine invasion. Why is Putin not resorting to Stalinesque purges and brutality? Could it be because he realizes that his biggest threat is internal, and there are lines that Stalin crossed that he cannot?

Putin isn't Hitler. Putin isn't Stalin. On a planet where adversaries are armed with thermonuclear warheads and digital intelligence, wargaming the future based on 75 years ago isn't useful. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/spy-arrested-putin-anger-ukraine-invasion-trouble_n_623691cde4b046c938dca2e9