this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2026
515 points (96.9% liked)

World News

57859 readers
1799 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world

Ask Historians !askhistorians@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Honestly it need not even be his demise. There are any number of countries he could flee to, countries without extradition treaties and willing to look the other way for any rich despot looking for a safe harbor. Some small Middle East dictatorship seems a logical choice. But even China would probably offer him refuge. Even North Korea if he's truly desperate. Hell, if he offered to end the war tomorrow, most Western countries would probably be willing to offer Putin amnesty, as painful as that would be. If the choice is between holding Putin accountable and saving another hundred thousand innocent lives, I'll let Putin go.

What he is truly afraid of is losing power. He can keep his life. He can keep at least a lot of his wealth. The one thing he can't flee the country with is his power.

In the modern world, dictators never need fear their personal survival. International pariah dictators all support each other. There's a reason Trump cozies up to despots. The dictators all realize that any of them could be deposed, and that losing power will result flight or death. They're all paranoid and afraid of losing power and their lives. So they all backstop each other and provide what assistance they can. And what even the poorest dictator can offer is protection from extradition.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 4 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I don't think you're correct. They may not have extradition treaties, but they also don't want to negatively affect relations with the successor for nothing in return. They aren't going to defend Putin, because most of the world, and especially the Russian successor, would be after him. There's just no benefit. They may not extradite, but they won't host him either (outside of a prison). He'd likely either be held in captivity or executed, if he isn't extradited, or let The Hague take care of him.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

No self respecting western country would take him The russians would kill him if he went to the US. Whoever takes over will decide if he is returned from an ally. Stalin had much tighter control and he couldnt leave office because of te same fears. He would give up the power if it meant he wouldnt die immediately. They would hang every failure on him, publicly trial him and sentence him the rest of his natural life in a camp.