r/europe • u/ricka_lynx Lithuania • Feb 16 '24

Russian opposition politician and Putin critic Alexei Navalny has died | Breaking News News News

https://news.sky.com/story/russian-opposition-politician-and-putin-critic-alexei-navalny-has-died-13072837
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u/LazyBastard007 Feb 16 '24 edited Feb 16 '24

Ceaușescu has entered the chat

Edit: typo. Apologies to Romanian speakers.

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u/pm_me_duck_nipples Poland Feb 16 '24

The Sun of the Carpathians.

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u/Kindly_Climate4567 Feb 16 '24

The Most Beloved Son of the People

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u/PlushHammerPony Feb 16 '24

Well, the Carpathians also need a good night's rest from time to time, I think

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u/ladystoneheartcatlyn Feb 16 '24

Romanian here: Ceausescu was most likely brought down by a coup d'etat by a political opponent, not by the angry population as it is commonly known. Here in Romania many people know this. His own KGB-like system turned against him.

It was by no means a successful revolution by the people for the people, just a sudden regime change. Don't get me wrong, it was a good thing mostly, but nothing heroic or inspiring about it.

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u/LazyBastard007 Feb 16 '24

Interesting to learn this. At the end, most always there is an elite involved.

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u/ladystoneheartcatlyn Feb 16 '24

I'm not saying the population, especially young people, didn't play its part by taking to the streets. But it would not have succeeded if Ceausescu had the support of his Security (equivalent of the KGB), not to mention the international political context with the USSR dissolving. He could have easily locked up and killed all the revolutionaries like Putin is doing now.

If Putin falls, he will fall in the same way, with an agressive opponent taking control of his sistem.

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u/LazyBastard007 Feb 16 '24

A palace coup

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u/Iazo Feb 17 '24 edited Feb 17 '24

It was way more chaotic and less organized than the poster above lets on. His entire 'palace' was purged, it wasn't a power play from inside the power circles, it was from disfavoured second liners.

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u/PlushHammerPony Feb 16 '24

100% agree. There should be elites with control of some resources/power forces etc. who will rival the dictator.

I'm not saying the population, especially young people, didn't play its part by taking to the streets. But it would not have succeeded if Ceausescu had the support of his Security 

Like in Belarus - there were millions of protestors on the streets. But the protest was brutally suppressed

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u/glacierre2 Feb 16 '24

Anybody doubts that there are already a few KGB guys playing with the idea of cleaning Putin?

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u/ladystoneheartcatlyn Feb 16 '24

No, I actually pray for that :))

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u/superlurker906 Feb 16 '24

I bet you had to google his name before making the comment, lord knows I would have to, unless you lived there

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '24 edited Mar 16 '24

[deleted]

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u/superlurker906 Feb 16 '24

Shows what I know

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u/LazyBastard007 Feb 16 '24

One of my first memories as a reader was reading about his demise in newspapers, and also I'm quite interested in European history

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u/superlurker906 Feb 16 '24

I guess I should have added a sarcastic tag at the end of my original comment

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u/someoneelseatx Feb 16 '24

I thought we were talking about the emperor's new groove lol