From Infidel753:
The world’s two largest mafia gangs — the “governments” of Russia and China — have recently come under challenge from some of their subjects. These challenges are not likely to end well, but they serve as reminders of the long-term weaknesses of such regimes.
Since July, Moscow has been the scene of pro-democracy protests drawing tens of thousands of people. The immediate cause was the official “disqualification” of non-toady candidates for local office (Russia still holds “elections”, but de facto bars anyone not loyal to the regime from running), but the real fuel for the protests has been discontent with corrupt authoritarianism and lack of democracy at the national level. The regime has called the protests “riots” and reacted with mass arrests and beatings, yet the numbers grow with each march. The city has been put under what amounts to military occupation. Polling shows 37% of people in Moscow supporting the protests, 27% opposed, and 30% “neutral”.
So far the uprising doesn’t seem to have spread beyond Moscow, but as Al-Jazeera explains:
In a highly-centralised state like Russia, the capital is possibly the only place that really matters when it comes to regime change. It is indeed the peaceful revolution in Moscow in August 1991 that ended communism and precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union. That revolution was preceded by two years of gigantic rallies with hundreds of thousands in attendance. Today’s protests are still a far cry from those, but they are growing…..
This may actually be the biggest threat to the regime yet.