i think the thing that people are not seeing is really obvious and right in front of you. what is the most popular topic in southern and eastern europe regarding politics? corruption. here in madeira. in portugal. in spain, in france, in germany, england, and in eastern europe this meme is very popular in politics and emerged there first. the line between routing out corruption, and purging an enemy who is on the back foot, is very very thin. putin's war agains the oligarchs was a "war against corruption" they like to use that "war on X" meme, has worked out really well. war on drugs. war on crime. war on cold viruses. what better way to hide the fact that you are in fact consolidating power, than manufacturing the pretense of reformation?