Putin's Fear Has Gone Too Far - Jason Jay Smart

[TexasTowelie]

Moscow internet outages are becoming one of the clearest signs of Vladimir Putin's growing fear, elite infighting, and loss of control inside Russia. As mobile internet disruption spreads through the Russian capital, the Kremlin says drone danger justifies tighter restrictions. But the deeper story is that fear inside the system is no longer staying inside the Kremlin. It is starting to reach ordinary life in Moscow itself.

Behind the Moscow internet crackdown is a bigger power struggle. Shoigu's clan is losing ground while the intelligence and security side gains influence, coercive power, and patronage. At the same time, Russia's budget squeeze is getting harder to hide, oil and gas revenues are under pressure, and wealthy insiders are hedging. That makes the Moscow blackout story much bigger than technology or security. It is about regime fear, shrinking resources, and a state shifting the cost of elite panic onto the public.

That pressure does not stay inside Russia forever. Moscow has already used drones, sabotage, covert violence, and intimidation across Europe while testing how slowly the West reacts. Narva matters because it fits the Kremlin method of ambiguity, speed, deniability, and psychological shock. If Putin believes NATO is divided, overextended, and slow to organize useful force, then a crisis on Estonia's border could look less like madness and more like opportunity.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro: Putin’s Paranoia & The Hunt for Traitors
01:25 - Putin’s Nightmare: No Escape from Ukraine
02:35 - Kremlin Corruption: How Putin Buys the Elite
03:41 - Moscow’s Drone Panic: Why the Internet Died
05:36 - The Shoigu Purge: Putin’s Dangerous New Circle
07:26 - Putin’s Next Target: The Invasion of Estonia?
10:11 - Russian Sabotage: Putin’s Stealth War on Europe