Comment by jventura
5 years ago
> Overthrowing a dictator is an incredibly bloody undertaking.
Doesn’t have to be. We did it in Portugal some 50 years ago [1]! I think just four people died.. We have been living in democracy since then, joined the European Union, etc.. So, it is possible..
Portugal is only 10.000 square kilometres bigger than one of the Russian's "oblast" (region) I grew up in, and has twice less people living in it than Moscow city residents.
This is why only four people have died. Death toll in Russia in case of a mass revolution would be tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.
Portugal has 10M people, Russia has 146M, so 4x14,6=58,4.. A similar coup would result only in 58 deaths.. ;)
Mate, this is not something that can be quantified just like that. I have been to the Portugal once, and your people are very peaceful and friendly. I'm afraid this is not the case with rural Russia -- which means that any confrontation would be deadly and very, very bloody.
This is exactly why I'm doing what I can, but avoiding any violence. This is not the way we win this.
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I think that Carnation Revolution also benefitted from the fact that dictator Salazar, who ruled the country for 37 years, had already been dead for 3 years when it happened.