Mr. Putin does have the support of enough of his people to maintain power.

But of the 140m people in Russia, about 25% are not Russian. These people would prefer someone else to govern them, but they don't have a choice.

Mr. Putin has controlled the political narrative, so other viewpoints cannot become widely known.

With this control, Mr. Putin can bring many of the ethnic Russians under his umbrella. He makes them feel good about being Russian, in the same way British politicians remind many English voters of their great empire. The Russians prop Putin up. He props them up with a few shekels. The oligarchs make more money to spend on their European villas. It's a system that works for everyone--except the 100 or so other ethnic groups in Russia.

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In Canada, we had a great debate about whether we should join the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the end, we chose the former, not the latter.

It didn't seem Americans had this debate. The American media backed the war.

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In the end, political power comes from having support of enough of the people. In the USA, 30% should be able to achieve this. Most dictatorships have this support--and are able to suppress the 70%.