Last Saturday, we awoke to news that the mercenary Wagner Group was marching to Moscow. For a few hours, it seemed that there was a coup in the making. The Wagner troops did not encounter any resistance. They shot down several Russian helicopters. But suddenly the leader of the Wagner Group announced that he had struck a deal with the president of Belarus, and the advancing army turned back, only 120 miles from Moscow.

There are two articles that helped explain the odd series of events. One was written by Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic. When the Wagner Group rolled into Rostov-on-Don, there was no resistance. People brought them drinks and treats. She says that Putin had cultivated a sense of apathy among the Russian people. One man has been in office for 23 years and will remain in office for the next 13 years. Unless he wants to…