Putin Can't Hide From Russia's Empire Collapse - Jason Jay Smart

Russia is watching its global influence implode as the three engines of Vladimir Putin’s power -intelligence services, proxy forces, and criminal logistics - simultaneously fracture. The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024 destroyed Moscow’s forward base in the Middle East, while the removal of Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela eliminated a critical safe harbor for illicit finance.

These are not isolated events but a systemic failure of Russia's hub-and-spoke strategy. The FSB, SVR, and GRU have merged internal repression with battlefield operations, yet their proxy networks are degrading. Hezbollah’s leadership has been decimated, severing Latin American smuggling routes that Moscow relies on to bypass sanctions. China remains transactional, extracting leverage rather than providing security, while North Korea has become a desperate supplier of 9,000,000 munitions, signaling industrial weakness.

Oleg Deripaska warned in January 2026 that U.S. control over Venezuelan oil reserves could pin prices at $50 a barrel, strangling Russia’s state-capitalist model. With the Kremlin forced to rely on money laundering and organized crime to move capital, the cost of every transaction has spiked. Ukraine is the pressure point forcing this fragile network into the open. When the system is visible, it breaks.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Russia’s Shadow Empire Is Collapsing
01:02 – Russia’s Three Engines of Power
02:05 – Venezuela, Syria, Iran: The System Breaks
03:12 – Syria Falls and Russia Loses the Middle East
04:15 – Proxy Failure: Hezbollah and the Axis Weakens
05:18 – Wagner Fractures and Africa Slips Away
06:15 – China and North Korea Refuse the Alliance
07:10 – Crime as State Policy
08:10 – Inside Russia’s Security State
09:05 – Sanctions Push the System Underground
10:00 – The Hub-and-Spoke Network Fails
10:55 – Russian Elites Admit the Leverage Is Gone
11:35 – Ukraine Is the Breaking Point