A writing project is bringing me back to Machiavelli again, particularly the Prince and the Discourses, and this passage from the Discourses made me think of the Ukraine, and possible futures for Russia:
For the degree of corruption to which the kings [of Rome] had sunk was such that, if it had continued for two or three successive reigns, and had extended from the head to the members of the body so that these had become also corrupt, it would have been impossible ever to have reformed the state. But losing the head whilst the trunk was still sound, it was easy to restore Rome to liberty and proper institutions.
Discourses I.17