Let's discuss two cases:
1. Peter is assassinated before sequestration of Sofia.
2. Peter is assassinated afterward.
In the first case she still has Streltsy, and there is no one, other than her, who can take the throne. Maintaining control is a piece of cake.
In the second case she has no army, but still no viable opponent, so the boyars, possibly including Peter's erstwhile supporters, take power in her name, and she becomes a puppet ruler. But Peter's supporters were interested in preserving the male line and their own incomes, more than in his Westernization policies, so either way the Unbearable Policies are dead in the water.

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Would everyone have been as complacent about the reign of Ivan with Sophia as regent, if Peter was not also co-Tsar?

I see your case for the cessation of Peter's policies upon his death - OTOH, I think Ferrett's original assertion was based on a presumption of representative democracy, or constitutional monarchy, or something other than a despotic system.

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Everyone other than Peter had been complacent for a while, no reason to think they wouldn't have continued to be, especially in the first case, but even were they not the result would likely have been a set of palace overthrows, rather like after Peter's actual death, not chaos and civil war.

I agree about Ferret's original assertion being based on an assumption of democracy. In fact, I even said so in the beginning of this thread. Problem is (my problem, of course), it annoys me when people use terms like "fucking morons" and "never" without first qualifying and clarifying their assumptions.

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I have a complaint in my journal today about someone else positing "Things That Are True are also not very complicated."

Koans are all very well, but without the commentary, they are indistinguishable from propaganda.

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And even with it...

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What's the difference between propaganda and a catchy, effective meme?

Yeah.

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If the stars light up at night, that means someone paid for it!

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