'An incredible chess move': Putin checkmates Obama after symbolic sanctions manoeuvre
- Thread starter Mowich
- Start date
Another generation of Russians aren't going to tolerate life getting worse. Putin isn't a popular guy.
His domestic rating keeps going up and Russians are too smart to have a Ukraine style coup come along. If this is the new war against an old enemy them pertaks the trillions that were supposed to have been spent actually was put into the bank accounts of some private individuals and the war that wasn't was just an PR stunt that worked better than expected.
Russian leaders don't last very long. They disappear or become mysteriously ill and die. If history is a good teacher, Putin might not last much longer. But it wouldn't be the Russian people who have him replaced; it would be his political opponents who want to move up the power ladder.
Why not talk about the smouldering wreakage of Ukraine/Nulandistan. There will be big changes there this new year Porky will be hung and the Banderrats will be sweep into history. Civil war is smouldering in Ukraine while Russia prospers despite childish ineffective western scnctions.
He seems to be doing fine at home. We're on the other side of the world from him, and frankly, I don't think we're seeing the same press as the Europeans. Generally speaking, his ratings are better, once you get to Europe.
He's an interesting person to watch.
You really have to look at just where present day Russia stands. Despite Putin's posturing, Russia is now only a regional power. It can threaten its smaller neighbours, but it doesn't dare stand up to NATO or China and it would be in real trouble if NATO or the US decided to equip Ukraine with modern weapons considering the dilapidated state of its arsenal and the weakness of its economy. It is a nation that is riddled with corruption; governed by a self-interested oligarchy; with a GDP that is now smaller than Canada's; and a declining birthrate. Certainly it can hack into US computer systems, but basement hackers can do that; and it cannot hope to match the US on a global scale. It faces a multitude of problems, not the least of which is the modernization of its economy, a development that is going to be further handicapped due to its lack of access to modern technology and the fact that its leaders actually discourage foreign investment due to their venal nature.
Russia has a GDP that is roughly equivalent to that of Canada but with four times our population, the average share of it for each Russian is meagre. The distribution of wealth in Russia is even less egalitarian than it is here and therefore the "average" Russian is quite poor. The life expectancy of an average Russian is 12 years less than that of a Canadian with the life expectanncy of a Russian male at nearly 16 years less than that of a male Canadian. The "war mode" belegerence of Russia is being used to justify crushing its people, once again and it likely isn't sustainable for long.