But, now we are dealing with a person who has no philosophic vision, a person who is motivated by a grandiose vision, of a restored Russian Empire. He is the new Catherine the Great. Such a person is dangerous.
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The economic system of Russia is much better than the Soviet Union’s. Putin obviously had influence in that.
I compared Russia to Poland and also to Romania. You compared Russia to former Soviet Union. Let’s look at the numbers:
current gdp per capita (2011 international dollars)
Russia $28,000
Romania $36,000
Poland $38,000
U.S. $64,000 (I added U.S. for a comparison)
thirty years ago (same basis)
Russia $12,400
Romania $5,600
Poland $8,150
US $37,000
Russia today is better off than Soviet Union of thirty years ago. But, Soviet Union used to be ahead of Romania (by about 100%) and Poland (50%); and, now those countries (Poland and Romania) doing better than Russia.
The (new) economic system of Poland and Romania - democratic capitalism - is WAA-A-Y better. Ukrainians are not stupid. They can see how much better people are doing in the west. As for Russians, they may be stupid, but how stupid are they? Does Putin want to take a gamble that they will see Ukrainians surpassing them (Russians) during the brief moments - every now and again - when they aren’t drunk?