Posted on 11/22/2014 1:24:03 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
MALINA, a trendy restaurant in a city south of Moscow, was empty on a recent Thursday evening. “A crisis,” the manager explained nervously. Some meat and fish dishes were missing. “Sanctions,” he added with a sigh. The signs of a country in the economic doldrums are visible in Moscow, too. Tour operators are going out of business; shops and small businesses are up for sale; LED displays outside bureaux de change send spirits sinking.
Russia’s economy is teetering on the verge of recession. The central bank says it expects the next two years to bring no growth. Inflation is on the rise. The rouble has lost 30% of its value since the start of the year, and with it the faith of the country’s businessmen. Banks have been cut off from Western capital markets, and the price of oil—Russia’s most important export commodity—has fallen hard. Consumption, the main driver of growth in the previous decade, is slumping. Money and people are leaving the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Putin really screwed up giving his morons surface to air missiles that ended up shooting down a bunch of Western Europeans. He burnt his bridges with much of Europe with that. And the second really stupid thing he’s done repeatedly is threaten to cut off natural gas to much of Europe using it as a political weapon way too often. That has a price down the road, and we are now down the road...
Swan song of the red midget.
World wars have been started for similar reasons. Putin’s cozying up to China is definitely worrying. Putin will not go quietly into the night scorned by economic sanctions I don’t think. Our world is becoming a scarier and scarier place. There Is the sense of leading to a crescendo of sorts with a very bad outcome.
Could be the U.S.
I just said the same on another thread. Putin has been playing with the little usurper but may be getting tired of the game. Money and power can be made or lost during a war and the world is a tender box these days. If only we can hold off another two years but Congress and SCOTUS will need to find their huevos for that to happen.
This is what happens when a weak nation (yes, the US is weak, economically & leadership) continues to dictate policy to other countries, particularly those policies dealing with their own security. I've commented here before that if the US actually undertook the policy needed to deal with Mexico that hypocritically it would be alright for Russia to dictate how the US would do so.
All our policies are doing are driving Russia and China together, when our policies should be doing precisely the polar opposite.
Our children will pay the price.
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