Posted on 12/17/2014 4:26:55 AM PST by elhombrelibre
What would you do if you were Vladimir Putin? What would you do if you were a Russian citizen?
Russia's economic problems -- slowly incubating in recent months -- are about to get a lot worse. And that should make all of us nervous.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
That's the first sign of a majority of Russians doubting, if not in any way turning against their President for now."
Things are going to get really interesting over there.
He’s blaming it all on the West. Fact is, he’s stuck like a bug in mud. He can’t get out of Ukraine and save face. So, when bread lines become around the block, watch out.
Watch for vids of Russian tanks on the move, swarms of them. No location given, no context, just columns of advancing tanks on Russia Today, engines roaring & treads clanking.
Putin’s now talking of Russia as “the third Roman Empire”. Not of Moscow as the third Rome in the religious sense, but a restored Russian Empire. Not even Stalin was this megalomanic.
Russian support for a military presence in Ukraine has dropped from 74% to 23%, according to The Economist.
Russia a democracy when did that happen?..
Course you could mean MOB RULE by MOBSTERS..
Commissars, Czars, Presidents, Big Muft-t-Mufts all the same thing I suppose..
Russians have never ever known actual FREEDOM..
much like the Chinese.. and most of the known world..
this
the way to turn the nation’s anger away from Putin is for Putin to turn it against someone else. And the way to unite a nation is to stoke nationalism by turning blame for problems against others. Has worked since time immemorial
wars are good for faltering economies
Wars usually jumpstart an economy. Don’t doubt that’s a possibility.
Russians are likely sick of wars and sick of Putin’s promotion of himself.
it’s not the old ones he needs to convince, their latent xenophobia will always be useful at some level
it’s the middle aged and young ones he needs to fire up
one spectacular “terrorist” attack against Russians, especially if linked to western-supplied terrorists, will galvanize a lot of anger
Sounds like the USA too.
Freedom or the thought of what freedom means comes in lots of pretty colors.
“Oceania was at war with Eastasia: Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
(1984)
We’re living in the world of 1984. Everything is propaganda.
IF you look at history, that’s exactly what Czar Nicholas did, reluctantly. The Russian people have been thru hell, and for sure will endure more in the near future, but Putin is a little two bit operator, worse than the guy we have...All it’ll take is for the people around him to suffer...bread lines, unemployment. Alcoholism is rampant...and now with the Ukraine...Every person in the former USSR hates the guy.
Putin thought his actions would not have consequences, and now he is learning quickly that not only can there be consequences, but that those consequences are beyond his direct control. Now all that remains to be seen is whether rationality will win out over ego, but I would bet that the Russian leadership will dig in. A rational mind would realize there is no viable stratagem, but I doubt there are such minds in the Kremlin.
“Wars usually jumpstart an economy. Don’t doubt that’s a possibility.”
Hitler tried it, but the war accelerated the economic collapse and economic dislocation. The only factor which permitted Hitler’s Third Reich to struggle on for a few years was its rape and looting of the conquered territories.
Putin cannot loot his territories enough to service Russia’s needs for more than a day or two at best.
Yes, they are which could be why he and China are now BFFs and are looking at the buffoons running the US. WWIII is looming.
thanks elhombrelibre.
> Russian support for a military presence in Ukraine has dropped from 74% to 23%
If Russia took some action that shut down oil production in the middle east then they could receive enough a an oil price boost to cover their military investment.
I don’t thing Poland or the Baltic states are as likely to be targets as they were before this crisis started, but I’d be very wary if I were the Saudis.
The Russians may have been collateral damage as the Saudis took aim at the Iranians, but the Russians could still see an adventure in the Persian gulf as their only salvation.
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