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Putin’s Russia is a poor, drunk soccer hooligan
Boston Globe ^ | 06-22-2016 | Scott Gilmore

Posted on 06/22/2016 9:54:15 AM PDT by NRx

Russia is not the country you think it is. Its economy is smaller than South Korea’s. Its people are poorer than Kazakhstan’s. It trails Finland in technology. And it has a smaller military budget than Saudi Arabia...

...Russia hosted the Olympics, punched Georgia in the nose, took back the Crimea, invaded Ukraine, flew bombers through NATO airspace, built military bases in the Arctic, and generally flexed and posed like an oiled, aged, but still buff, body builder. And we’ve been paying increasingly rapt attention, not noticing the geriatric walker hidden just off stage. A closer look is almost shocking.

According to the International Monetary Fund’s most recent data, the Russian economy is approximately the same size as Australia and slightly smaller than South Korea. As an exporter, it is now less important than Belgium, Mexico, and Singapore.

And it is poor. The World Bank ranks Russia’s GDP per capita below Lithuania, Equatorial Guinea, and Kazakhstan. A larger proportion of its population lives below the poverty rate than in Indonesia, India, or Sri Lanka. It is ranked 67th in the world in the Global Competitive Index and 66th in the UN’s Human Development Index.

(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: arctic; astroturf; australia; belgium; boston; bostonglobe; equatorialguinea; finland; india; indonesia; kazakhstan; lithuania; massachusetts; mexico; paidrussiantrolls; putinsbuttboys; russia; russianstooge; russianstooges; scottgilmore; singapore; southkorea; srilanka; vladtheimploder
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To: CodeToad
CIA World Factbook,

Russian GDP $1.325 trillion (2015 est.)

South Korean GDP $1.377 trillion (2015 est.)

Russia does have nearly triple the population though.

21 posted on 06/22/2016 10:21:40 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot ("Telling the government to lower trade barriers to zero...is government interference" central_va)
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To: Toddsterpatriot

“CIA World Factbook, “

There’s your problem. Not a reliable source. Might as well use Wikipedia.


22 posted on 06/22/2016 10:26:28 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: NRx

“It trails Finland in technology.”

Almost everyone does. I’m not kidding. Finns were able to do things like pay for carwashes using their cell phones to plug into a wall jack to deduct from their bank accounts about 15 years ago.


23 posted on 06/22/2016 10:27:36 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: Verginius Rufus

Interesting that you bring up Thomas More - the man who burned folks at the stake for no less than holding on to what the Word of God states in English.

What goes around comes around...


24 posted on 06/22/2016 10:30:33 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (Ismael's descendants have been murdering since 1900 BC - it's "racist" to acknowledge that fact)
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To: Flavious_Maximus

I used to be contemptuous of Pravda. Now I get it.


25 posted on 06/22/2016 10:32:20 AM PDT by ichabod1 (Make America Normal Again)
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To: DarthVader

Wishful thinking from the left. The truth is that Putin is pulverizing this administration and NWO nearly everywhere.


LOL. Dropping bombs on 7th century animals does not make a world power.


26 posted on 06/22/2016 10:32:47 AM PDT by lodi90 (Clear choice for Conservatives now: TRUMP or lose)
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To: CodeToad

Bold faced lie. The Russian economy is nearly twice South Korea’s.

Russian GDP: $2.097 trillion.
South Korean GDP: $1.305 Trillion.


Last I read Russia, the world’s largest country, had an economy the size of Italy.


27 posted on 06/22/2016 10:33:51 AM PDT by lodi90 (Clear choice for Conservatives now: TRUMP or lose)
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To: CodeToad

There’s your problem. Not a reliable source. Might as well use Wikipedia.


Blame the messenger all you want but the pitiful state of Russia’s kleptocratic petrostate economy has been widely reported.


28 posted on 06/22/2016 10:35:36 AM PDT by lodi90 (Clear choice for Conservatives now: TRUMP or lose)
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To: NRx

“Russia hosted the Olympics, punched Georgia in the nose, took back the Crimea, invaded Ukraine”

I sense an agenda here.


29 posted on 06/22/2016 10:35:39 AM PDT by McGruff (How about investigating the donations to the Clinton Foundation)
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To: CodeToad

Re: “The Russian economy is nearly twice South Korea’s.”

The data is a complete jumble.

The World Bank and United Nations report 2014 numbers, which precede the crash in oil prices and the Russian Ruble.

The IMF and CIA report 2015 numbers, which are wildly distorted because of the Ruble crash.

Even trying to make sense of it by using PPP numbers (Purchase Power Parity) looks crazy.

In 2015, Russia’s “Nominal” GDP (measured in Rubles) is less than one third of its “PPP” GDP, which is a huge difference.


30 posted on 06/22/2016 10:36:55 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: CodeToad

What’s your source, Putin?


31 posted on 06/22/2016 10:37:32 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot ("Telling the government to lower trade barriers to zero...is government interference" central_va)
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To: zeestephen

I heard the sanctions are even slowing down Putin’s theft.


32 posted on 06/22/2016 10:39:09 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot ("Telling the government to lower trade barriers to zero...is government interference" central_va)
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To: rlmorel

Ask yourself “Why is the Boston Globe putting down Russia?” I believe it is the early stages of beating the war drum. Since Russia has more nukes, and since we may not launch our nukes in retaliation, depending on who is giving the orders, we could be looking at at an American multidecamegadeath situation, this year or next.


33 posted on 06/22/2016 10:39:47 AM PDT by bIlluminati (Who is Horatio Bunce?)
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To: McGruff

What? No “Camelot High”?


34 posted on 06/22/2016 10:39:59 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: McGruff

Those all sound like wins to me!


35 posted on 06/22/2016 10:41:07 AM PDT by ichabod1 (Make America Normal Again)
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To: vladimir998

Who was the Finn who designed/built their phone?


36 posted on 06/22/2016 10:42:08 AM PDT by skimbell
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To: NRx

Yeah, Putin was stupid enough to let us store all his Uranium. The moron.


37 posted on 06/22/2016 10:43:15 AM PDT by McGruff (How about investigating the donations to the Clinton Foundation)
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To: bIlluminati

Well, around 85% of us have got to go, so you’re probably right.


38 posted on 06/22/2016 10:43:35 AM PDT by ichabod1 (Make America Normal Again)
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To: lodi90

They do lots more than drop bombs and you will not realize the damage they have done until its over.


39 posted on 06/22/2016 10:50:08 AM PDT by DarthVader (Politicians govern out of self interest, Statesmen govern for a Vision greater than themselves)
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To: NRx

According to the sports hooligans headline I was expecting a sucker score/s.


40 posted on 06/22/2016 10:50:52 AM PDT by mosesdapoet (My best insights get lost in FR's because of meaningless venting no one reads.)
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