“some say the west plays checkers and Putin plays chess”
Or better described as Financial politics vs. Realpolitik.
The situation in Russia today is FAR different than what it was in the 80’s.
For the big one, Russia in now a net EXPORTER of food, so the mass starvation they were looking at then, isn’t an issue now.
Russia has a very large Gold Reserve, and per Bloomberg, can cover 18 months of currency outflows at even today’s rates.
Debt is VERY low, in comparison to the West.
They are only 20 years down the road from the last “Great” Currency Crisis, so people remember.
These aren’t US millennials and welfare voters we are talking about. The Russians handle adversity much better than we do, simply because they are used to ups and downs.
Yeah, it hurts, but the Russian people have dealt with hurt before. To compare the Russian mindset to the average Democrat Voter’s is a big mistake.
PS- Some GREAT buying opportunities opening up in Russia right now!!
You yourself are a sleeper Russkie troll, probably recruited by the Lubyanka to troll on FR since you could speak English and immigrated to the west at some point. As you well know, the Russkie mindset is somewhere between the Goblin and the Orc. Most are low IQ or deranged from drugs and alcohol abuse and are dependent on government subsidies for their existence:
"The population at large is, statistically speaking, not very bright. Many are deranged from overuse of alcohol or drugs. A big number are simply aging elderly rooted in USSR-centric mindset who never adjusted to the modern world. Most of them do not “work” in the sense we understand full-time employment here: they occupy placeholder positions sponsored by the government. Being dependent their whole life on government help, they are psychologically unable even to think government can do something wrong."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3189416/posts
They are also by and large predatory and corrupt. Criminality is normal in Russia amongst every social class. They only seem "tough" because they are used to living as slaves in very pitiful conditions. To this day, in their little apartment complexes, they're still crapping in hallways or beneath stairwells. They make the filth of India look normal by comparison. If these people ever had a culture or any authentic pride (these losers beating their chest and frothing at the mouth for Vladimir Putin is not "pride" in the normal sense), it was destroyed after five generations of Communism. Even during WWII, these "tough" Russians resorted to cannibalism, chewing on the bones of human beings like rabid dogs.