Posted on 03/04/2022 8:32:45 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Vladimir putin, so intent on bringing Ukraine under his control, is neglecting the problems facing Russians at home. A survey conducted between February 17th and 21st—that is, in the week before Mr Putin’s invasion—by the Levada Centre, an independent Russian pollster, found that 43% of Russians between the ages of 18 and 24 wanted to leave the country for good. And 44% of those who hoped to emigrate cited the “economic situation” as their motivation.
That situation is likely to get a lot worse. Western sanctions have created an economic storm: rising inflation, a crashing currency, and imports that are expected to dwindle. Many Russians will soon struggle to afford what they need to survive.
Eagerness to leave seems to be mounting. Data from Google Trends, which tracks how often particular words are entered into its search engine, show that Russian-language searches for “political asylum”, “emigration”, “flights” and “visa” all leapt in Russia in the days leading up to the invasion on February 24th. Queries for “flights” increased nine-fold from the week ending February 20th to the week ending February 27th.
More Russians are asking Google “how to leave Russia” than have done so in 18 years since such data became public. Searches in the final two weeks of February were 16 times higher than the average weekly search volume from the past five years. Finnish trains from St Petersburg to Helsinki—which typically accommodate far fewer passengers than they have capacity for—have been packed with Russian travellers since February 27th.
VR Group, a Finnish train company, told The Economist they plan to double the number of daily trains in order to address the growing demand from Russian passengers.
Since the imposition of stringent economic sanctions by Western countries last weekend, the Russian authorities have been straining to prop up the economy and the rouble, which has sunk to record lows against the dollar. The central bank has doubled interest rates. Russians—who have been queuing to take their money out of the banks—have been banned from leaving the country with more than $10,000 in cash. On March 2nd, Mr Putin’s cabinet offered preferential government mortgages and military deferment to information technology workers at Russian firms. But as the grip of sanctions tightens, such incentives may not be enough to keep more Russians from leaving.
Don’t let them leave, make them deal with the problem.
Why do you say that?
Send them to the Hotel California. Where they can check out any time they want but they can never leave.
Will we see a new Berlin Wall? The reason the Russians built it was that so many East Germans were voting with their feet and choosing the west.
Because when enough people there feel pain, maybe they’ll be motivated to do something about it. If you let them fly off to safe havens, it relieves the pressure from Putin.
whoever takes them will be in danger of invasion from Russia whenever Putin decides he needs to “protect the oppressed Russian minority!”
Kind of like what’s happened in the US for the past 2+ years. Apathy and letting someone else deal with leaders who are evil is standard procedure in the US.
LoL that song happens to be very popular in Russia. Lots of street performers play it in the summer.
Do the street performers sing “Hotel California” in English?
It’s the kind of ballad(?) that may lose in translation unless you’re awfully clever with phrasing and the beat of the song.
“Don’t let them leave, make them deal with the problem.”
That is superficial at best. It is not the Russian people who want this war, and nor do they care much for Vladimir Putin for the matter. Most Russians despise the man, even if they are terrified to admit such openly. The KGB still operates in Russia, only the name has changed.
The one individual who wanted this war, and was determined to find any excuse to effect it is Vladimir Putin. He holds fast to his psychotic fantasy of restoring the old “empire” of Tsarist Russia. Putin refuses to accept that the historically fiercely independent Ukrainian people do not want to be under his rule.
Kyiv was a cosmopolitan center of trade 1000 years before Moscow was even a village. Ukraine has its own history, far removed from Russia. Unfortunately, to the detriment of Ukraine, Russia, and the civilized world in general, Thug Putin refuses to accept that reality.
You have a better solution to the problem of Putin?
No, didn't think so!
Regards,
They say ignorance is bliss - and, apparently, you’re a very blissful individual
Yes In English. And if it’s not sung it’s played instrumental a lot as well.
Thank you for proposing a superior solution - thus proving me wrong!
Regards,
I’ll gladly trade 40-50 million Russians for say, half the population of California, New York and Massachusetts.
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