General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Russian economy -- not a good prognosis.
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Kaleva
(36,145 posts)blue-wave
(4,313 posts)A Russian revolution/regime change would help Ukraine greatly, I'm sure.
Amishman
(5,538 posts)Economies are like trains; they take a while to slow down and a while to speed up again.
A month from a stable economy to economic ruin is the fast tracked implosion.
BigmanPigman
(51,430 posts)They didn't say "double fucked" but they said everything else.
herding cats
(19,549 posts)During the Crimea invasion many Russians moved some of their monies to USD and stashed those at home as a safety net. This time, due to the depth and speed of the sanctions their ability to purchase a safer currency as a hedge was cutoff early on. Those who had USD tried to extract them from banks before they were cutoff. They've lost their Google and Apple Pay (yes, they used it there, too) and they know something nefarious is afoot. Even if they're not privy to exactly how nefarious it is just yet.
I've never seen sanctions on this level before, but I suspect before this is over old timers in Russia will be speaking of the dark days when the Soviet Union was dissolved and comparing notes. Younger people used to services and a more convenient access to, well, everything, will be more deeply gobsmacked.
Reports of Putin imposing martial law tomorrow to nip any civil unrest in the bud seem more and more likely. The propaganda fest he plans to air before the martial law will no doubt be nauseating. If I were a Russian and I could, I'd flee while it's still an option with my paltry 10k in foreign funds allowed to me and take my chances.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,773 posts)herding cats
(19,549 posts)They've clamped down dramatically. And, you cannot take more than 10k in foreign currency across the border.
certainot
(9,090 posts)flynns too but they also have sane ones or we wouldn't have lasted this long.
soon we will tune in to see putin seems to have disappeared..... he's just retired to a meditation room on another yacht to study the chessboard......
herding cats
(19,549 posts)His inner circle is pretty much as batshit insane as he is and salivating at the levels of new controls they may have over the populace. But, we can always hope a saner person can gain access to him somehow. Stranger things have happened.
speak easy
(9,097 posts)will get to experience all of its glory is for themselves".
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,773 posts)Roy Rolling
(6,853 posts)In 1990 Russian citizens dissolved the USSR because they couldnt get blue jeans and Beatle albums. How long will Putin last when Internet access is shut down in 2022? I guarantee they wont be killing time shoppingthe shelves will be empty.
Chainfire
(17,304 posts)Putin will declare that the devastating sanctions are an act of war, by America, and threaten to use his nuclear arsenal to put things right. What will we do then? I don't think that there is a viable external solution to the Putin problem; it needs to come from inside his own country.
Hermann Goering, in an interview during the Nuremberg Trials, has this to say about how easy it is to bring the people to war. From an interview with Gustav Gilbert:
Gilbert asked Goering how it was possible to build and sustain public support for a war effort, especially in Germany, which had barely recovered from the still recent disaster of World War I.
Heres Goerings reply:
Why, of course, the people dont want war, Goering shrugged. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people dont want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood.
But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.
There is one difference, [Gilbert] pointed out. In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.
Oh, that is all well and good, [replied Goering] but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
Danascot
(4,662 posts)with yes men, fraudsters, idiots and traitors over the four years he was in office. Putin has had more than 20 years to insulate himself. Plus he's more paranoid, ruthless and smarter than Trump. I have a hard time imagining there is anyone left who can get near him that would take him down, and he isn't going to relinquish power willingly. It will be interesting to see how this plays out but I hope he goes sooner than later.