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What are you talking about? Russia was virtually a failed state in the 1990s, except for half-a-dozen pro-Western crooks who became instant billionaires steali
by hartpuff 11y ago
What are you talking about?
Russia was virtually a failed state in the 1990s, except for half-a-dozen pro-Western crooks who became instant billionaires stealing assets the Russian people had built and paid for, and who helped steal the 1996 election for their partner in crime, Yeltsin.
I'm no fan of Putin or his own kleptocratic cronies, but whether you like him or not, Russia seems to have become far stronger and more stable under him than under his drunken pro-Western predecessor.
- happosai 11y agoKeyword "seems". by eliminating competition around him, Putin is building a power vacuum to happen when he is inevitably gone. The idea that dictator is needed to stabilize a corrupt society isn't completely wrong. But it requires that the dictator is actively growing a next generation of self-thinking competent leaders. Putin is a +60y ex-spy treating every self-thinker as a threat, instead surrounding himself with inept yes-men. That is paving the the post-putin russia to look a lot like Maduro's venezuela.
- x4m 11y agoPutin complained a lot that he is tired of the hand control of everything. I do not think he does not understand root cause. He's mortal and he know it. We have time to form new powers despite some unsuccessful attempts.