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Speaking of Russia (which is the only one of those countries/localities that I can speak for, since I grew up there), I will say that Putin is inarguably the be

Speaking of Russia (which is the only one of those countries/localities that I can speak for, since I grew up there), I will say that Putin is inarguably the best thing that happened to Russia in the past 100 years.

khuey 10y ago
Not very many good things have happened to Russia in the last 100 years.
- general_ai 10y ago
  That's exactly right. And if someone is going to protest Putin, may I suggest that they peruse the following graph: https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=russia+per+capita+&aqs=chrome.4.0j69i57j0l4.6467j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq.... That's Putin.
  - tobltobs 10y ago
    No, that's the price of oil. Anyway, to use GDP as the prove for how good a president is, is nonsense anyway. Eg.: https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=venezuela+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=venezuela+per+capita+gdp+ppp https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=venezuela+per+capita+....
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - general_ai 10y ago
      Some of it is price of oil, sure. But if you're going to compare to Venezuela, you should be comparing PPP GDP, and not just GDP at exchange rate, which is kinda meaningless. Scroll down to "GDP at parity" here: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=venezuela+russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp+2000-2016 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=venezuela+russia+per+c.... As you can see, price of oil alone doesn't guarantee that the economy will get any better. And Russian economy did get dramatically better under Putin. I go back every 3-4 years, and the country is barely recognizable now compared to how things were 15 years ago. I could now actually imagine living and working there.
      - nl 10y ago
        https://www.google.com.au/search?q=poland+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=russia+per+capita+gdp https://www.google.com.au/search?q=poland+per+capita+gdp+ppp... Look at that. Russia and Poland are almost exactly the same. Czech Republic looks somewhat better, Romania somewhat worse but all are similar shape. I guess Putin is a pretty amazing president! Or maybe there is something else going on...
  - cromulent 10y ago
    There's a lot of other countries that are not led by Putin with similar curves.
woof 10y ago
Even better than Stalin? Or was your use of the word "inarguably" some kind of code?
- scrollaway 10y ago
  Even though most people in the US don't understand why, Putin is really liked in Russia. I guess those same people will have a lesson on what it's like to have a leader most of the world doesn't like/respect/understand :)
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    It's very hard for people to step into the perception of another locale. One of the examples I see is in Congress, people often lament members of Congress and wonder why they continually get reelected. But while everyone else all over the country may hate that Congressman, there's a pretty good chance the locals love him and feel that he's representing their community well.

khuey 10y ago

Not very many good things have happened to Russia in the last 100 years.

general_ai 10y ago
That's exactly right. And if someone is going to protest Putin, may I suggest that they peruse the following graph: https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=russia+per+capita+&aqs=chrome.4.0j69i57j0l4.6467j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq.... That's Putin.
- tobltobs 10y ago
  No, that's the price of oil. Anyway, to use GDP as the prove for how good a president is, is nonsense anyway. Eg.: https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=venezuela+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=venezuela+per+capita+gdp+ppp https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=venezuela+per+capita+....
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - general_ai 10y ago
    Some of it is price of oil, sure. But if you're going to compare to Venezuela, you should be comparing PPP GDP, and not just GDP at exchange rate, which is kinda meaningless. Scroll down to "GDP at parity" here: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=venezuela+russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp+2000-2016 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=venezuela+russia+per+c.... As you can see, price of oil alone doesn't guarantee that the economy will get any better. And Russian economy did get dramatically better under Putin. I go back every 3-4 years, and the country is barely recognizable now compared to how things were 15 years ago. I could now actually imagine living and working there.
    - nl 10y ago
      https://www.google.com.au/search?q=poland+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=russia+per+capita+gdp https://www.google.com.au/search?q=poland+per+capita+gdp+ppp... Look at that. Russia and Poland are almost exactly the same. Czech Republic looks somewhat better, Romania somewhat worse but all are similar shape. I guess Putin is a pretty amazing president! Or maybe there is something else going on...
- cromulent 10y ago
  There's a lot of other countries that are not led by Putin with similar curves.

woof 10y ago

Even better than Stalin? Or was your use of the word "inarguably" some kind of code?

scrollaway 10y ago
Even though most people in the US don't understand why, Putin is really liked in Russia. I guess those same people will have a lesson on what it's like to have a leader most of the world doesn't like/respect/understand :)
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  It's very hard for people to step into the perception of another locale. One of the examples I see is in Congress, people often lament members of Congress and wonder why they continually get reelected. But while everyone else all over the country may hate that Congressman, there's a pretty good chance the locals love him and feel that he's representing their community well.