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Putin's biggest mistake so far.
by gesman 13y ago
Putin's biggest mistake so far.
- jessaustin 13y agoI wish I could believe that, but at this point it's difficult to imagine an outcome that doesn't include Russian possession of the Crimea, with only diplomatic (i.e., nothing economic, political, or military) repercussions.
- thelettere 13y agoMaybe not politically or militarily, but definitely economically. No way Russia thrives if it cuts itself off from the West.
- alexro 13y agoWill Russia thrive if it doesn't cut off from the West, but the West will continue to ignite unrest in all parts of the world? Feel free to not reply.
- thelettere 13y agoYes, it was the West who paid that guy in Egypt to burn himself alive.
- jessaustin 13y agoI think that was Tunisia?
- jessaustin 13y agoI don't expect Russia to be cut off in the way you describe. I understand their economy to be based largely on petroleum, both too big and too connected to Europe to be sanctioned in the way that e.g. Iran has been. Spring is coming, so there could be a few months of sanctions, but by this fall Russia will probably still be in the Crimea, and will certainly again be heating Europe.
- rdtsc 13y agoLong term perhaps, maybe not short term. All the European countries (especially East European ones) have started to slowly warm up to Russia, and by that I mean stop believing it is their ideological mortal enemy and occupier. There was some inkling of "hey maybe they are civilized enough to start doing business with". This now has rolled all that back to Soviet Union times. This will not destroy or kill Russia, but it will increase the rift between itself and the West. In the short term they have the gas resources and they have the military might (and now the additional port and more land). So from Putin's pragmatic short term view he is winning. In the long term, Russia will become more isolated. So it is a bad move long term. This will not be forgotten for many generations.
- BugBrother 13y agoYou are totally correct imho, but miss the point. Read about the resource curse on Wikipedia. It is too lucrative for the junta in an oil country to steal the elections, get external enemies -- and send the oil money to Schweiz. Putin needed to get isolated from the West, so he can condemn all criticism as Western conspiracies. :-(