Ukr: We’re here for peace talks.
Russ: So are we. We’ll take that piece, this piece, and the piece over there…
Ukr: No. Um. Peace. P-E-A-C-E.
Russ: Oh, haha. Well, this is awkward.
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This isn’t quite right. They had first ten years of dramatic plummeting of their living standards under Eltsine after the collapse of the USSR. Then, Putin restored a functional state, and things got progressively better in economic terms. That might feel like a small detail, but it’s really important in order to understand why many Russians nowadays continue to support Putin despite of him currently doing his best to shorten his reign.
Also, you can’t judge Russia by Western standards. They’ve never experienced any sort of genuine democracy, at no point in their history. That’s why, according to reasonably levelheaded articles published on this issue, 70% of Russians still support Putin in all this. They are used to gobble down propaganda without any afterthought, because they’ve never known anything else, and are also historically used to tyranny and hardship if it comes down to it.
So, it’s not the people from the streets who will remove Putin. The oligarchs on the other hand, who hold the true power in the country, might decide that enough is enough. We’ll see.
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Nearly 60% of Russians are under 44 though. Wouldn’t you expect this demographic to be a lot less accepting of State propaganda , and a lot more vocal when they are about to experience a drastic cut in their living standards ?
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We’ll see, but I for one don’t expect the street to take out Putin. Before it comes to that, he’ll probably be taken out by his successor at some point, in good old Russian tradition.
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If he’s overthrown by an oligarch, it’ll likely be someone equally ruthless and autocratic.
You don’t get to a position like that by being a caring sensitive type.
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Yeah , I think you’re probably right.
It’s all no less puzzling to me however , and reminds me of a quote I came across recently from the Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev ;
“Russia cannot be understood with the mind alone.”
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Which parts of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk as if it’s the entirety of these 'administrative zones no way could Ukraine seed. Mariupol is in Donetsk for example and would remain a hot spot for years to come (after what the Russians have and are doing to it it will surely become a center for 'vengeance).
These are the details that take time and noone has mentionned Odessa, my point of view is it’s really complicated and those that don’t know the real situation shouldn’t be commenting (and that includes me). It seems that for many Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea are just words yet they are whole regions (enormous) not just border towns.
Sadly I guess at this point just a regular ruthless autocrat but without the imperialistic wet dreams could be considered an improvement
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Of course, all Russian Czars were ruthless. All Soviet leaders were ruthless, and nothing has changed since then, nor is likely to change.
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Drone in Zagreb update:
Croatia’s prime minister Plenkovic yesterday confirmed and showed an image of pieces of that aerobomb that was inside the drone.
There was polemics in Croatia’s public and media area in last days if it’s the usual “bomb” to destroy information and prevent the enemy from gathering stuff or something extra with a bad intentions.
Funny thing is that Stoltenberg just a few hours before told in his presser that the drone was unarmed.
But according to Plenkovic, perhaps Stoltenberg had the old information (when it seemed that it was indeed unarmed). He was also confused why he said such thing or why he wasn’t updated with the newest information.
Communication and clarity was definitely lacking, just created confusion (of course there are much more important topics at the moment, but this incident isn’t really a piece of cake either).
The area is cleaned up and open to public since a few days now and perhaps further analysis might show who was behind it and why.
French carrier Charles de Gaulle was outside Dubrovnik yesterday. Rafale fighters were present as well, cruising in Croatia’s fly-zone. Today, two US F-16’s arrived as well.
We’ll probably never know 100% all the details what happened, especially in public.
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Not just Hungary and Romania not picking it up (or if they did, failing to alert Croatia) but NATO has had AWACs in the area for weeks. How did that miss it?
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