Saker note: a rather harsh criticism of the Russian Government and the Kremlin in this SouthFront analysis. Sadly, I cannot say that I disagree with what they say. In fact, I think that they are spot on and that all the “loyal” Kremlin-bots who deny that there is a serious problem in Russia are wrong. Supporting Vladimir Putin’s struggle to truly make Russia sovereign again and built a new multi-polar world does not at all entail being blind to all the very real mistakes and even faults of the Russian government. I can only say that I hope that SF is right and that the current lack of support of the Russian people of the government’s neo-liberal/capitalist policies will force Putin to correct the course and return to the kind of social policies the Russian people clearly want. It is also high time for Russia to take a harsher stance on the Ukraine, if only because the situation in the Ukraine (political and economic) is a total disaster and because some kind of military escalation in the Ukraine seems inevitable. All in all, yet another absolutely superb report by SouthFront who sober analysis contrasts favorably with what both flag-wavers and fear-mongers typically produce.
Transcript:
This is a critical look at the situation in Russia. The video is based on an article of one of our readers and additional data.
The Russia of 2019 is in a complicated economic and even political situation. Smoldering conflicts near its borders amid continued pressure from the US and NATO affect the situation in the country negatively. This is manifested in society and in national politics. The approval rating of the Russian government and personally of President Vladimir Putin has been decreasing.
According to VCIOM, a state pollster, in January 2019, Putin’s confidence rating was only 32.8%. This is 24% less than in January 2018 when it was 57.2%. At the same time, the confidence rating of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was 7.8%. The approval rating of his cabinet is 37.7% while the disapproval rating is 38.7%. Opposition sources show data, which is far worse for the current Russian leadership.
This tendency is not linked to the foreign policy course of the Kremlin. Rather, it’s the result of the recent series of liberal-minded economic reforms, which look similar to the approaches exercised by the Russian government in the mid-1990s. The decision to increase Value Added Tax amid the slowing Russian economy, especially in the industrial sector, and a very unpopular pension reform increasing the retirement age were both factors contributing to the further growth of discontent in the population.
Russia’s GDP increased by 2.3% in 2018 compared to 1.6% in 2017. However, the Ministry of Economic Development, in its document entitled “Economic Picture” stated that this is linked to “one-time factors” and is not “stable”. The ministry maintained its earlier forecast stating that GDP growth in 2019 will be 1.3%. It confirmed increasing capital outflow. In this case, the repayment of funds to Western creditors by the Russian private sector is one of the causes.
The Ministry of Economic Development also pointed out that the expendable income of the population decreased by 0.2%. Statutory charges, including the increased taxes, are named as one of the reasons. The document says that statutory charges grew by 14.8% in 2018.
Additionally, the population is facing an increasingly restrictive administrative pressure: new fines and other penalties for minor violations in various fields and additional administrative restrictions limiting the freedom of actions of citizens. Restrictive traffic management of big cities, increasing fees for using federal highways as well as policies that are de-facto aimed at small business and self-employed persons are among its landmarks.
Meanwhile the general population has no effective levers of pressure to affect or correct government policy. The public political sphere has become a desert. United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya) is the only political party still de—facto existing in public politics. By now its ideological and organizational capabilities have become exhausted. Other “political parties and organizations” are just media constructs designed to defend the interests of a narrow group of their sponsors. It is hard to find a lawmaker in the State Duma or the Federation Council, who is not affiliated with the cliquish top political elite and oligarch clans.
In the media sphere, the government has failed to explain its current course to the population. A vast majority of the initiatives of Medvedev’s cabinet face a negative reaction from the population. A spate of scandals involving high and middle level government officials made the situation even worse. These cases revealed blatant hypocrisy and the neglectful attitude to duties of some Russian officials.
Some of the officials even became heroes of nationwide memes. Probably, the most prominent of these heroes are Minister of Labour and Employment of the Saratov region Natalia Sokolova and Head of Department for Youth Policy in the Sverdlov Region Olga Glatskikh.
Sokolova advised Russian pensioners to eat “makaroshki” [a derogatory term for maccheroni] to save money and to thus become able to survive on the subsistence minimum of 3,500 RUB [about 50 USD] per month.
“You will become younger, prettier and slimmer! Makaroshki cost is always the same!”, she said during a meeting of the regional parliamentary group on social policy in October 2018 adding that discounted products can be used to create a “balanced, but dietic” menu.
Glatskikh became a meme hero thank to her meeting with young volunteers during the same month. Commenting on the possible financing of youth projects, she told volunteers that the government did not ask their parents “to give birth” to them. So, they should expect nothing from the state.
In the period from 2018 to 2019, there were multiple arrests of officials caught exceeding the limits of their authority and being involved in corruption schemes. In comparison to previous periods, this number had increased by 1.5-2 times. The most recent detention took place right in the Parliament building on January 30. A 32-year-old senator, Rauf Arashukov, is suspected of being a member of a criminal group involved in the 2010 murders of two people and in pressuring a witness to one of the killings. On the same day, authorities detained his father, an adviser to the chief executive of a Gazprom subsidiary, Raul Arashukov. He is suspected of embezzling natural gas worth 30 billion rubles ($450 million).
However, these actions do not appear to be enough to change the established media situation. After a large-scale corruption scandal in the Ministry of Defense in 2012, which led to almost no consequences for key responsible persons including former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who even continued his carrier in state-linked corporation Rostec. The general public has serious reservations about any real success of anti-corruption efforts.
The aforementioned factors fuel the negative perception of the Medvedev government and Vladimir Putin as the head of state among Russian citizens.
The 2014 events in Crimea showed to the Russian population that its state is ready to defend the interests of the nation and those who describe themselves as Russians even by force of arms. This was the first case when this approach was openly employed in the recent history of Russia. Therefore, the population was enthusiastic and national pride was on the rise. However, the Kremlin failed to exploit these gained opportunities and did not use them to strengthen the Russian state. In fact, up to February 2019, the policy towards eastern Ukraine has been inconsistent. At the same time, Moscow continues to lose its influence in post-Soviet states. This can be observed in both the Caucasus and Central Asia. Even, their close ally, Belarus, occasionally demonstrates unfriendly behavior and focuses its own efforts on the exploitation of economic preferences granted by Russia.
Evaluating the current internal political situation in Russia and its foreign policy course, it’s possible to say that the Russian leadership has lost its clear vision of national development and a firm and consistent policy, which are needed for any great power. Another explanation of this is that the Russian leadership is facing pressure from multiple agents of influence, which stand against vision of a powerful independent state seeking to act as one of the centers of power on the global stage. One more factor, often pointed out by experts, is the closed crony-caste system of elites. This system led to the creation of a leadership, which pursues its own narrow clannish interests. Apparently, all of these factors influence Russian foreign and domestic policies in one way or another.
The aforementioned large-scale anti-corruption campaign, regarding the people’s show-me attitude towards its result, could be a sign of a new emerging trend, which would lead to a purge of the corrupt elites and to strategic changes in Russian domestic policy.
It is highly likely that Russia will face hard times in the next two years (2019-2020) and face various threats and challenges to its economy, foreign policy course and even to its statehood.
I am having trouble accepting this. To me this sounds like liberal disinformation, an attempt at creating internal strife in Russia.
Indeed, but why now, we should ask, why demanding, just right now, that Russia should escalate in Ukraine…just when the US is trying to escalate around Ukrainian elections…and right now when the US wants to escalate in Venezuela and Russia is one of its allies
Anyway, obviously, any government does everything right, moreover the Russians are under harsh sanctions since….ages?
I wonder whether “SouthFront” has produced such an analysis on the US state of affairs…
Anonymous
I have found this entire article to be unconvincing and melodramatic, devoid of reality The Kremlin did not “strengthen the Russian state” ? Indeed. A prepostrous statement. Russian policy towards eastern Ukraine “inconsistent” ? Outrageous statement. Moscow “losing influence” in post-Soviet states ? Absurd statement (yes, it lost influence in the Baltic states, but that hardly counts, all the more so since the former leadership of the Baltic states now regrets leaving the Soviet Union). Russian leadership losing a “clear vision of national development” ? A prepostrous statement.
Having read this article again, I am now convinced that we are dealing with liberal propaganda, produced in the West and directed in Russia by liberal “forces”, if the word “forces” can be used at all, since the power of the liberals is constantly falling.
Finally, when it comes to eastern Ukraine, Putin’s handling of the situation was sheer professionalism. Ukraine did not dare attack, and Russia was not provoked.
I agree B.F.
I mentioned this in my comment below – to me it’s the very definition of psyop: to influence the emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of individuals.
Statements like the “failure to strengthen the Russian state” is particularly offensive.
More articles like this, and they *will* have a serious problem in Russia.
BF. Well said.
The above says the net approval rating (approving minus disapproving) of the cabinet is about -1%.
For the situation in the US, Trump, its about -13% last time I looked. (55 Disapprove, 42 Approve)
Trump’s has actually gained a bit from his re-opening the shutdown government. During the shutdown it reached as low as -17%. And the corporate media is hiding that he is now a dictator ruling by declaring emergencies and bypassing the key constitutional provision that gave the US House the power over the purse. So, strangely enough, the bit about Trump declaring himself dictator has not really hurt Trump’s approval ratings, mainly because the corporate press wants the next corporate Democrat President to have those same sweeping emergency powers.
Isn’t it the Senate that has power over the purse?
Or is that just for making war.
Minor cavil with this report:
A reduction of 57.2% to 32.8% is not “24% less.”
The latter type of statement, while common, is, I believe, incorrect.
Percentage is a multiplication function, not an addition (subtraction) function.
32.8% is 24.4 percentage points less than 57.2%.
By my reckoning, this change is actually a 42.6% reduction.
I.e., what percentage is 24.4 of 57.2?
That is, 24.4 divided by 57.2.
Perhaps mathematicians can correct me on this and calculate the actual percentage of the reduction.
Thank you.
Katherine
Katherine,
The House of Representatives has control of all matters financial.
The Senate has enormous influence in matters of war–foreign affairs, etc.
They are exclusive powers for each, as set in the Constitution.
This article “says it all” ( six months ago )
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/13/russ-o13.html
Other articles: https://www.wsws.org/en/topics/country/eu-russ/
Can you be a bit more specific and let us know what you think is not correct in this article?
Putin’s approval rating is 62.2%
Here is the latest VCIOM poll.
VCIOM poll
The 32,6% is not a a “confidence” rating!
It’s is a “most trusted” politician ranking number on a “pick one” list of names.
The Defense Minister Shoigu is 2nd on the list with 15,5%.
Lavrov is 3rd with 13,2%. Followed by Medvedev at 7,9%.
B.F,
I respectfully disagree. This is not liberal disinformation. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s an incredibly patriotic perspective, steeped in conservative values, critical of Neoliberal reforms. To conflate the two is more indicative of a well-meaning, but woefully uninformed, Western perspective.
Im thinking along the lines of a Tom Luongo. Good guy, just doesn’t truly understand Russian values and assumes that Russians are still irreparably brainwashed by decades of imposed Communism. I always get a chuckle when he uses The Saker as an example of a Russian “liberal” influenced by communism. We in the diaspora, were the biggest anti-communists, staunchly conservative, as I’m sure you know.
Regarding several of your specific objections:
SF never proclaimed that the VP/ Kremlin has weakened Russia. They do assert that the Kremlin didn’t “capitalize” on the incredible groundswell of national pride and unity, born from Russia’s defense of ethnic Russians .
-There was no talk of the Baltic States. They are referencing losing influence and political capital in the “stans”, Armenia and to a lesser extent Belarus . This has been well documented by almost every respected Russophile. A quick search of recent articles, referencing Armenia, will reinforce that assertion.
–
“This can be observed in both the Caucasus and Central Asia. Even, their close ally, Belarus, occasionally demonstrates unfriendly behavior and focuses its own efforts on the exploitation of economic preferences granted by Russia”
–
Russia must focus on eliminating corruption and the influence of Russian Atlanticists. I believe Putin has made incredible progress, thus far. We can all agree that Putin has done an excellent job resurrecting Russia. Modern Russia’s resistance to the empire’s machinations, has, at least temporarily, saved the world from absolute global tyranny.
My friend, I would love to talk with you, off the boards,one of these days. I always value your contribution and would love to “compare notes” sometime.
The Zionazi, Gershman, who runs the USA’s prime regime change operation, the laughably named ‘National Endowment for ‘Democracy’, where ‘democracy’ is understood as unquestioning obedience to Thanatopolis DC and Tel Aviv, was recently giving testimony to the US Congress. He boasted, in regard to China, if I recall properly, that the NED often plays a long game where it takes decades of unending, multi-dimensional, subversion to undermine a targeted state. As we saw in Brazil,’judicial’ thugs, trained in the USA, can bring down an elected Government, and imprison highly popular figures like Lula, on utterly fraudulent and fabricated charges. Even more dangerous, however, are economic Fifth Columnists and traitors. The Chinese state controls its economy, hence its success, but I fear that Russia does not.
Epithet, you say: “… losing influence and political capital in the “stans”, Armenia and to a lesser extent Belarus”.
Why did this happen? Were the leaders of these countries bribed by the west? Sanctioned? Something may have happened — if they opted for the falling, collapsing western side, there must be an explanation. Perhaps, Russia under sanctions could not expand enough to provide a better market for their goods so the dirty west just bought them out…
March 1 Poll Results:
https://www.rt.com/russia/452785-putin-rating-rise-address/
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has risen to 64.8 percent – the highest so far in 2019 – after his annual address to the Russian parliament.
Indeed, Russia of our days is Putin.
He is as important to Russia as was Hitler to Germany back when…
Not, that it make any difference how is Russia made great again, as long as it gets there eventualy.
I pray for time, I pray for Putin, I pray he has the time needed to break the oligarx and has the foresight to nurture an apprentice.
…and I place my hope in the next generation of Russians to understand their essential place in the future of mankind.
Now there’s a strange,convoluted comment.
Hitler was an absolute disaster for Germany.
The comparison is absurd.
People here dead asleep??
Sometimes I wonder..
Bro 93, I don’t know about the rest but I see very well the inferred meaning of the post equating VVP with AH. Ludicrous to an extreme, but I don’t reply to such idiocy, it’s a waste of time.
Auslander
If true, the lady that recommended pensioners eat discounted pasta should recall what happened to Marie Antoinette after she had recommended lynching mob gathering under her window eat cake.
Russian people have suffered so much for their country and their politicians owed them respect. There is no difference between the genocidal West that wants to cleanse them from their land and corrupt politicians that steal $450 million in gas from public coffers. The same methods of eradication should apply for such enemies of people. Sometimes it is easier to fight an external enemy – you point a nuclear tipped missile and wait. With internal enemies it is hard to do the same but on the other hand they are close to you and easily reached.
Marko, what Marie Antionette really said was, “Qu’ils mangent du brioche”. As you probably know, France has long been famous for its wide variety of delicious and nourishing breads – which include ordinary bread (pain), sweet rolls and loaves (brioche), croissants, etc.
Marie Antionette by no means suggested that the poor should “eat cake” – which she knew very well they did not have. On being told they had no “pain”, she suggested a reasonable and practical alternative – as far as she knew.
A very intelligent and rather compassionate queen, she also said, “Nothing is new – except what has been forgotten”. A remark worthy of long meditation.
What the poor usually forget is that they can eat the rich.
Jeffrey,
I seem to recall you had a preference for the likes of Macron ;)
Bad taste…..Too soon?
Unappetising and indigestible.
Thanks Tom. I was rather referring to human trait of insolence that the rich have towards lower strata of society which alleged incident with Queen Marie depictes nicely. I have read opposing versions of who Queen Marie was and there is probably much truth about her philanthropy.
Cheers.
Tom Welsh:
Not sure I agree with this take on the cake comment.
“Pain” is the basic bread. Flour, water, yeast, salt. A loaf to feed a family.
Brioche is not basic bread. It is a special, rich bread made with eggs, sugar, and butter.
A small sweet yeast bun.
So, I think if the masses of people have no bread and are hungry and you recommend that they eat brioche, it shows either that you are clueless in thinking that the poor can choose from a fancy menu of gourmet products, or that you are cruelly superficial and are poking fun at them.
Katherine
The difference to Marie Antoinette is that she offered cake when the ‘people’ asked for bread, whereas Sokolova offered pasta (which most people consider ‘gourmet’ food) when ‘people’ asked for cake (with a cherry on top presumably).
Knowing that Marie Antoinette never said the words attributed to her and that the meme was invented to reveal the callousness a decadent monarchy and fueled the revolution, one may ask why this meme is reinvented to show the callousness of a state which does not care for the needs of the ‘people’?
Marie Antoinette probably said none of that. Jean Jaques Rousseau appears to have written it
in 1765 (when Marie was nine-years-old and living in her native Austria)
Rousseau didnt even explicitly name the princess.
Also, a century before, the wife of Louis XIV had said it so that could have been the intended person.
The ‘French’ revolution was organised from London and was not a genuine popular rise against an evil regime. Spreading false rumours is part of such special operations.
Rousseau a so called enlightenment philosopher is associated with the concept of ‘the noble savage’ although he may not have used that particular expression. He did however praise rural backwardness for colonial tribes. And he and another enlightenment genius, Voltaire, were helping the plot against the french monarchy.
I mention this to put Rousseaus role in perspective.
And another interesting circumstance is that modern France is still celebrating her day of infamy at july 14.
It appears France is still dominated by the foreign plotters
@The ‘French’ revolution was organised from London
Absolutely true, at the very least since 1717, date of birth (after a prolonged gestation that was the ‘intellectual revolution of the 17th century’ brewed by the “Prophets of the Age of Enlightenment”, Sir Francis Bacon, John Locke, Sir Isaac Newton) of the Grand Lodge of England. It quickly proliferated, the first French Lodge founded in 1738. Due to its ‘secrecy’ Masonry was the ideal culture medium for creating networks of spies, special operations agents, propaganda, brainwashing, fomenting revolutions. It was an arm of the expansion of the British Empire (the Lodges established in India predate even the establishment of the French Lodge – 1729 in Calcutta, by Captain Ralph Farrwinter, an officer of the East India Company). But all Grand Masters of the British Lodge were Lords, Earls, Dukes, Princes of Wales, in other words under control of the Government of His/Her Majesty!
Much can be said also of the bastard child of the Lodge, the ‘Scottish Rite’ which proliferated in America. Enough to say that the ‘Founding Fathers’ were all Masons. Thomas Jefferson was the first Ambassador to France, and there is no doubt that he had a direct hand in the operations that led to the ‘fall of the Bastille’. Jefferson was for sure a Mason (albeit it is vehemently denied). It was the way the Americans repaid the French Monarchs for their (misguided) help in the establishment of the USA!
Much more, of course, can be said of who was behind the Masonry!
Well, i hope Putin listen its people and put all.its efforts to streghtn the state. Neoliberal capitalism will not work in Russia, it ahas to be a mixed economy in a much better shspe than today. I hope they purge all corrupt official and start a new era of younger politicians. They need the smartest, not the most corrupted.
I think a lot of Russians like Putin’s foreign policy but are dissatisfied by the Neo-liberal economic policies. Without the hybrid war on Russia, Georgia 2008, Ukraine and sanctions, Putin would have been voted out. Putin needs better economists, reading PCR and Michael Hudson’s critique of the central bank, and Putin’s views that the sanctions are temporary, I think a more independent central bank and something like Japan’s MITI would be better for most Russians
Current situation , nicely explained in South Front’s analysis and correctly confirmed in the Saker’s article was analyzed and predicted exactly 2 years ago in my article:
/is-russias-deep-state-in-civil-war-just-like-americas/
A very precise evaluation of the present situation in Russia, I believe. Probably, a warning to the world that big changes will occur very soon in Russia… Again, a response to western idiocy.
This piece reeks of the usual doom-and-gloom to belittle Russia’s future prospects, and I quote:
”Therefore, the population was enthusiastic and national pride was on the rise / in 2014 / . However, the Kremlin failed to exploit these gained opportunities and did not use them to strengthen the Russian state.”
OK. The Kerch bridge, the all-new Russian weapon systems, the defeat of ISIS, and other achievements somehow represent a failure on the Kremlin’s part to strengthen the Russian state?
If Russia capitulated to the West, it wouldn’t ”solve” anything, neither for Russia, nor for Western imperialism. The latter has descended to all-out insanity and parasitism and would finish off the planet in just a few years’ time if it were to come out victorious. To Russia, its ’ruling cliques’ especially, this is evident. On this basis, Russian capitulation is not an option.
Nussiminen
We are dealing here with simple psychological warfare. This reminds me of an article written by Israel Shamir at the beginning of 2018, prior to the elections in Russia, where he stated, outrageously, that candidate Paul Grudinin enjoyed between 30 % and 80 % of voter support, which I found incredible. Before I read that article, I did not even know who Paul Grudinin was, as I never heard of him. Shamir was quoting Russian liberal websites. The style of that article is virtually identical to the style of this article, which means that both were “cooked” in the same “kitchen”, the aim being to disinform and create possible internal strife in Russia.
Just statements, basically no argumentation in this “report”. Seems to me just politically motivated: the authors obviously don’t like the course, and so the make all kind of statements without any justifications.
And please do not ask me to give examples: the articles has NO facts whatsoever except of the initial quotes of some “approval rates”, where there is NO information given on how these numbers are created. Typically, just a few thousand people are asked vague questions.
Concerning corruption: “In comparison to previous periods, this number had increased by 1.5-2 times.” — This could very well be, and is publicly argued (so should be known to the authors of the “report”), due to the INCREASED effort in fighting corruption.
No attacking the author/s – please read the site moderation policy. No capitals either. Mod.
Apart from the pension reform and Ukraine, everything is a just a hodgepodge of anecdotal events. The real reason for the slide in Putin’s popularity – which remains strong anyway – is that people’s income have stagnated and that is because of the crash of the oil price and sanctions. So, the problems are clearly of external origin, and the government has actually coped masterly with them. You can just not please everybody under such dramatic conditions.
In this connection it is worth mentioning that the liberal opposition managed to attract less than 10 thousand people to participate in last Sunday’s protest rally in Moscow dedicated to the memory of Boris Nemtsov, there biggest rally in at least half a year. Clearly an indication that things are nowhere near as bad as the author depicted them.
Mr Hellevig I agree with you. And I read your economic analyses about Russia. They are very interesting.
Yes, the main problem is stagnation of wages during the last several years in Russia. But we know what has happened since 2013 and 2014 and what challenges Russia has faced, economic warfare from USA and entire West, propaganda war and even support of anti-Russian terrorism.
Many times Putin and Russian government have been criticized for many things, but time has showed that Putin has been right in 95% of cases. Especially for dealing with Ukraine crisis. And Putin’s decision not do start military intervention in Ukraine was brilliant decision.
I think that Putin know what he is doing and all these stories about his tolerance of some liberals and all critics about his choice to appoint Nabiullina and to keep Medvedev, are in the most cases just empty demagogy.
I trust him and he has shown that his strategic decisions have been right and correct. Russia is becoming self-sufficient and last several years wage stagnation was the price Russia has had to pay in order to achieve these main strategic goals.
Now we can see that Russian government undertake colossal national projects and that one of main goals is to increase the quality of life standard but to ensure that many achievements are to be accomplished.
I trust Mr. Putin and his team more than to these people who write texts like this one above.
Russian nationalists criticize Putin because he does not allow primitive Russian nationalism to be something like state ideology.
Putin is absolutely right, he support Russian patriotism but NOT NATIONALISM, because one nationalism provokes another so Russia would be very soon flooded with separatism on non-Russian peoples and ethnic groups.
Also, some people criticize Putin because he does not respond to USA and western provocations with self-isolationism.
But self-isolationism is exactly what Russian enemies want. Self-isolationism is slow death of nation and it was a grave mistake of communists to isolate their countries from outside world. Because people inside such a country develop completely wrong and idealistically deformed image of outside world and West especially.
We can see even today consequences in Eastern Europe and Russia as well. Good example is silly and ridiculous public hysteria in Moscow when the first McDonald restaurant was opened with all that crowd and endless queues.
So, Putin is absolutely right for not allowing Russian self-isolationism again.
But self-sufficiency does not mean self-isolationism and it is another right decision to create and preserve strategic self-sufficiency as much as is possible. But at the same time to be open to economic cooperation with every part of world.
We can hear many critics about pension reform but this reform is absolutely necessary. People must understand this and Putin is right about this reform as well.
We can see now results of modernization of Russian Army, Navy, Air Force and Strategic forces.
Every possible analyses clearly show that the path of Putin and his team is absolutely right. So, the most of these critics are cheap talk.
But one thing has to be achieved in next five years – significant increase of GDP growth and life standard quality and income of Russian people. It is ultimate goal and if it is not achieved all these achievements can be put in danger.
That is why USA, UK and western political elites will do everything possible to stop or to slow down Russian efforts. I hope that they will not succeed.
If I was Putin I would definitely isolate Russia from the Western political apparatus and elites. No interfering and subversion Western NGOs. No co-operation with NATO or EU states, until they cease their relentless aggression and subversion. No proselytising of Western junk ‘religions’. Make individual citizens of those states welcome to visit as tourists or students, and crack down mercilessly on any subversives who seek to enter clandestinely disguised as ‘friends. Keep Western, NATO and EU ‘diplomats’ on tight leashes, with immediate expulsion for any who collaborate with internal subversives. And make Russia open fully to any country that offers the basic decencies of friendship and co-operation. In any case the West is dying of its moral, spiritual and intellectual corruption, so quarantine is definitely required’, for hygienic reasons.
To ban NGO’s is one thing but to self-isolate itself communist style is completely different thing.
Russia must be politically, economically, culturally open to all parts of the World including West.
Which is what I suggested-open to the whole decent world, but closed off from the Exceptionalist psychopaths. I’d recommend it for all countries.
I would note that even if aproval for putin has been decreasing, it still is multiples of others.
More especial than that, his international aproval is persistently climbing since he was shunned at g8 meeting several yesrs ago.
See most readers disagree with the article, interestingly though Saker agrees. My observation is that people quickly find fault with other countries but turn a blind eye to their own. As commented before, just because the West is corrupt and war-like does not make those that oppose it perfect. If you can’t engage in self criticism why condemn others? There are a few commentators out there that argue that Russia and China are simply controlled opposition, but in reality all belong to the same Zionist club, right or wrong I don’t know, but there is an argument to be made there.
It is exactly that.
Several people here are willing to tell Brazil what to do with Amazon Forrest but when is time to listen my opinion about the Artic or Alaska it is a no go.
They are blind!
This makes the entire non aligned movement weaker!
I read about fifteen news sites from Russia per day and most all comments.
The flow of opinion has been like it was before the election when his rating was near 80%.
Just more people raging at the Liberals and the big changes of pension, VAT and gas prices, and now something related to electrical rates.
What most people agree on is Putin has to decapitate the United Russia Party, clean out the last of the oligarchs, and rid the Kremlin/government in the provinces of all Liberals.
He has never had a Putin government. He has barely 5 years left to get things done.
I think he has allowed the resentment of the people rise so when he cleans house, there is no alternative.
Kudrin, Chubais, Medvedev are saboteurs.
Putin was perfectly positioned politically with the election campaign. He had built Team Putin. Ran away from the Party. And received an overwhelming mandate. The Liberals sabotaged all that.
He needs a War Council of Patriots to help him run the nation. Time is up. Putin will have failed Russia’s future if he does not act.
The liberals are destroying science, education, the arts, sports, health, R&D, every sector except the Military.
Russia has to stop the brain drain, increase population, and develop its infrastructure, join the Space Race again, and maintain security in Eurasia.
He cannot accomplish this with Liberals having any power.
They are like hyenas waiting for the Alpha to be taken down.
Kill them first, VVP. Rid the nation of the menace of these scum. Send them away.
The agreement among the clans is broken.
Larchmonter, I have a theory that your comment just now galvanized into words.
Putin has not signed up to do the things you say must be done. I agree that they must be done. I suspect Putin may even know this. But I equally suspect that – based on his very focused performance to date – he has viewed his tasks as the goals of (1) military security, (2) an alleviation of social conditions and (3) the birth and successful growth of a national sense of pride, optimism and creative energy.
I think we all get tired when we contemplate additional tasks outside our remit. I think what you suggest is something that Putin cannot actually take into himself, that there’s just no room, as much of himself as he has given already to his objectives. I think he may even very secretly be feeling a little tired. In his own words, he’s worked like a galley slave for many years now.
I suspect that he views the task you illustrate as one for the next person and team. And that he will put this team in place, and hand over to them a safe, socially secure and upwardly envisioning country, in which they can then with a clear mandate take out the long knives and cut the malignancy out of the nation.
It’s a theory, based on a long-standing impression, that just now found words. I’m trying it on to see how it fits.
ps..I’m aware that the clock is ticking, and the damage of evils is tangible. But the growth of the good is tangible also, and I think it continues to outstrip the bad. When Putin hands the reins over, somehow the moment will come for all the things remaining to be done.
Grieved, you may be right.
However, the pace of social pressure seems to be too much for five more years of Liberalism set against the growing impatience and anger of the masses.
I also am trying to matrix this reality with Surkov’s article on the nature of Putinism and the Deep Nation, as he sees it.
Surkov wrote, not for no good reason. Especially because he still has the Donbass portfolio, though Russia has virtually blown off Kurt Volker, his counterpart, as Putin has blown off Porky. Surkov was putting forth a truth. It was followed by Putin’s recent domestic program (detailed more than prior efforts). Putin’s plan speaks directly to the People who are so upset with him not ridding the government of Liberals and Liberal capitalism.
All the Security Circle are very active in all issues of threat to the nation. Federal Security Council Patrushev, Sergei Ivanov (secret weapons development), and a very active FSB under Bortnikov, SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin in endless contact with counterparts globally–especially even came to US to make clear some issues. And we know Shoigu and Gerasimov have many personal communications worldwide with friendlies and foes. This brain trust and a few others Putin trusts are entirely capable of running Russia under Tsar Putin.
I see that as what Putin should do. Then he will be handing off a growing economy, a productive work force, growing demographics, and a Russia capable of any dream its people want to pursue.
The People gave him that vote last year to be the Tsar.
Thanks Saker and Larchmonter445 —
The situation you describe is not unlike what we are experiencing in the US, with a chief executive largely saddled with a government controlled by special interests, a combination of 1%ers and foreigners, who operate behind a facade of two parties that are really a unity.
In our case, President Trump does not control the Pentagon or the State Department — notice how both agencies immediately flew heavy-hitters to Europe and the ME to cancel the President’s announced withdrawal from Syria.
Because the 1%ers and foreigners did not dare submit their ruinous 1990 – 2010 trade agreements for Senate ratification, President Trump was able to re-negotiate NAFTA and currently the EU and China accords without effective interference by Capital Hill. Don’t think for a moment China, the EU and our very own 1%ers did not throw everything they had into the 2018 Congressional elections to thwart him. But again the Clinton and Bush trade agreements deliberately excluded Capital Hill and President Trump retained 1) a free negotiating hand and 2) has the Chinese sweating.
One possible foreign policy bonus for President Trump is, of course, North Korea. Deemed a vassal of China by China, President Trump is working with South Korea and Japan to free that abused nation. Their chances of success are slight, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The DPRK is ‘abused’ by whom? Surely not lovable Thanatopia that obliterated four million of their people in the 50s, with germ warfare and carpet-bombing?
I read somewhere a couple years back that the contents of one of Ms. Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speeches mentioned how useful the DPRK boogeyman was to their objectives.
That’s pretty similar to Islamic state and the 800lb Russian Gorilla (er, Bear) boyeyman too.
Another TrumpTard living in his/her alternative facts unreality, as s/he/it fawns over the American Empire’s very own “Dear Leader.”
In terms of North Korea, China, America, s/he/it is psychologically projecting America’s own predatory nature.
Thus, North Korea is helluva lot more independent than America’s vassal nations of Japan and South Korea.
For instance, China does not have thousands of its troops or military bases in North Korea–unlike America’s decades long colonial occupation of Japan and South Korean, where US troops and bases are still militarily occupying those 2 nations for nearly 70 years, long after World War 2 and the Korean War have ended!
And North Korea has repeatedly gone against Chinese wishes and staged several nuclear bomb/missile tests–thus handing America a convenient propaganda pretext to maintain its military dominion over Japan or South Korea and more importantly to place its THAAD anti-missile “defense” in those nations.
Meanwhile, Japan in particular pathetically kowtows to its American master’s every wish, so much so that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reputedly nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize… at the Donald’s personal request.
It should also be mentioned that America’s THAAD missile “defense “system, though rationalized by the North Korean bogeyman, is in fact an offensive system targeted against China and Russia in that it is part of America’s attempt to neutralize the deterrence capability of those two nations and facilitate America’s Prompt Global Strike (or first strike) military doctrine.
Ultimately, America seeks to subjugate North Korea and turn it into a military colony targeting China and Russia–much in the same way that it using Japan, South Korea, and indeed much of the world.
But in the TrumpTard reality and MAGAstan, USA, they comically delude themselves that America is a “force for good” in the world seeking to liberate other nations … by waging economic seige warfare (Venezuela); sponsoring jihadist terrorism (Syria); or bombing back to the Stone Age (Libya, Serbia, Vietnam, etc) these nations.
No doubt Russia is facing challenges, as Putin himself addressed in his recent State of the Nation speech.
But the recovery since the end of the USSR, and the immediate aftermath of that, is remarkable. The fact that Putin is battling liberals is a healthy sign for the body politic; in times past, those liberals would have been “counting trees”.
But all things are relative: look at the moral, political and financial decay in the US and other western states. It wouldn’t be hard to write a very damning essay about that.
If you read most of the points mentioned (see transcript), they seem like reasonable and constructive arguments / criticism. You do not have to agree with all of them or even any of them. But in order to refute them, you would have to do your own research and come with counter arguments.
I get a sense that many of the Saker’s Western readers, that rightly support Russia and other countries in their fight against the Anglo-Zionist Empire, do not live in Russia (or these other countries) and have no clue what is happening on the ground, especially in terms of corruption, public and private policy and governance….and how this translates to life on the ground (family, private and public sector, markets, education, etc.).
I remember, as an Arab myself who has traveled across Syria, Iraq, Turkey and the GCC (among others), I once mentioned the corruption in Syria, and I was attacked by readers as a hidden/closet Anglo-Zionist anti-Syrian (loool).
And they use this counter blaming….well if you criticize Syria, why don’t you criticize the US loooool.
How childish can you be ?
I truly believe that most Saker’s readers are genuinely fed up of the oppression and injustice of the Anglo-Zionist Empire they live in and are here because they are truth seekers. But can I suggest to the readers to be a bit more open minded and analytical. Sometimes emotional one dimensional thinking can cloud your judgement.
I would just ask, where has this critique been all this time we have been trying to learn about Russia? I know Saker has had reservations in the past about Putin’s policies, and he has aired them. Often, for which I praise him, he has backtracked on his criticisms after realizing the long game Putin has had to play. When I listen to his speeches, or to Lavrov’s, I see a careful man in each case with amazing composure and dedication. I don’t know Mevdeyev, for sure, nor any of the other ‘players’. And I’m not a financial expert, so I have to take what others say as facts. I am simply troubled by the harshness of this critique, coming out of the blue for those of us who come here to learn.
I dearly hope the Russian people are not losing heart. I confess my ignorance. I simply wish them well, and what corruption does exist, let it be ashamed to do so! I see Patriarch Kirill in the photo above – why is he there and no mention of him in the article? We who do not know how true are the statistics given simply wonder what more explanation we haven’t been given for this sudden change in popularity.
One subject that seems to come up repeatedly is the dissatisfaction over the lack of support for Russian people in countries that were formerly part of the USSR. If citizens want some kind of government program to do this, why not provide it?
It seems quite apossible that such a program of support for ethnic Russians in former USSR countries could be construed in ways that would have negative consequences on relations with those countries’ governments. Such a support program could look like nurturing some kind of fifth column in those states. Perhaps ethnic Russians in those states should move to Russia.
Putin/Russia certainly stood up for ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine and Crimea when the chips were down.
I think I have read that over a million ethnic Russians have emigrated from Ukraine to Russia.
Katherine
This makes good sense, although I’m not knowledgeable enough to say whether it’s certainly true. That said, It’s an obstacle but not a blockade. I see a lack of political will. :-) Putin has made the impossible possible in many instances. So why can’t the government be more responsive to the wishes of average citizens? Same with small business owners, who want better political representation. The only reason for that not to happen is lack of political will by the administration.
In the part of the introduction about the Ukraine being a disaster, I was reminded of the maxim attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte……. “Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake.”
The South Front report highlights a very real issue, Vladimir Putin has largely pursued a 20 year declared open policy & strategy of enhancing Russia’s sovereignty & power. To do so has been a task of such magnitude that to have achieved what has been achieved up until now has been nothing short of miraculous. By all accounts, Putin should have been assassinated a long time ago. He has managed to revive Russia without destabilizing the country or allowing external forces to provoke a civil war scenario. The one area of Russian political economy that has remained largely in tact is the banking & finance sector. Essentially, by leaving this to the 5th column & oligarchy, Putin was able to ensure that destabilization would not happen. It is no longer possible however, Putin himself seems to have acknowledged that it is no longer feasible to continue on Russia’s path to true authentic sovereignty & independence from malign western influence, without tackling the finance/banking sector & taking on the neo liberal economic policies that they promote & successfully force through to implementation as government policy. The pension reform seems to have been a wake up call. It is important to understand that finance/banking is the last remaining segment of Russian political economy where the 5th column have dominant power & influence, they no longer have it in the media any more, but in finance they do & it happens to be the most sensitive & explosive sector within the system that requires some kind of reform. Putin could not have done it earlier but the signs are he is going to begin tackling this issue this year. This will be the last straw for the west, especially its most hard core Atlanticist element, because through banking/finance they have been able to exercise influence over Russian politics & produce the kind of inconsistencies we witness during the worst of the Ukraine crisis, i.e. allowing tens of thousands to die in Donbass, allowing the Odessa atrocity to pass by with no counter action,etc.etc. I understand the reasons, I know it was a trap, that the west sought to lure Russia into an inter-Russian inter-Slavic civil war of sorts, plus use it to exert the kind of pressure over the EU to sanction Russia far more severely that the EU would not have been able to resist. For example, had Russian regular forces turned up anywhere in Ukraine (i don’t count Crimea) than North Stream 2 would not be going ahead. It may seem cynical, but Russia remains dependent on its trade & economic relations with western Europe for its own economic development. Many commentators do not appreciate just what a stranglehold this has over Russia’s move toward greater sovereignty & nationalistic political policies. It is a very complex issue as well, my account here is a gross over simplification, but one would write an essay to scratch the surface of this. Putin has his hands tied, less so over time, but he has been limited on what he realistically can do. The good news is, we can expect him to be moving more in a nationalistic direction & – with respect to political parties deadlock – my guess is that what he will do when his second term ends is form a brand new organisation & run for parliament. He will not be retiring, of that we can be sure.
If there is to be a big change then look for it to happen after December 1st. That’s when the natural gas pipeline opens to China, which will greatly reduce Russia’s dependence on EU as a natural gas customer. And then with Nord Stream 2 the Ukraine will be nearly completely cut out of transit fees & their economy will absolutely implode.
I have read this SF report with a bit of a dismay. I understand Saker being in total agreement with it as it is, most likely, reflects his thinking and understanding, but then he has been known to react to things rather emotionally. Nothing wrong with that, it is in the Russian DNA, regardless where one is born and brought up. I sometimes react in the very same way but then my very level headed, NZ born husband (and Taurus to boot!) sets me straight. He is absolutely 100% behind VVP and everything that he is doing, and he points out to me that we are in no position to even know (let alone comprehend) the complexities and difficulties of his position and the information that he has. We are all familiar with the expression “cannot see the wood for the trees” and in this case it could be well applied. Just look at the results of what that man has achieved in the last few years. Even since 2014. Remarkable! Yes, I totally agree with Larchmonter that Putin never had “his” government but he does have his “team” around him and this is a starting point. He had to consolidate a lot of his base before he can take any drastic measures. Getting rid of liberals and traitors is easier said than done in a country that was not that very long ago totally ripped apart and corrupted from top to bottom.. He is doing well. Have faith.
I agree with your husband, Katerina – maybe because I too am a kiwi! Thanks for your post. The most recent excellent performance of Russia and China with respect to Venezuela which all have been following was a lesson on how nations, small or otherwise, can peacefully conduct themselves to preserve the citizenry when faced with the threats that Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Iraq have had to face. Surely Russians are proud of the course their leaders have set as they have provided hope for the rest of us. The possible they are doing; the impossible is going to take a little longer. I took from the ‘deep nation’ post that this doesn’t mean one group of people warring against the other. At the same time, it also means that gains are not exorbitant and suffering is quickly addressed. In Venezuela, the opposition, recognizing where danger lies, has started to work with the government. That’s progress.
An MP expresses her feelings towards the UK government on the floor of Parliament.
No matter how Putin’s ratings drop in Russia, he can always look down on Theresa May.
“Will the Prime Minster do a brave thing and do what is best for the country, not what is best for any of us? (gesturing around the House of Parliament)”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2019/feb/26/jess-phillips-tells-may-she-is-enraged-with-her-lack-of-bravery-video
Sounds like its about time for another Skirpal story to distract the people?
I’ve read similar reports and theirs no way to sugar coat it. Russians live in the real world, whereas Americans have little to no sense of an impending economic calamity.
What else can you tell a Trump supporter?
It’s only an economic disaster if you are not one of the 1%.
Most Trump supporters are not part of the 1% and, incredibly, continue to support their own downfall as Trump’s tax giveaway goes to the rich but increases their public debt. It seems that most Russians are not that stupid – let’s hope so.
Every major country is falling apart from internal issues. How would similarly critical essay about the US, UK, France, Germany, or China sound? The same, if not worst. Russia has two objective advantages: 1) necessary resources, 2) very little debt. They are the furthest removed from the globalist ponzi-debt scheme. It’s a waiting game.
BTW, The #1 reason that Putin’s popularity has declined is that he raised the retirement age. IMO, from a demographics point of view it was the right thing to do. An argument can be made that generous socialized retirement systems promote childlessness.
China ‘..falling apart from internal issues’??!! Nate, mate, is that self-delusion, wishful thinking, or both?
China has an extremely leveraged financial system…. which can cover up many faults. And they are neither independent in food and energy.
In the land with most natural resource anywhere, Russia’s GDP is close to all time record highs. Some comment from a debate on demographics:
Mr Koh argues that the Kremlin should take responsibility for the current situation. In his Facebook post that has had over 700 likes and 100 shares, his reasons for the decreasing birth rate are: “When people’s income is falling for a fourth year in a row… and that the poverty in Russia is shooting up”.
From this perspective, the Russian plutocrats are simply attempting to bleed their host dry.
At Southfront’s version, the commentator 1691 provides a forceful rebuttal as do several others. Instead of copy/pasting the entire comment thread, I recommend concerned readers visit Southfront and see for themselves. An example of 1691’s seriousness:
“1.There is nothing regarding the rating of Putin in the report. I checked other links and the figures provided by your “source” are incorrect.
2. GDP – The article provided wrong info. “sorry.”
3. Inflation….- same .” SORRY.”
The author has tried to comply a semblance of analysis. He/she failed.
May be you should check the author for trolling? Why not?
By the way, why are you posting the same article again? It was posted recently, wasn’t it?”
There’s an easy solution to this. Be the first country to deal effectively with its oligarchs. Then all will be well.
Putin stays till 2024. But I think that he will stay till 2030.
To accomplish all projects and tasks.
But what is important – significant increase of GDP growth and increase of wages and quality of life standard. Without this, everything can be put in danger.
And also – to ensure smooth and painless transition of power because he will go away one day. Political system must be adjusted and prepared for that.
Because today everything depends on him TOO MUCH. And it will probably not be possible once when he step down from political stage.
And it is not very possible that any political person in Russia can take political role which Putin has in Russia today or since 1999.
Excellent post.
The true test of any great leader is how they prepare their successor.
With the weapons that will soon be at the disposal of Russia, the next leader may not be as reluctant as Putin to use them.
Sounds like the U.S. Rothschild influence very strong.
Internal strife and corruption within a state is not peculiar to Russia. It is pretty much the same everywhere in the New World Order. Interestingly enough one measure of the neoliberal virus can be identified in what economists call the ‘Gini Coeffecient’. This is a measure of income and wealth distribution within states. Anything over 40 qualifies for a mal-distribution of wealth/income distribution and is a good indicator of economic development. The US, China are in the low 40s and Russia is in the high 30s. Sweden, Denmark are in the mid-20s. Thus oligarchies and corruption are the usual internal structures of the big liberal regimes.
That being said such internal matters will have little if any impingement on strategic, foreign affairs issues. The internal regime in the chaos of 1917-1922 did not stop the Russian people (the Red Army) fight tooth and nail to defeat both the foreign armies of intervention and their White Guard collaboraters. Similarly in 1941 in the Stalinist regime again fought like tigers to save mother Russia against external forces who would break up the Soviet Union. What was true then is still true today. In fact more so.
Kudrin and the liberal clique may wish to sell out Russia in an abject surrender, but the Russian people will never accept this. The same process in ongoing in the rest of the globe. The Anglo-Zionist empire is showing increasing strains and opposition from its own people within. The fact that America wants it all and wants it now completely undermines the position of Kudrin and his followers who are looking for any sign however small of a more subtle approach from the Americans – but they are not getting it.
Never underestimate the power of nationalism.
Make Russia Great Again – bring back the death penalty, and so make the liberals and gays run screaming away.
Russia must go back to its roots, and its roots stretch from Viking in the West to Mongol in the East with Stalin in the middle to confirm what the correct Russian attitude should be, and its not liberal.
Surkov came up with some very interesting thinking recently, though Dugin considers him to have been pro Yeltsin in the past and now pro-Putin in the present, so not very reliable. But its interesting thinking never the less.
“In the programme for the special form of Russian governance which Vladislav Surkov calls Putinism for the next hundred years, there is no power-sharing with businessmen (oligarchs or merchants), social classes, intelligentsia, the Russian Orthodox Church, political parties, parliaments, the Constitution or the civil and criminal courts.”
because “the Kremlin must be staffed by Russians capable of fighting Americans” first and foremost
“Surkov is the first Kremlin official to attack Putin’s alliance with Patriarch Kirill in reviving the 19th century doctrine, Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality. They are ideologists for passivity and defeat, Surkov responds.”
“Businessmen, who consider military pursuits to be of lesser status than commercial ones, have never ruled Russia (almost never; the exceptions were a few months in 1917 and a few years in the 1990s).”
https://russia-insider.com/en/surkov-excludes-oligarchs-church-parliament-intellectuals-power-his-revolutionary-vision-russia
But as other commentators have mentioned above, Russia has virtually no debt and all the resources it needs. So a little internal political squabbling’s is not a big deal. But all these “increasingly restrictive administrative pressure” is not Russia, the death penalty is Russian, bring it back and all the other irritants will disappear. Its only because there is no death penalty that the legislators come up with nonsense laws to keep themselves looking busy and pseudo productive.
By “attacking Putin’s alliance with Patriarch Kirill in reviving the 19th century doctrine, Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality”, and raising hosannas to Marx, Lenin, Einstein, Surkov shows his true colors. He peddles all the talking points of the perennial anti-Russian propaganda, masquerading as a “Putinist’. In fact it is ‘black propaganda’. By pretending that he reveals the intimate thoughts of the “Kremlin”, he is providing material to all opponents of Putin’s ‘authoritarianism’ and the parlous “state of intellectualism in Russia today”. Is he payed by his former masters, Khodorkovsky, Nevzlin, Fridman (the last two Israeli citizens)? One should notice that critics of Surkov are denounced as ‘Orthodox zealots’.
He reminds us of Chaadaev’s ‘Philosophical Letters’ and of his ‘Apology of a madman’. He should be treated as Chaadaev, ‘criminally insane’ and treated like him (the madhouse).
Saker,
Obviously Russia will not get into open confrontation with USA over Venezuela. But do you think Russia will, or should, mirror any US activity in Venezuela or elsewhere in Latin America (e.g. Nicaragua) with actions in Ukraine?
So if US actually intervene militarily in any country to effect regime change, Russia should roll into Kiev to effect its own regime change. And if the US just foments internal uprisings and civil wars then Russia could also do the same in Ukraine stepping up rebellion elsewhere outside Donetsk and Lugansk.
This may actually not be disagreeable to US except that they’ll make a fuss issuing protests and condemnations as they do. But if US intervenes militarily in Venezuela it will lose any moral high ground from which to condemn similar Russian moves in Ukraine. And maybe it’s time for the ZioNazi regime in Kiev to go.
This growing “discontent” seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon and seems manufactured.
It smacks of a psyop operation, this relentless, growing attack by media sources, commentators, bloggers etc, that all is doom and gloom in Russia and it is “sliding” to various abysmal destinations. This is a push to influence people’s emotions, motives, and reasoning in order to change objective reality.
Our thoughts influence reality. It is supported both by the Christian teaching and science (quantum physics). It is (allegedly) a closely kept masonic secret.
This constant invisible and visible pressure by the enemies is gaining strength.
We must not confuse constructive criticism of individual points with the relentless subversive campaign across so many platforms. One thing is noting shortcomings and suggesting solutions. Quite another is noting grievances and supporting them. Very recently Putin spoke extensively about economic problems in Russia and offered undeniably valid proposals for resolution. Can’t see it mentioned in the article.
I am surprised to see Southfront amongst the scaremongers. It is so confusing. Perceived friends show their true faces more and more these days; the Devil is deceptive. I refuse to put Southfront amongst them yet, but surely when these trends appear we have to be extra vigilant? I imagine that I strongly qualify for the “loyal Kremlin bot” camp – Saker sometimes likes to put labels on. However, my conclusions are based on observations and intuition – I read a lot of Russian sources. I hope I am not wrong, and people realise that this may be a trap.
Soft anti-Russian propaganda.
Declaring persistently glass “half empty” (instead of well balanced approach) is well hidden agenda of painting an unrealistically pessimistic picture.
Statistics can be proves for everything and nothing (depending on how tempered are their questions)
For me this is just one of so many well disguised anti-Russian contents.
It is so disappointing to see that even Saker is giving full support to such content…
This is just another attempt to (yet again) try to slender Russia.
If somebody is for pro (liberal) Russia I can (as an Orthodox and Russophile ) hardly see that as pro Russian at all.
The same goes for pro (communist ) Russia option.
It could be as you say – and others seem to believe too… My impression of this video/article, however, was that it is a warning of big changes to come in Russia – a good excuse for Mr Putin to make a reform that will alarm the filthy west, that will give them a lesson.
All I can say is that if Russian has issues, then they are not any worse than those faced by the US, UK or Europe – all of which are falling into decay, collapse and strife.
I hope it is wrong, Saker, that ‘the very real mistakes and even faults of the Russian Government’ do not lead to a more unstable world. The Kremlin’s enemies might take succour from these reports. But a destabilized Russia means a world moving closer to the edge of the abyss – nuclear war. ‘It is highly likely that Russia will face hard times in the next two years (2019-2020) and face various threats and challenges to its economy, foreign policy course and even to its statehood.’
It would be unwise of the West to exploit this, any attempt to return to the 1990s would be catastrophic for everyone. A safe Russia is a safer world. But the ghosts of history are not being heard in western capitals.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
Really a question of the future of when putin goes.
Ideally UR party should split to form two groups like the republican / democrats in the US
Its the only real way to mature russian politics to keep out the atlantic liberals from returning as in the 90’s.
Many commentators here observe that this report could be seen as an attempt to plant a meme, not that dissimilar from the “humanitarian crisis” meme re Ven.
A “Russia in crisis” meme that spreads the image of a weak, vulnerable state through repetition becomes treated as an established fact. For example, the comment about the “threats to statehood” are just the type of tidbit that Neocons in Washington would be happy to gobble up and see as just an appetite stimulant for more attacks on Russian statehood.
It does seem kind of extreme. What are these specific “threats to statehood” that SF posits? Did I miss it?
I am reminded of Mark Twain’s “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
Also not that dissimilar (in function) from the “DNC computers were hacked” and “Russia collusion in 2016 election” memes, which were repeated so often that they are now referred to as established premises on which other arguments are built.
I don’t know enough about internal Russian affairs to form an opinion on the reliability of the content and implications of this video. But it does seem to project a sense of crisis in Russian society. A report that if spread about widely could easily be amplified in the media echo chamber, if any MSM get ahold of it. This could lead to the need to respond. This in itself might be a distraction and a fresh amplification in the media echo chamber.
I just want to echo Juliana’s comment: We come here to learn.
Katherine
PS. Has anyone heard anything about Mueller lately???
Katherine, my lady, Trump’s ex, and disbarred, lawyer Cohen is in process of destroying him on this day live in Congress. You will hear from Mueller in the very near future. You will never see another Republican President of USA in your or my lifetime.
Auslander
Perfect example of disinfo being presented as established fact:
“The most blatant Russian effort to interfere with the 2016 election was by ***hacking Democrats’ emails*** and then leaking them. Most prominently, WikiLeaks posted the DNC’s hacked emails beginning on July 22, 2016, and posted John Podesta’s hacked emails beginning on October 7, 2016.
Trump’s team has said that they had no inside information about WikiLeaks’ plans and certainly no involvement in the hacking and leaking of Democrats’ emails.”
The forensic evidence is that the computers were not hacked but that the emails were downloeaded onto a flash drive, i.e., leaked. The phrase “hacking and leaking” just confuses things more.
https://www.vox.com/2019/2/28/18243151/michael-cohen-testimony-mueller-russia
Katherine
The health of a nation is the wealth of a nation. Maternal mortality rate of Russia has decreased from 62 in 1990 to 27 in 2015.
The USA is going the other way, with deaths increasing from 12 to 14.
With the positive direction that Russia is advancing, Russia will have less maternal mortality rates than the USA in the near future.
Statistics from National Geographic. (May be edited by the CIA, so the Russians results may be even more positive).
Someone has been hoodwinked!
Russia has to be focused to implementation of all these colossal national projects announced by Putin and to finish of modernization of Army, Navy, Air Force and Strategic Forces.
Of course USA will continue with this aggressive approach toward Russia. Russia will have to live with that.
Ukraine … I do not understand people who criticize Putin for not military intervening in Ukraine. Russia would have to cope with hatred of people who would blame Russia for not living their European fairy tale.
Russia would have to cope with Bandera extremists and open terrorism supported and financed from West.
And Russia would have to put on its budget burden – 40 millions of people in devastated economy.
So, Putin and Kremlin did the best possible thing. Leave Ukraine to their new masters and ignore Ukraine as much as is possible. Let them live with themselves and let them face their own illusions.
And now, the West does not know exactly what to do with Ukraine.
I personally doubted many Putin’s decisions in the past. Many times I though that he was too soft, that he made mistakes.
But time has shown that he was right EVERY TIME.
I beg to disagree:
– In view of an aging population many countries have had to raise their retirement age because otherwise the costs will become excessive. Everywhere such measures are extremely unpopular. I admire the fact that Putin is prepared to take such unpopular but needed measures.It sets him apart from leaders like Xi who want to stay popular at any price.
– The policy of the US in Ukraine is to keep the conflict open as long as possible and allow Russia only an exit when it accepts total humiliation. See it as a lite version of the Brzezinski strategy of having the Soviet Union waste its resources on Afghanistan. The best answer for Russia is to sit quiet and show itself “reasonable”. At some point the toxic nationalism on which this US propaganda thrives will lose its appeal in Ukraine and there will be a solution. Until that time you can only wait. Escalation – like in South Ossetia and Abkhazia – solves very little.
– the article is very shallow when it comes to “neoliberal” policies. It discards a near doubling of anti-corruption cases as irrelevant.I think it isn’t. Putin is At the same time it complains about small fines – somehow missing that the rule of law starts with small things. In countries where only big cases are convicted the selection is often arbitrary – mixed with a strong sense of favoritism. It is the Xi approach to “anti-corruption”.
– whether this will be enough to energize the economy is an open question. But there is nothing mentioned in the article that could help in this respect.
SouthFront has it wrong factually. BeauSmarth has it factually correct, which changes everything!
BeauSmarth on February 27, 2019 · at 12:59 am EST/EDT
Putin’s approval rating is 62.2%
Here is the latest VCIOM poll.
VCIOM poll
The 32,6% is not a a “confidence” rating!
It’s is a “most trusted” politician ranking number on a “pick one” list of names.
The Defense Minister Shoigu is 2nd on the list with 15,5%.
Lavrov is 3rd with 13,2%. Followed by Medvedev at 7,9%.
/russia-slides-towards-internal-political-crisis-must-see-southfront-video-report/#comment-619359
I am sad that, on balance, the article is flawed. SouthFront, to be reliable, has to be accurate factually.
Even Saker’s blessing as forward is bizarre for a analyst who always anchors his work on facts.
Opinion, which this is based on, a brief look by Vladimir K., https://southfront.org/russia-slides-towards-internal-political-crisis/, is not facts.
Putin has dropped to pre-election campaign popularity. He’s not in trouble, nor do people doubt his leadership. They want him to rid the nation of Liberals and oligarchs.
It is reasonable to think that if Putin had not been president for these 20 years, Russia would not exist. Medvedev or whoever would have done another Gorbachev takedown, broken the nation into pieces and ended the potential of the military to preserve sovereignty.
We know that is what Kudrin, Chubais, et al. intend. They are self-loathing Russians, with not fealty to the nation, its heroic traditions, its culture or its people.
But the People understand the difficulty. They want the expulsion of these fifth columnists to be bloodless. They are like Americans who want to expunge all elected representatives in Congress but have no taste for a bloody revolution to achieve that. (It would be the only way to purge the Deep State, the corruption of K Street, the stranglehold of the MIC.)
I have opinions. We all have opinions. An analysis has to be founded on facts or it is just opinion.
As a small financial contributor to SouthFront over the years, I can barely remember the time when I thought they were crucial to our knowledge of the situation in regions where news and facts was obscured.
This claptrap article is a sorrowful mess. It reads like it came from a junior Mi6 propaganda mill.
I’m surprised the tragic gas explosions and plane crashes in bad weather, fires in public buildings and deaths by psychotic persons aren’t in this package of Putin problems.
It’s intention is to do what for whom?
We are still mulling over Surkov’s article, a very important man writing a very important piece.
Did SouthFront analyze that?
Did Vladimir K. put his mind to that?
This is a waste of our time. I could have posted a score of these comments from Russians who moan the downside of everything. I read them daily at many comment threads on various Russian websites.
At the comment thread for this video at SouthFront there is some mention of the management at SF changing. Not clear whether that is meant as a sarcastic aside, or whether it is true.
Katherine
Indeed, you nailed it. This article does sound like a summary of the moaning topics in the comments section of the Russian news articles. Something is very off about it all.
Let Them Eat Cake!
The difficulty with understanding the “eat cake” remark lies in the way it was first translated into English.
The queen was referring to the baked-on, carboniferous layer of burnt bread dough that builds up on the inside walls of baking ovens. In England at the time, that material was referred to as “cake,” meaning that it was caked on to the oven walls.
Later, in England, the word became misunderstood to mean the kind of cake that people eat for dessert, which changed the meaning of the queen’s insulting remark.
Here we go again, another sorrowful opinion concerning the ever dropping ‘popularity’ of President Putin. Seems like every couple weeks another pontificating ‘expert’ puts his name to yet another fantasy piece concerning same. Well, here’s a thought. If these ‘expurts’ are so good at what they do and so sure they could do better, then I sincerely recommend that they get busy and run for President of Russia.
This ‘article’ is long on conjecture and short on actual fact, the primary of which is who did they include in their polls, the students of some feckless ‘university’ in the outskirts of St. Pete or the children in some daycare center in Roslyn, Virginia?
I live in what could be, and we hope is, considered a colloquial backwater of a large village. That being said, with all the problems and dangers we’ve had here, and we’ve had plenty of problems in the last three years from the veritable hordes of carpetbaggers thundering across the Kerch Straight from the mainland to plague us and ‘bring us in to the modern world’, I would aver that President Putin’s popularity, trustworthiness and reliability is just a little higher than this specious attempt at journalism states. I would also aver that the popularity, trustworthiness and reliability of the other two members of the troika, FM Lavrov and General Shoigu, are head and shoulders above any another public figure in this country besides President Putin.
Are any of the three perfect? The last perfect man we had we hung him on a cross, no man before or since was or is perfect. On the other hand, I can think of no other men who could have done for Russia what these three men did. Without them Russia would be a forgotten memory, buried instantly in the sands of time as The West looted the carcass right down to the bones. That didn’t happen and a pox on those who desire this to happen, be they self hating Russians, angry orcs, lost in lala land EU or immersed in cocaine and meth SehSha.
Russia will be around when the rest of them are gone, to quote a famous quote, ‘lost in the sands of time’.
Here’s a little something for you to watch, one of the very first Labors of Hercules that President Putin undertook. His success in this endeavor is astounding. Perhaps with time his success in other endeavors will be just as successful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a7OsT_F1fw
Auslander
Author
Never The Last One https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK A deep look in to Russia, her culture and her Armed Forces, in essence a look at the emergence of Russian Federation.
Sevastopol, The Third Defense. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079KRPLS4 Book 1, A Premonition. Set against a backdrop of real events and real places, the reader is left to filter fact from fiction.
Exactly what is needed to balance the negative—facts of monumental importance, Auslander.
Thanks for the video.
It speaks ten million words about Putin’s status and regard.
When he took over, Russia was dying, months away from total collapse.
He brought his country back from critical condition.
In two decades, a brevity in terms of history, he has accomplished more for Russia than any leader in any country in centuries.
If there were no sanctions, Russia’s economy would be growing at 4-5%.
If the oligarchs had not shipped over 50% of their liquid wealth offshore, Russia would be percolating with innovation and massive new infrastructure.
Putin could not do what he has done and take on those fights directly.
His Sochi Olympics were a huge success. His World Cup was the greatest and most financially successful World Cup. The FIFA org just delivered a $60million dollar check, revenues atop revenues earned during the month long event observed by 1.5 million tourists to eight cities that brought more good publicity than Russia has ever accrued.
He has won a war against the Hegemon, Israel, NATO and ISIS in Syria.
Crimea is home and linked by a magnificent bridge at Kerch.
Turkey has been pulled from NATO.
African nations are lining up for help from Russia and to purchase Russian weapons and nuclear power technology.
Latin America is now welcoming Russia again.
Haiti is begging for Putin to help save them from the plantation master-USA.
All Middle East issues go through Moscow. Kings, Presidents, Generals, Prime Ministers beg for an audience with Putin.
How does all this success flow to the average Russian?
Foreign Investments from numerous countries is pouring in. Japan, Saudi Arabia, China, India, and many others are buying into Russia’s technology, mineral resources, energy projects, and agriculture, as well as pharma and other biological sciences. Tourism is increasing. Russian corporations are attracting stock market investors.
Jobs and new construction result.
The nation’s financial picture is superb. No foreign debt. Positive sovereign fund picture better than any. Gold as foundation for ruble currency. And the RF paid off all the legacy debts of the USSR. Amazing performance for a crippled economy and under duress with sanctions.
The sectors of Russian society that matter are holding strong. Military, Security Services, Science, Technology.
Think of all the thousands of men and women who have worked on all the secret weapons now in service who never leaked a sentence, a drawing, a word about the weapons over 15 or more years. And most of them very underpaid, unrewarded and “invisible”. But they saved Russia. They rebuilt the military, secured the defenses against all the Hegemon has.
Now, domestic issues can be fully addressed.
Patience . . . a personality trait manifest in VVP.
Larchmonter, my friend, I have been in this village since 2006 and I have had long experience with Russia before that going back to the days when SSSR fell apart, which I witnessed eyes on.
I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I am somewhat observant and the changes I’ve seen first hand since 2006 alone are nothing short of stunning. President Putin, with or without FM Lavrov and General Shoigu, could not have done what he/they did alone, there is a huge cadre of patriotic Russians who are doing their level best to restore Russia to what she should be.
I’m not young anymore, far from it, but I hope I live to see the day when Russia becomes what she should be and I see this restoration every day, more and more. If I don’t live to see it, our adoptive children will. That will be good enough for me, knowing their fate and VCO’s fate is secure and peaceful.
Auslander
I have to agree with both of you – VVP has been in power 20yrs – a blink of an eye in history. What he has been able to achieve is remarkable. Has it been perfect – no, but where is government perfect? Name me one country on earth, where all people are totally happy with their govt. As for the pension reform – before it, women could retire at 55. There is no western country, where this is possible. Is there a lot still to do? Yes – and VVP is quite aware of it. His last two speeches to the fed. assembly were filled with lists of things that need to be done to improve the lives of everyday people. But he is only one man – he needs support and guidance, not misdirected (and a bit hysterical) criticism.
Great video about the trajectory of the Russian military under Putin.
The rebuilding of the Russian military was handled like a long-term military operation.
With this kind of planning, the economy, too, can continue to grow and diversify as needed.
It is also worthwhile to watch the video to see how young Putin actually was when he took over the reins of government. Truly Russia was lucky to get this fairly young leader, who still has a decade or so of service in him.
Inshallah!
Not to forget the commitment of the Russian people to those serving in miserable conditions (also shown in the video).
Katherine
My lady, I witnessed all, both the penury of Russian servicemen and the even worse conditions of the Ukrainian soldiers and sailors. On both sides the families and locals helped them as they could right down to food, warm socks, boot laces and winter gloves. It was a sadness to see and the soldiers and sailors have not forgotten what all, including we, did for them.
The difference was when VVP started his program of renovating Russian Armed Forces, in essence he put the shoulder boards back on and instilled pride both in the soldiers and the populace. That pride is visible when one sees the parades and ceremonies in Russia, it makes one proud to see the smiling faces of our servicemen and women both in public ceremonies and in training and the civilians watching them. It’s worth the effort and the slightly increased tax burden knowing these young men and women will defend the Motherland to the hilt and are well taken care of in peace and war.
President Putin is not too many years younger than I am but he looks younger than he is, or at least younger than I looked at that age, but then I was never what one could consider either handsome or aging well. I hope he serves for another ten years and I have few doubts that if he wishes to serve one more term as President Parliament will change the law and allow him to serve. Time will tell.
Auslander
More FACTS:
“Without going into details, we can say that this method, albeit with a certain controversial minimum wage is justified more or less sensibly. In Russia on average it is today accepted 10 444 rubles, including for able-bodied citizens — 11 280, for pensioners — 8583, for children — 10 390 rubles per month. Tied to all sorts of other payments and definition. For example, incomes below 50% of PM are considered in poverty. Then start the manipulation.
According to official statistics, the number of poor in Russia, that is persons whose income is equal to or below the subsistence level, accounts for 19 million people or 12.7% of the population. It is a little. According to the world Bank, the poor in the US are 32% of the population, in Latvia — 27%, in Romania — 24%, Lithuania — 21%, Germany 16%, Sweden and Denmark — 13%, in Austria — 12%, in the Czech Republic — 9%.”
And another excerpt:
“However, it should be understood that for the past 11 years the size of the expenditure part of the the state budget grew from 2.3 trillion (2003) to 18.06 trillion (2019), the share of social expenditure it has increased from 45 to 60%, that is, the total amount of money allocated to “help the poor”, for the period expanded at 10.4%, but the population still consider themselves poor, the state is meager, and the future only deteriorating.
One way or another from the budget money already directly affected 34% of households. In 2007 there were only 22%. In other words, the scheme — the state is obliged to pay more — simply does not work. Budget and so pays to order more, but wages for hotel maids or pizza delivery is not affected in any way, nor can be reflected in principle.”
From an article today in Regnum: https://regnum.ru/news/economy/2581534.html
Use Yandex Browser for easy translation. It’s a long read, filled with more FACTS.
The author uses his real name and you can see his background and photo here:
https://regnum.ru/analytics/author/aleksandr_zapolskis.html
Liberalism has almost destroyed Russia after the western conquer of USSR but Russia has never rejected liberalism nor pro west liberal. In fact they have regular sliding doors with the government and state establishment like at Yeltsin time (never ended…). Moreover they react to every problem caused by liberalism with more liberalism.
The only group that the new Russia has banned and emarginated from the power circle is the patriot group and the groups against liberalism. The nowadays Russia has a strong corporate, mercantile, commercial attitude but not a real national strategic long period planning. This ended with the end of USSR. Perhaps because the russian corporation system/oligarchy and russian state are the same thing and Russia is no longer a super power but a medium power like France or UK unfortunately with a far more weaker state system (national strategy, defence, scientifical, industrial, security, intelligence, diplomacy etc.) without a precise boundary between private corporation and public. Liberalist Russia is not the old USSR and what is going on is only the natural consequence.
Michael O
You haven’t been here for a while, have you? Last year’s Victory Day Parade. Notice the many thousands of citizens and understand that you can only see what is at the Reviewing Stand at Naxhimov Square and the very end at Bolshoi Morskoi. It is estimated that 150,000 citizens attended the parade and please note the numbers of children not only from the various military academies but also the large numbers with Red Army in Parade, and every face is smiling, even in the rain at the end.
Patriotism runs deep in all of Russia, regardless of what outsiders think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Y-LeLyuzw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW7OrfbutRk
Auslander
Auslander, absolutely no doubt about patriotism of common people and parades (mostly with good soviet weapons systems indeed). My point is about the nature of the russian political power today and the differences with the former SSSR. Also at the times of Gorbachev and Yeltsin there was patriotism in the common people class and parades. In those years in the soviet factories the workers were patriotic and didn’t want the end of SSSR and didn’t trust Gorbachev and Yeltsin but what they got was the end of SSSR and a lot of Gorbachev and Yeltsin.
After that these two fellows did to their country every time I see a new russian parade I ask myself how many new Yeltsin, with what rank and role, ready to destroy and sell again the country are already there.
The Domestic problems in Russia have had to take a backseat to the antagonistic and threatening antics of the USA. Putin and his crew have saved Russia from the brink of cultureal and economic disaster following the collapse of the USSR. It is with great pride that they are now in a fiscal position to remedy some of the pressing and long suffering issues within the domestic theatre. Nobody, and I mean Nobody, could have done what Putin, with his crew, has been able to accomplish, against the complete insanity now reigning in the USA. It has taken its toll on Putin: he is looking tired having reached this plateau against all odds. Call them what you will, it`s all true: the Good the Bad and the Ugly, same as every Human condition on the Planet. Some Draconian measures had to be taken to get to calmer waters, but I have Faith in Putin that he will successfully create his vision of Russian society as a free and truly Democratic society devoid of unscrupulous Oligarchs with safeguards securing the rights of all Russian citizens.
I have been saying for a long time that while I’m very impressed with Vladimir Putin’s foreign policies, I am not nearly as much on side with his domestic policies. He seems to operate with sort of neoliberalism as the broader economic frame, while moderating it by muddling through with pragmatic ad-hoc measures on a smaller scale. Not so different from a typical European politician–not worse, but not much better.
The first problem with that is that neoliberalism is bunk. The second is that he doesn’t have the strong reason most countries have for sticking to it anyway (that if they don’t, the Americans will whack them). The Americans are already out to get him, so he has nothing to lose from better economic policies. The third is that neoliberalism actually makes Russia more vulnerable to economic attacks from the US and its allies. He seems to sometimes recognize that–he’s made noises about the Russian economy benefiting from enforced import substitution because of the sanctions. But he hasn’t seriously followed up on the insight as far as I know. The central bank continues to operate on globalist assumptions and so on.
Of course the problem is, running a sound economic policy would be politically dangerous–he’d be in a fight with the oligarchs. At the beginning, he cracked a few heads together, but ended up brokering a peace where even the oligarchs were mostly OK with being reined in just enough for Russia to have a functioning political economy instead of chaos and lawlessness. I think it probably would have been worth it in the long run for him to start that fight back when he was at 80% approval. Clearly he thought otherwise.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/22/c_137763342.htmu
This article references the same poll but says Putin’s approval rating is in the 60’s.
All the armchair quarterbacking on this thread seems pretty full of hubris to me. What would I do in Putin’s position? I have no idea. I just take a long angle view of his presidency so far, and believe he has done a remarkable job for Russia, and for the world. I hope he can continue to do so as long as possible, without any sage advice from me.
I wonder if Putin micromanages too much and delegates too little.
I think there is a basic issue of how a society finds honest, well qualified people to perform important tasks. What motivates people and under what conditions? It is one thing to complain about corrupt, incompetent officials but then how do you find good people to replace them? It seems to be a problem everywhere.
March 1 Poll Results:
https://www.rt.com/russia/452785-putin-rating-rise-address/
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has risen to 64.8 percent – the highest so far in 2019 – after his annual address to the Russian parliament.
I am Brazilian, but love Russia and its people, for its tenacious atitude, resilience and resistence. I try to follow as close as I can the news in Russia, and on my perception, the South Front report is quite accurate.
I don’t understand why some people got defensive, I did not sense any ideological criticism toward Russia or its people in the report. Instead, the report summarizes facts that have been anticipated long time ago for many analysts, including maybe Saker self. Sometimes I think Putin has been playing like a famous Mario Puzzo’s, character, i.e. keeping the enemies close, and the friends safe, awaiting the correct moment to hit. I hope such moment is close.
On the other hand, despite the popular disgust toward the 5th columnists, promoting a harsh purge of these “liberals” does not help much, because as Chico Buarque says, “Amanha vai ser outro dia…” (Tomorrow is another day). Looks to me that the game Putin seems to be playing is beyond the consolidation of his own personal power and has with the projection and consolidation of Russia as an Eurasian power.
The best purge would be the people not electing 5th columnists, to start with. When discussing combating corruption, be aware of what happened in Brazil, regarding the “Lava-a-jato” operation. Such moralists initiatives are not a reliable political platform, because can be easily hijacked by the corrupts in lawfare schemes.
BWT, when some one predict that a storm is about to arrive does not mean she wants the storm to arrive. Mostly the opposite…
This is a very fine analysis, which reflects the truth. Thanks to South Front to create such a great work with the spirit of true independent journalism. I also would like to thank Saker to bring up this article and video. All what is said in this article proves beyond doubt that Russia did little change since the Yeltsin years. In fact Putin’s regime is still a continuation of the Yeltsin clan. John Helmer, a Russian insider has been talking about the corruption and oligarchic influence for many years. He is proved to be correct. If Southfront which is one of the most reliable news sources about the region comes up with such an article, what is going on in Russia must be really serious. Personally I was a Putin supporter until two years ago, but I have to admit that today I feel deceived. I used to watch even the Victory day parade until two years ago but especially after I saw Putin inviting Netanyahu as a special guest, this became the last nail in the coffin of Putin. Today I am totally convinced that Putin is the front man (actor?) of the oligarchic cabal with deep links to Israel and broader western oligarchy and he works for the interest of the globalist cabal rather than for the interest of Russian people. This became more evident after his last election. I feel somewhat sorry for the Russian people having been deceived after a brief moment of pride (especially following Crimea and Syria). We all believed (or fooled?) that Russia is finally on its way to become a great power again. Sadly things in this reality is not what it seems to be and what the idealists wants to believe or what the propagandist propagate. In summary Yeltsin never left the power in Russia for all those years, Putin was just an illusion to smokescreen and ensure the continuity of the oligarchic corruption/criminality by giving the Russian people just a bit more crumbs than during those Yeltsin years .
About Russia I have the same thoughts with some doubts. It is a matter of fact that the current russian Government has never denied and refused nor Yeltsin nor Gorbachev and their policies and haven’t never changed the state ruling class chosed by Yeltsin so they seem or are a (more covert and more clever) continuation of Yeltsin system. On the other hand there is a big aggression and provocation against Russia. Maybe a possible explanation is that now Russia recognizes its conquerors as the only world bosses, like their progenitor Yeltsin, but wants (only commercially – Russia doesn’t have a real national strategy) to play on their own while Yeltsin sold everything and everyone to the West with no limits while the Conquerors wants all like before.
It seems clear that Russia cannot maintain an independent and sovereign foreign policy while pursuing economic and financial integration with the West. Dissatisfaction with Russia following the fall of the USSR actually first arose under Yeltsin, not Putin. Yeltsin refused to allow breakup of the Russian Federation beginning with Chechen independence. During Putin’s administration a very huge disappointment was the battle with the oligarchs and the expulsion of Khodorkovsky. At that time I was hopeful that he would continue to unseat the oligarchs from power and establish a Social Democratic or Socialist economic system more in line with some of the mixed economies of the West or even the USSR itself. Unfortunately this has not happened.
To the extent that oligarchs control the economy, how exactly was VVP supposed to dislodge them? They’d go on the offensive – supported by the west – and crash the economy. Then what?
Presumably in exactly the same way Khodorkovsky was removed but the question has little relevance. Since that time Mr Putin has made many statements and performed many actions that have convinced me that reestablishing a Socialist oriented economy in Russia was never his intent. His focus seems to be more on advancing the business interests of the Russian economic sector through commercial engagement with the West. In that view Mr Putin would seem to function as more of a businessman and not Socialist reformer or crusading knight seeking to bring down the Evil Empire.
Putin’s approval rating reaches new 2019 heights – poll
https://www.rt.com/russia/452785-putin-rating-rise-address/
“Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has risen to 64.8 percent – the highest so far in 2019 – after his annual address to the Russian parliament.
The Russian president boasts the highest approval rating among the nation’s politicians, while 36.8 percent and 40 percent of Russians approve of the work of the prime minister and the government respectively, according to the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM).
Sociologists attribute the recent increase in Putin’s ratings to his annual address to parliament on February 20, which was focused on social and economic issues in Russia. In his speech, Putin pledged more support to families, including real estate tax breaks for families with many children, as well as increasing benefits for vulnerable groups like elderly people and single parents. Among other issues, Putin called for improved availability of healthcare, especially in rural areas.”
Well, well, well…
The poll neglected to mention that it was limited to residents of Krivoarbatsky Lane.
Well, I saw that Saker added a note regarding this article, but I’d have to agree with commenters who see this as a fifth-column propaganda. In fact, it put me off contributing to SF. I speak with relies in Russia, and their concerns are different. When S. says Russia should be tougher with Ukraina – what exactly should they do? We know well that any action from Russians would be met with howls of protest from the west. And besides, there’s an election on 3/31/19. Russia has adopted a long-term view towards Ukr., and it is paying off, as the extent of corruption and official ineptitude of the Ukr. elite is becoming clearer by the day. The piece is unconvincing.