Quote: (10-09-2015 11:37 PM)Killer Joe Wrote:
Quote: (10-09-2015 10:47 PM)samsamsam Wrote:
So Hryvnia gets worse then?
Probably. But only one thing is certain: Putin's got the game by the balls.
How come?
The nominal Russian GDP in 2014 has dropped by 40% to 1.8 trln $ from 2 trln in 2013.Russian economy rolled back to 2006. This is Alfred Koch,Russian ex minister of economy saying, not me.
Economic failure
Biggest part of my family live in Russia.The standard of living has dropped significantly,seemingly to levels below that of Ukraine in some cases 9if you compare like to like).
Putin entered the war in Ukraine proclaiming "Novorossiya"or whatever crap till Dnepr and Odessa. Had to roll back having lost up to 10k casualties and got stuffed with small piece of land there which he is trying hard to give back to Ukraine now. Just yesterday Peskov said that "Donbass is Ukraine".
Military failure.
Ukrainians have been probably the only true allies of Russia in the world before the occupation. Ukranians have been agents of the empire for centuries, many prominent military and political leaders in Russian history have come from Ukraine.Ukraine to Russia is Scotland to England. Now it's a bitter enemy.Even Russian speaking young Eastern Ukrainians hate-hate Russian to the bones now. I have two home boys who are volunteers in the army (volunteer battalions) now.And we all come from a 100% Russian background.
Diplomatic failure.
Ukraine,previously one of the biggest Russian export markets for Russia, has managed to minimize its dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies till absolute minimum.It is predicted that Ukraine wont be importing any more Russian gas pretty much soon.Combine it with the fact that commodities are dropping in price, China is buying less and less of Russian oild and gas, Poland has managed to prioritize its supplies to Middle East etc etc and you can easily predict that Russian economy wont be doing well in the near future.
Geopolitical and economic failure.
Europe has always been extremely cold towards Ukraine.Ukraine has been one of the few countries of Europe (not counting bizarre states like Byelarus or Russian itself) which has never applied for EU membership (because frankly speaking Europe had always been hinting Ukraine that it was not interested). Ukraine did not even have a FT agreement with Europe (when even countries like Morocco and Chile have). The Russian aggression turned the tables significantly.Ukraine is cooperating with EU now, and is about to sign the free trade agreement. Exports to EU are a bigger part of Ukrainian exports than to Russia now.
Geopolitical failure.
Traditionally,Ukrainian snever supported NATO.I think no more than 20-30% of Ukrainians would ever want Ukraine to join NATO.Now,it's staggering support,up to 80% in some regions.
Military failure.
Eastern Ukraine (places like Zaporozhye,Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa) which has always been inclined towards Russia are pretty much anti Russian now.Many people have relatives in Donbass and know about Russian atrocities there first hand.The RT can lie as much as they want but locals know very well who has been firing missiles at civilian buildings. Just go to the donetsk forum and read.
Most importantly, people have learned on the examples of Transnistria,Abkhazia and Donbass that Russia means destruction and poverty. Donbass is a wild west now where the gangs are fighting for supremacy and old oligarchs try to establish themselves back into power.Just two days ago they have kidnapped and beaten up one of the "ministers"of Donbass. Basically, another "Serpska Kraina" in croatia, the maffia state which was supported by Miloshevich.
The experiment in Donetsk is a century old military tactic, called "hybrid" war.USSR and Russia did it many times before (check North Korea,Transnistria,Abkhazia), Serbia did it before (check Serpska Kraina etc), hell,even Hitler did it (Sudetten).Nothing new.
Putin has never had anything by the balls.Well,not true, he's got his people by the balls.But Russians are used to dictators , nothing new for them. In the whole history of Muscovy they had democracy for 6 months in 1917 under Kerensky and kleptocracy/ democracy under alcoholic Eltsin for some 8 years in 90s. Putin is ok for them.Just about right.
ps: I will probably be banned now as opinions from a Ukrainian here are not valued.Good luck living in a parallel universe though lol.