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Re: fuagf post# 265598

Wednesday, 11/22/2017 10:33:12 PM

Wednesday, November 22, 2017 10:33:12 PM

Post# of 468548
For Russians, Bleak Realities at Home

"Opinion Trump and the Right's Strange Admiration for Putin "

Maxim Trudolyubov DEC. 27, 2016


James Hill for The New York Times

MOSCOW — Russian hackers have been making front pages recently in the United States and Europe, but few people in Russia seem to care or even notice. The Russia of international media and the Russia that we, Russians, know from the inside could not be further apart.

[...]

Incomes are declining, and poverty is on the rise. The economic slump that started in 2014 hit those least protected. Since 2013, the number of people living below the official poverty line has grown from 15.5 million to 21.4 million this year — 14.6 percent of the population. The official threshold of poverty currently stands at 9,889 rubles a month ($160). If a European formula for poverty measurement (60 percent of median income) were used, the figure would be much higher.

This is the unseemly flip side of the agile and unpredictable power that the world sees on television screens. It would be tempting to think that Russia’s newly assertive and costly foreign policy was a direct reason for the failing economy and deteriorating quality of life. In fact, the cause-and-effect sequence may be the other way around. The annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s later aggressive moves were not just responses to one particular event, a Western-instigated revolution in Ukraine. They were natural consequences of the Kremlin’s decision to put Russia on the kind of path it is on now.

Behind Russia’s recession, which is slowly morphing into stagnation, are the weakened price of oil in recent years and some longer-term factors, like the state’s growing role in economic matters and an unwelcoming business climate. The decline started long before Moscow went into Ukraine or Syria. The systemic nature of the current crisis is underscored by the fact that even with the oil price hovering at $50 a barrel, the Russian Finance Ministry does not project the country’s economy growing faster than 1.5 percent annually, all the way to 2030.

This is a man-made situation, not destiny.

[...]

The result: Now a deep sense of insecurity among the public has continued to spread, rather than abate. And a realization that Russia — with its renationalized economy and aging population — is now incapable of competing on equal economic and political terms with other major powers may have led the Kremlin to believe that it can compete only by other means — namely by displaying no hesitation at using force or covert influence to claim Russian greatness again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/opinion/for-russians-bleak-realities-at-home.html

More from the immediately previous.

"We may live in a post-truth era, but for those of you who still can appreciate a good fact or two, here’s the scorecard on Putin and the country he is supposedly doing such a good job running.

The Russian economy: Its size in 2016 is about $1.27 trillion, in nominal terms, which ranks it No. 12 in the world behind Canada.

Canada, however, has just a quarter of Russia’s population. On GDP per capita basis, Russia ranks 71st, just behind the Maldives and one place ahead of Mexico.

The business environment: The World Bank’s Doing Business index, which rates things like how easy it is to get a business license or hook up your electricity, puts Putin’s Russia at No. 40 in the world, one step behind the notoriously misruled countries of Bulgaria and Belarus.

Corruption: Transparency International, which measure perceptions of malfeasance, ranks Russia 119th of 168 countries. That puts it on the same level of Azerbaijan, Guyana and Sierra Leone and one notch more corrupt than Tanzania.

Human rights: Freedom House categorizes Russia among the countries that are “not free” and gives it a six on a scale of 1-7 (seven being least free) in terms of overall freedom, political rights and civil liberties.

High-tech: Russia is No. 43 ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Global Innovation Index, that is behind Greece and the United Arab Emirates and barely ahead of Costa Rica and Moldova.

What appeals to the right is Putin’s decisive leadership, his defense of traditional values, his straight-talking and his nationalism. The fact that he runs a country that is one giant rust belt, ignores property rights, lacks honest government, interferes with its neighbors and democratic elections in the U.S., and conducts brutal wars is all secondary to the romantic image of the Leader.

Sadly, this seems to be the Trump leadership model, too -- all appearances and no substance. And, we see where that’s gotten Russia.
"

It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”

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