Russian Economy General News: #10

par far wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:

par far wrote:Will this have a negative effect on the Russian economy?

"GERMANY MAY SIMPLIFY VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR RUSSIANS UNDER 25 IN FIERCE ATTEMPT TO DEAL WITH OWN SOCIAL, DEMOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS."

https://southfront.org/germany-may-simplify-visa-requirements-for-russians-under-25-in-fierce-attempt-to-deal-with-own-social-demographic-problems/

No.  Because of Russia's education structure they wont have problem finding replacements.

Add to that, there is no such thing as infinite amount of jobs meaning many will end up jobless anyway.  There are going to be a couple type of people who will leave to Germany:

1 - Educated people who cant find good wage similar jobs in Russia but will end up working in Germany and in many cases, sending money back home so Russia gains anyway (this is a common trait everywhere)
2 - Non productive people who were planning to leave anyway, and hope to obtain something in Germany.  In many cases, these people don't end up with jobs anyway and be welfare queens.

With first option, is good for both countries (much like many Germans who ended up moving to Russia or work in Russia or invest).  Both end up becoming a cultural exchange and end up influencing each other through its population.  This will end up as a move to bring Russian influence in Germany.

But overall, this will not solve Germany's overall problem and due to the multi kulti failure of Merkel and the ever growing number of no go zones in Germany for people whiter than brown, well, even Russian's wont be interested.  Already Germany is a running joke in Ru net due to their shit liberal structure.

My sister likes to travel to Europe (she works for Air Canada, so she gets discounted tickets and packages), she won't go to Germany, UK or France this year but to the Islands(some islands are safe, as there are no migrants on there) because she said that the no go zones have grown in size and have become more dangerous(I have seen videos of Paris and some parts look like 3rd world country.) This is going to be a big problem because more and more migrants are coming into Europe. I wonder why the countries affected by this not act?

As for this development, I think it goes both ways, there maybe Germans that come to work in Russia and it will help increase Russian influence (this helps with things like the Nord Stream pipeline.) When the bankers destroy Germany lots of educated people will be looking for jobs.

Well, Deusch bank is in real trouble.

I don't blame your sister at all trying to avoid those places. I myself do not and wish not to travel to any of these nations. On my way back from Asia, I bypassed through France. I was asked to come and see Paris. I declined. I was nice about it, but I just had no desire to see Paris. I never understood the love for these locations and what little I saw of Paris, I didn't like it. Was a dump. Ugly. Anyway, its just going to get worst and I agree with you.

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/122401/

China has allowed the import of soybeans from all regions of Russia

China allowed to import soybeans from all regions of Russia. This is stated in a statement published on the website of the Main Customs Administration of China.

"In accordance with the laws and regulations of the PRC, as well as with the phytosanitary requirements for soybeans, maize, jellied rice and rapeseed imported from the Russian Federation, the import of soybeans [to China] from the entire territory of the Russian Federation is allowed," the department said .

The report said that “Russian soybean means soybeans grown in all regions of Russia and intended for processing”. It is also noted that "soy imported from the Russian Federation should not be a carrier of quarantine pests."

“Soybeans imported from Russia can be transported by water, rail, road, and air,” the statement said. “At the same time, loading vehicles must comply with quarantine and epidemiological surveillance requirements.”

The report also notes that “the measures taken have entered into force since the publication”.

In May 2019, the head of the land supervision department for quality and safety control of grain at the Rosselkhoznadzor announced plans to sign a corresponding agreement.

The future of Russia will depend on the ability of Russia Government
to drive away France and Germany (not only their governments ,but their society too) from the Orbit of Americans..  Because the day Germany and France joins Russia in a military ,political and economical alliance ,will be the day NATO will be over. Italy will jump ship too..
and this will drag most of Europe towards Russia orbit.

And i say Russia government as its entire institution ,that is everything that is Russia.. because when it comes to Putin ,he does the opposite.. with his lack of leadership ,and mediocre vision of Russia and with his weakness and weak-polite behavior..  

Many Insecure and weak people ,use politeness as an strategy for fear to not offend others
,because they don't feel capable enough to deal with it.. And Putin is one of those..
He contains his emotions ,because he is weak person.  He try to influence the west with Politeness and i have seen how US leadership mock Putin for his teddy bear behavior.. Weakness NEVER inspire respect.. it only encourage a negative response ,from the bullies
and this is why US slap Putin on his face again and again and get away with it... and the worse thing is that weak leaders , promote the opposite of what they want.. their insecurity
makes others nations ,to not take Russia seriously.  Strong leaders , influence other leaders to follow them..  Weak leaders ,drive away others.. from taking them seriously.
This is the reason why Russia interest in the world are not respected.. because of its weak leadership ,and its mediocre economy development.. Russia economy strategy is the same of AFrican nations.. economies based on Commodities exports.. the easiest kind of business to do.. that is energy ,mining and agriculture.. this is the big chunk of Russia economy.
A transformation of Russia economy into a High Tech /Space oriented is what will help Russia ,defeat US influence in the world.. and dismember their empire.

So for me is Totally irrelevant ....
1) how much the Russian GDP grows
2)whether Putin recruit patriotic people in their banks
3)Whether Russia nationalize their bank.
4) if the interest rates are risen or lowered..
5)If Russia break records in Rice and potatos..
6)if Russia shows an olympic every year and win all the medals..
7)If russia build new parks every month.

Totally irrelevant. because none of those things counters the American Empire..
their leadership ,their influence.. in the world. Only a complete transformation of Russia economy ,a 180 degrees change... towards a HIGH TECH+SPACE based economy ,aimed at wowing the general society.. this is how Russia can defeat the US Empire and will end even influencing their own enemies.. Already Russia found a way to influence Americans.. is called Russia space program.. but the moron Putin don't take full advantage of it.. as he cut in half the budget of Russia space program ,which is the only way Russia was countering the US leadership
in the world.. Shows how clueless and mediocre is Putin.. A new Generation leadership is need in Russia.. that understand better how to influence the society.

The future of Russia will depend on the ability of Russia Government
to drive away France and Germany (not only their governments ,but their society too) from the Orbit of Americans.. Because the day Germany and France joins Russia in a military ,political and economical alliance ,will be the day NATO will be over. Italy will jump ship too..
and this will drag most of Europe towards Russia orbit.

Germany and France and other countries are keen to invest in Russia because they see enormous potential to make a lot of money... Russia does not need Germany or France, what they need to do is invest their own money developing their own country and companies and selling their finished products overseas.

France and Germany and the EU can have their own orbit and can please themselves... Russia can be a conduit hub for them to trade with Asia and vice versa, but Russia is better off developing itself away from the west in its own direction.

As what kvs has been saying, there's something to PPP as well as competency of implementing projects. I was quickly reminded of this when it comes to building airports. As already pointed by kvs, the failed Berlin Brandenburg Airport, or the case of the US the greatly over-budgeted Big Dig tunnel in Boston, Mass., and a more recent example is the planned expansion of the London Heathrow Airport. Just to build a third airport lane will cost over $17 billion, and the total amount of expansion to Heathrow will cost over $30 billion, not necessarily Russia (the PPP difference is less extreme) building a new mega airport in Beijing ($12 billion) will cost less than building a third airport lane in the UK:

PPP should be natural to people. But my background is science and correct quantification has importance. So I am a minority. Most
people have much fuzzier view of things. So to them PPP is like some contrivance. But it simply does not make sense to compare
nominal GDP values. A $10 dollar trinket in the US is not 10 times more valuable than the same trinket priced $1 dollar in Russia.
Another way to look at this is that if I make 10 times more than the average Russian in dollar terms in the USA, but all my costs
are 10 times higher (averaged) than for the Russian, then I am not 10 times wealthier. I am in the same category as the Russian.

The term "normalization" is probably alien to most people. It means to scale something to a reference level. The 10 times inflated
prices (costs) in the above case clearly have no nominal meaning and so it is valid to scale the fraction of the US GDP driven by
such price differences down by a factor of 10 when comparing to the part of the Russian GDP driven by the 10 times lower Russian
prices. One could do it the other way around and multiply the Russian GDP fraction by a factor of 10 to make a proper comparison
to the US GDP fraction. The whole PPP GDP is then the aggregation of such fraction with variable scaling factors depending on
the product by product or service by service comparison of prices.

BTW, the tedious PPP calculations do account for quality of products and services differences. In the USA they go overboard with
such "hedonics" adjustments when they calculate the inflation from year to year. Products price increases are reduced if the
products are deemed to have more features and value. This has become a trick to understate the actual inflation. Such thinking
cannot be applied to product feature variations if those feature variations do not actually cost the manufacturer the money that
the inflation estimators are assuming that those features are worth. This disconnect is serious. If a TV has an extra feature
that costs nothing to the manufacturer, then the price increase cannot be reduced by some ad hoc value of that feature.

https://russia-insider.com/en/us-financial-parasite-robust-china-silk-road-will-delouse-dragon/ri27497

Dmitry Orlov goes to some extremes in his latest article, comparing the western and eastern economies.

magnumcromagnon wrote:As what kvs has been saying, there's something to PPP as well as competency of implementing projects. I was quickly reminded of this when it comes to building airports. As already pointed by kvs, the failed Berlin Brandenburg Airport, or the case of the US the greatly over-budgeted Big Dig tunnel in Boston, Mass., and a more recent example is the planned expansion of the London Heathrow Airport. Just to build a third airport lane will cost over $17 billion, and the total amount of expansion to Heathrow will cost over $30 billion, not necessarily Russia (the PPP difference is less extreme) building a new mega airport in Beijing ($12 billion) will cost less than building a third airport lane in the UK:

There is an S-400 battery 6 km north from the main building of the Beijing Daxing International Airport .

Follow the road to the north, and it is above ( at) Zigezhuangcun village .

PhSt wrote:[mbASgQ3_K6o

Recall the BS from the 1990s how Russia's metal industry was obsolete and needed to be shut down. When I heard such drivel
at the time, it was clearly malicious BS. No country the size of Russia can just shut down such industries. Russia has plenty
of iron ore and internal demand for metal products. It is not some port "country" like Singapore which cannot maintain a
metal industry for obvious reasons. But this sort of thinking was being peddled by the shock therapy witch doctors and
resulted in the 1990s super-depression.

I spent long hours chatting to American teenagers in the 1990s on newsgroups and they were telling me that Russia was finished and by 2020 they would be flying worn out handmedown F-16s if they were good... and F-5s if they weren't, because all of their aircraft makers will be history.

There were quite a few pro Russian experts who told me the Tu-160 would never get made again because the factory that had the facilities to work with such large pieces of titanium was now in the Ukraine...

There were a lot of pro Americans who were desperately afraid that either the EU or Japan might get friendly with Russia because Russia has enormous resources and technology... a country like Japan or Germany could go in and buy stuff up cheaply and use their money and management skills to become Aerospace super powers again...

GarryB wrote:I spent long hours chatting to American teenagers in the 1990s on newsgroups and they were telling me that Russia was finished and by 2020 they would be flying worn out handmedown F-16s if they were good... and F-5s if they weren't, because all of their aircraft makers will be history.

There were quite a few pro Russian experts who told me the Tu-160 would never get made again because the factory that had the facilities to work with such large pieces of titanium was now in the Ukraine...

There were a lot of pro Americans who were desperately afraid that either the EU or Japan might get friendly with Russia because Russia has enormous resources and technology... a country like Japan or Germany could go in and buy stuff up cheaply and use their money and management skills to become Aerospace super powers again...

Japan was arm-twisted in the 90's, but I'm not so sure it would of worked out for Japan anyways. Never forget that Japan managed to take the F-16 and made it nearly as expensive as the F-22!

Worthy of posting in more than one thread due to information content.

It looks like Russian laws designed to foster domestic development are total rubbish. Somehow it is legal
for companies to keep on ordering ships from foreign shipyards and thereby resulting in Russia subsidizing
foreign ship builders when 50% of domestic ship building capacity sits idle.

Japan was arm-twisted in the 90's, but I'm not so sure it would of worked out for Japan anyways. Never forget that Japan managed to take the F-16 and made it nearly as expensive as the F-22!

No, I think the fear was that the Japanese would use their money and management structures to develop and grow Russian aerospace technology and become real powers in the industry again... like they were when Mitsubishi was producing Zeros... and that together they would produce products vastly better than western products and much cheaper.

GarryB wrote:

Japan was arm-twisted in the 90's, but I'm not so sure it would of worked out for Japan anyways. Never forget that Japan managed to take the F-16 and made it nearly as expensive as the F-22!

No, I think the fear was that the Japanese would use their money and management structures to develop and grow Russian aerospace technology and become real powers in the industry again... like they were when Mitsubishi was producing Zeros... and that together they would produce products vastly better than western products and much cheaper.

well the f2 is a very capable aircraft and the first aircraft with an AESA radar (while the crown for being the first aicraft with an electronically scanned.array radar went to the Mig-31).

You are right, however, saying that is an overexpensive aircraft. It was basically an f16 with 5th generation electronics.


the excessive cost could probably be caused by the inherent problems of japan defence industry.

After ww2 the arms export ban prevented Japan from exporting weapons or participate in any joint development with another country, with the exception being the United States, so of course the americans tried to prevent the development of a dangerous competitor and the loss of an important customer.

Some of this limitations have been eased in 2014... it would be interesting to see what they can produce if not limited anymore by thethe americans

Too bad they are so obsessed by the islands issue to try to cooperate more. I'm trying to imagine what it could.be.for.the su-57 if instead of having india as a fake partner, russia had japan....

kvs wrote:Recall the BS from the 1990s how Russia's metal industry was obsolete and needed to be shut down.    When I heard such drivel
at the time, it was clearly malicious BS.   No country the size of Russia can just shut down such industries.   Russia has plenty
of iron ore and internal demand for metal products.   It is not some port "country" like Singapore which cannot maintain a
metal industry for obvious reasons.   But this sort of thinking was being peddled by the shock therapy witch doctors and
resulted in the 1990s super-depression.  

Correction: shock therapy saboteurs and carpet-baggers

What the West did to post-Soviet Russia in the 90s was 100% DELIBERATE.

Karma however is a right royal bitch and payback is due. Say bye-bye to the Seppostani unipolar moment and welcome in the post-party hangover where the US has to earn foreign scrip or pay in gold to pay its trade bills

PhSt wrote:

Economic recession in Russia possible in 2019, say experts

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. Russia’s economy may face a technical recession as early as this year due to the hard-line fiscal and monetary policy, according to a research note released by the Stolypin Growth Economic Institute, whose Supervisory Board is headed by business ombudsman Boris Titov, on Monday.

"Considering the current economic policy (tight fiscal policy and stringent monetary policy) and a weak effect of National Projects, a technical recession may be seen in the economy as early as in 2019, instead of 2021 projected by the Economic Development Ministry," the document said.

According to the estimates of Russia’s national statistics service Rosstat, GDP gained half a percent in Q1 2019 year-on-year. Rosstat has not yet provided Q2 and 1H statistics, though the Economic Development Ministry suggests economic growth in the country amounted to 0.7% in the first half of 2019 year-on-year, the note said.

Experts at the institute believe that the growth was only reported by large enterprises and the state sector as the analysis of the register of small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) demonstrates a decline in economic activity in Russia.

Particularly, the number of employees at SMEs dropped by 1.6% in 1H 2019 year-on-year, while the number of small and mid-sized businesses plunged by 7-8% year-on-year.

Many economists have damped their outlooks for Russia’s economic growth since June 2019. The Central Bank has downgraded its 2019 Russian GDP growth projection from 1.2-1.7% to 1-1.5%, while the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have lowered Russia’s economic growth estimate to 1.2%.

National Projects and the increase in infrastructure investment account for the biggest part of the projected growth, though the budget of National Projects was only executed by one third in the first half of 2019, experts of the Growth Economic Institute noted. Moreover, the lowest indicators of budget funds’ application were seen in National Projects that could have demonstrated the biggest multiplier effect - ‘Labor efficiency and employment maintenance’ (budget executed by 17.7%), ‘Safe and high-quality roads’ (budget executed by 12.2%), ‘Digital economy’ (budget executed by 8.3%).

Are these real experts or NATO propaganda experts?

The official GKS and CBR numbers point to anemic GDP growth. I have my own view: a recession will occur if the amount of money
transferred offshore via loan paydowns or capital flight is high enough. Tens of billions of dollars is a very large amount of
money given the nominal size of Russia's GDP. As I posted before the lack of robust GDP growth in spite of import substitution
has been driven by massive loan repayments. GDP accounting treats all such offshore money transfers as negative.

Just a reminder

Boris Titov is one of those assholes who was pushing for Russia to forgive all businessmen who stole from Russia back in the 90's and to also absolve certain economic crimes.

I trust the man as much as I trust a prostitute with my wallet.

https://tass.com/economy/1072035

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. The implementation of National Projects may notably contribute to the growth of investment activity in Russia, which is one of the national development targets, experts interviewed by the "Future Russia. National Projects" portal operated by TASS suggest. Analysts expect the growth rates of fixed investment in Russia to accelerate substantially thanks to investments both from the public and from private sectors in the second half of this year, as well as in 2020.

Temporary slowdown
Russia’s Central Bank said earlier that the Russian economy has demonstrated growth rates below the regulator’s expectations since the beginning of the year. The weak dynamics of investment activity is one of the reasons for poor economic results, the Bank of Russia has noted.

READ ALSO
Low investment activity hinders acceleration of Russia’s economic growth - experts
Particularly, in the first quarter of 2019 the annual rate of fixed investment growth slowed down to half a percent from 2.9% in the previous quarter, according to the Central Bank’s statistics. Whereas in the second quarter of 2019, fixed investment slipped by 1.3-1.8% compared with the same period last year.

Experts believe that the Q2 dynamics is due to the high base effect of 2018.

"Last year the brisk investment growth was triggered by a prominent state’s impetus related to the completion of the Power of Siberia project and the implementation of other state projects," Raiffeisen Bank’s macroanalyst Stanislav Murashov said. Previous state projects have been finalized, whereas National Projects have not fully started yet, which is why there has been a slowdown in investment, he explained.

"From the side of the public sector, the decline in investment is connected with the high base of Q2 2018. Budget expenditures have been reduced, the application of funds for National Projects falls behind the schedule. From the side of private and quasi-private sectors, the slowdown may be related to the tightening of credit terms as long-term credit rates peaked in the first half of this year," Andrei Melaschenko, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, added.

The investment activity slowdown in the second quarter of this year may have resulted from unstable environment on the developing markets in Q3-Q4 2018, head of the market analysis department at Otkritie Broker Konstantin Bushuyev said. "We suggest that the overall unstable situation on developing markets in Q3-Q4 2018 may have echoed, which has prompted the Bank of Russia to raise rates locally in the second half of last year. Real economy usually responds to the financial markets volatility with a 6-9 months lag," he noted.

Growth expected
A total of 1.7 trillion rubles ($26 bln) have been allocated for implementation of National Projects in 2019. However, according to the figures provided by the Accounts Chamber, only 32.4% of funds were applied in 1H 2019, which is much higher than previously, but still lower than the average level of the federal budget execution (42.5%).

"If the state manages to ‘transfer’ National Projects from framework forms to the economic basis in the second half of 2019 and in 2020, we expect fixed investment growth rates to return to the level of 1.5-2.5% in annual terms by the end of 2019 and the level of 3-5.2% year-on-year in 2020," Chief Analyst at BKS Premier Anton Pokatovich said.

READ ALSO
World Bank expects Russia’s GDP to stand at 1.2% in 2019
According to the Central Bank’s estimates, Q2 2019 annual GDP growth rates rose to 0.5-1%. The regulator expects GDP growth to accelerate to 0.8-1.3% in Q3, as National Projects are implemented and state investments increase.

"Indeed, National Projects are going to be a notable investment factor in 2020-2024. However, the private sector will be boosting investment required for raising its own competitiveness as well," Sberbank’s Chief Economist Anton Struchenevsky said.

Renaissance Capital expects the implementation of National Projects to drive the total investment growth in 2020 to 3.6% in annual terms against 0.7% in 2019.

"However, how much a boost state investment will give to private remains to be seen," Melaschenko noted.

National Projects to back investment
Experts believe that the investment activity situation in Russia will start changing for the better as early as in the second half of 2019.

"We expect investment growth to resume in 2H 2019 due to the flows both from the public and private sectors. Budget spending is set to accelerate, whereas rates are already declining. We do not expect a notable upsurge in geopolitical uncertainty this year either," Melaschenko said.

Sberbank’s Struchenevsky points out the importance of National Projects for improvement of investment activity. "National Projects are based on a vast majority of infrastructure investments. The growth of expenditures on that type of financing in the second half of 2019 will spur investment activity in general. Moreover, the reduction of the interest rate will also encourage companies to invest," he explained.

Otkritie Broker’s Bushuyev shares the view that investment activity will revive by the end of the year. "The main factors may be the Bank of Russia’s rates reduction recycle, foreign investments inflow in risk assets overall and in developing markets in particular, the launch of large-scale state development projects," the expert said.

par far wrote:Artemi Panarin was in a interview and talked about Russia Putin and politics.

"On what he thinks about Putin

I think he no longer understands what’s right and what’s wrong. Psychologically, it’s not easy for him to judge the situation soberly. He has a lot of people who influence his decisions. But if everyone is walking around you for 20 years telling you what a great guy you are and how great a job you are doing, you will never see your mistakes. In America, you have two four-year terms, and that’s it. You can’t come back. You’ve done some good for your country, haven’t grown fat on anything, and you leave without a fuss, letting young blood in.

He have a point ,that Putin don't see his mistakes.. very huge mistakes.. that are very dangerous too.. But i disagree with him about Putin no longer understanding what's right
or wrong..

The fact is that He NEVER Understood whats right or wrong for Russia.. he never got any understanding at all. The moron all he does , is develop Russia ,in the easiest /lowest risk possible . Developing Russia economy in the same way Third world nations in Africa do it..
that is depending most of their economy in commodities.. that is Oil ,Mining ,Agriculture ,natural gas . This is the biggest chuck of Russia economy is selling what mother nature give them..  And even the most outdated nations in the planet can sell oil.. and can do agriculture..

The real big problem with Putin.. is that he is have very powerful enemies and he  
dont' understand how to counter them..  He allows US to dominate the world.. to influence the world ,to win their hearts with American high tech business ,with American culture ,with American entertainment with American internet and technology and if that was not bad enough , US creates alliances with every other developed nation..  and later he don't understand why Russia  interest are not respected in the world.  Ukraine had a revolution ,
demanding to Join the EU and putin later don't understand why his attempts to influence Ukraine away from US orbit , using gas discounts ..did not worked..

When it comes to countering the west..
Putin is not only bad.. but an absolute amazing incompetent..
Makes you wonder if he suffer from some autism issues as the CIA claimed..
Because watching Putin takes slap on his face and later he behave business as usual.
is painful . Putin is good in delaying things.. But terrible at preventing problems.


Putin . did some steps in right direction in Space and a bit Modernization of Russia military.. but thats it.. and raising Russia economy..but  He waste  a Fortune in meaningless olympics , that people forgot the next week..and waste fortune in pretty parks..  Had Putin invested heavily in promoting a very ambitious free education system ,a very ambitious space program to lead , and invested heavily to create a High tech industrial revolution , then Russia will have long time ago ,disbanded NATO ,because the EU will have joined an alliance with Russia...and the US influence will have ended ,and so Russia will also be a more respected nation.

This is why people say in the west.. Russia culture ends on Russian borders..

Because Russia with the exception of their weapons and soyuz ..have zero positive
influence ,zero leadership with the west..  It is seen as an outdated culture nation.
with outdated business.

Today people talk about US vs China trade war.. and each side can punch each other..
but where is Russia trade war with Americans? ahhh.. they have none.. because Putin is a lame President and have absolutely nothing to compete with Americans modern retail high tech business and have no leadership. So this is what Putin don't understand..
It is his outdated development of Russia ,what cause Russia to be a very disrespected nation in the world. It can't fight back Americans..
CHina in the other hand ,can damage US economy..can slow down US economy..
So if the American empire collapse..one day,, it will be not thanks to Russia..
and Putin will have to kiss the feet of Xi Jinping ,because the chinese leader ,had a much more bigger ambitions than Russia and did actually managed to slow down US Economy and truly force US president to go to a negotiating table.. Putin in the other hand ,never fight back Russia enemies.. he just turn the other cheek when slapped in the face and complain all the time the American unfair system.. then if he don't like it.. why he don't create his own system? All Russia security and economic problems is consequence of the Abysmal Failure of Putin in influencing and countering the west.. They have absolutely nothing to lose ,so they can continue forever targeting Russia economy.. With China is the opposite.. China hurts US economy.. Because they were clever enough to counter US most important high tech business. Putin the moron.. in the other hand believe that just ignoring the west..
and that promoting sports and building more hypersonic missiles ,will make americans to finally want to have good relations with Russia . Putin is truly an incompetent idiot.. and with Putin in power , US will have not to worry.. because Putin is weak teddy bear.

Russia undermines US dollar dominance by shifting trade to local currencies

Funny how the wording of this title suggests that this is a stab in the back from Russia who are out of the blue attacking a good honest faithful friend like the US...

They are not doing this to hurt the Americans... if they wanted to do that they could have done it years ago, they are doing it to protect themselves from the Americans who are currently using their currency and economic power as a weapon against everyone.

And if it is being used as a weapon then naturally you will find ways to protect yourself from the weapon or its effects.

Many western ideals look appealing from the outside... from the inside we see them as a tool to accuse those outside the club of breaking our rules and are therefore in need of a regime change to save them from their own culture and morals and to impose US culture and morals on them with force where needed.

The problem is that while the west only pays lip service to these morals, most sensible human beings see them as being basically good, but they don't put two and two together and realise that the granny suit the wolf is wearing is a disguise and if you do come closer so she can see your face properly you are going to get ripped to shreds and eaten...

Many in Russia still see the little old lady... for fucks sake many in the US still think they ARE the little old lady that is a force for good spreading peace and democracy around the world with blackmail and war...

If Russia could have the enormous luck of another putin that could be in charge for another 20 years I think Russia will become a much better alternative to the US and the West in general... it wont be perfect, because nothing is, but it will at least be more honest and open than the west and the US are who consider lying to be the core of their foreign policy. The only difference with Trump at the reins is that he is a bit more honest about the blackmail and war with friends and allies as well as enemies and undecideds.

The interview about all of Putins mistakes, would be interested in a nice long list of those mistakes and the decisions that person thinks he should have made... but obviously this needs to be written in real time as the decisions were made... not afterwards when the west revealed its duplicitous plans and aspirations.

Putin's mistakes have to be evaluated in the context of the behaviour of NATO leaders and the rest of the world governments. The same
must be done to any historical Russian leader. The west has had a hate hard-on against Russia for 1000 years. Objective assessments
of life in Russia during the 1500s put it in a better state regarding human rights than most of Europe. All sorts of absurdly
exaggerated lies about how brutal was Ivan the Terrible are nothing more than hate propaganda. Western leaders were extremely
brutal to the peasants and their opponents.

It has been the westernizers that have been bad for Russia. Peter the Great returned serfdom when it was on its way out. But one
hears mostly about his westernization efforts. I guess he must have been modeling the social structure on western serfdom. Although
it was on its way out of Europe at the time. You can think of the Bolshies, Khruschev and Gorby as westernizers. A rather
consistent pattern of negative fallout from their efforts. But Khruschev did not quite go as far as Gorby so his damage was not as
bad.

GarryB wrote:

If Russia could have the enormous luck of another putin that could be in charge for another 20 years I think Russia will become a much better alternative to the US and the West in general..

Much better alternative for who ? For IRAN ? for North Korea? for China as Plan B ,when
Americans reject them ?

Doesn't matter GarryB.. how many good Morals Putin or Russia have..
they will not give a shit about that.. don't you understand already that they want
Russian blood?  The west wants to destroy Russia... Period.. Just meditate about that.
They want total destruction of Russia.. and with Putin's head chopped as a souvenir
and show it to the world , what will happen to the next Nation who dares to oppose their plans for a world dictatorship , with Americans elite  and Jews having absolute control of the entire world.

Your problems , is not understanding Putin's mistakes.. is that you don't see
how Putin's weakness ,how Russia lack of leadership , encourage the west to be
more and more and more hostile to Russia.. because Putin will do nothing..
Now Americans fly their Poseidon planes and directly control Alqaeda drones to hit
Russian base and Putin does nothing.. allows Americans to target their military base.
Don't you see dude how Dangerous game Putin is playing?  If you have a bully ,
all the time taking your lunch , in school.. and you respond being polite or just saying
how unfair he is... then he will continue disrespecting you.. again and again and again.

Again Russian morals and values will not convince the west to Stop their hostilities
against Russia and its allies..  It means that Putin needs to Fight back.. He can't continue
forever pretending that the west is not at war with Russia already. All Putin strategy is to do NOTHING ,let them continue their aggression on Russia and Russia will just take the hits and do nothing to them.. in hopes that with Time, somewhere in the future a new leadership will come to power ,and will want to restore with  relations..


So forget about Morals and Values.. Putins needs to grow some balls and Fight back..
Now US ,after syria and Ukraine.. both conflicts created by Americans to spit on Russia face... now they picking new fights , with IRAN and Venezuela.. The later one..
US is officially pushing to starve its population ,by a food Blockade..  
So Americans gov spit on Putin's face , attacks its allies and what Putin does? NOTHING.
So this encourage them to continue their hostilities ,with bigger ones and also increase the nations ,that will be on their hit list.. Serbia next?  Transnistria ? Cuba?
So PUtin tactics are completely Outdated.. Just ignoring US semi hot indirect war with Russia ,will not help him in any way.. will make things worse.

Putin needs to fight back.. and is not with better nukes ,that he needs to fight..
is with Better leadership that Russia needs to fight.. To counter US influence in the world..
can be done by countering their most popular civilian business that they feel more proud about ,those ones that makes US dominant in the world , and achieve more influence in the world.   Winning gold medals in sports or records in farming wheat ,or ending the use of dollars ,will do NOTHING ,at all ,to help Russia to gain any influence ,to counter the American system.   If you target US High tech business ,you damage their economy..and that as a huge bonus,you gain major influence in the world.. as China have done with Huawei phones.. that change everyone perception and opinion.. of China capabilities ,are not longer the same of 20 years ago ,of a rice farming nation.. Putin's outdated vision ,of Russia economy developing ,is what threaten Russia own existence.. for refusing to compete
with Americans leading civilian business,, that are more popular for society ,Russia allows them to dominate and continue influencing the world.

What Putin face ,is consequence of his own inaction .
If you see a terrorist, trying to blow up a building ,YOU NEED TO STOP HIM . period.!!!!!!!!
If that terrorist is trying to destroy the entire world.. Even MORE.. you can't just sit down
and relax and hope that time will just make the terrorist to give up in their atemp but the opposite.. the failure to blow a building ,will encourage him to do it better next time..  

So Putin/Russia problems ,the root of it is a lack of LEADERSHIP problem.. an Influence problem. it can't either Influence Americans to change their hostilities towards Russia.. and neither can change US allies to abandon the American system.. Something he could easily do ,had he wasn't so LAME ,and was more ambitious with Russia role in the world.. and decided to Compete with the American Business , that helps them American empire to attract those Hong Kong Protesters , Ukrainian protesters , Europeans society ,more closer to the American orbit , and reject the Russian one..  This is why US is now so desperate to land in the moon "Again" with humans and mars and go to mars.. they know is dangerous for their world Image and leadership ,to allow Russia to do it first.. Russia have a millions of opportunities ,it have amazing talent in the scientific community and all that is wasted ,by Putin for his lack of ambitions..  He himself have said , is not interested to counter US leadership in the world.  isn't Putin so nice ?     had Russia had leadership.. NATO will not exist.. and those high tech business US have ,no longer will lead on anything.. neither NASA will lead in space ,neither Americans will control internet.. why would anyone in Europe follow a Second or third best..with Overpriced products.. if they can get superior quality products and technology from Russia?  Is all Leadership.. Putins or who ever replace him.. need to counter US Business influence in the world.. with better ones.. if Russia ever wants to avoid a nuclear war with them..  Is amazing how you can't see this.. is clear as water , Russia lack of civilian consumer business influence (lack of leadership) in comparison with US ,is the source of the problem. Everyone can be influenced.. even bad people.. can be influenced.. So is not with moral and values how Russia will stop US empire and NATO ,but with leadership how Russia can do it..  the only other way is winning them in a war.. but there is no need for such risky move.. Russia have more than enough talent to become a major leader in world development and space exploration and with a very influential culture.

So Putin is not the "Savior" you claim him to be.. He is the one making it possible
for a real major disaster to happen.. Because Putin's weakness , Putin's Politeness ,
Putin's failure strategy ,is allowing his enemies to Attack Russia and get away with it..
But the much worse part of all .. is not that Russia is attacked.. but other every nation that
believe in Putin words of support for other countries.. that follows Putin's calls for a multipolar world ,and nations to defend their sovereignty and later those countries gets busted for following the Moron in chief Putin advices... Syria is paying a big price for Trusting in Russia ,thinking it can protect them .. Cuba is experiencing a miserable life of 50 years of blockade ,and Russia abandoned them to their luck.. and now Venezuela have a total Naval Blockade in their country.. Not even Food and medicine will be allowed to enter.. and Putin ,not even have blinked an eye.. will continue doing politics and business as usual ,completely ignoring how it was Russia who provoked his aggression on Venezuela.. for opposing with words the American empire ,but doing nothing with actions to stop it.