Putin is one of the all time greats. As a leader he has a spiritual depth sadly lacking in the West. An extremely capable and intelligent man of vision, in the right place at the right time, Russia (and perhaps the world) should consider itself very lucky.
Found your link at Sonar 21 Julian. Very good article. Have always considered myself a big picture guy too. I was one of those who couldn't find Ukraine on a map prior to Feb 2022. The events that unfolded closely thereafter really tied up the loose ends in my mind. I knew by the media's reaction and the swarm of trolls there had to be a bigger picture. Why all of a sudden does America care if two mostly white countries exterminate each other? The passion from the usual suspects gave it away. Risking nuclear escalation just to protect the giant ongoing grift in the Ukraine made no sense either.
By March of 2022 I came to the conclusion TPTB were trying to protect something else. Its all about the Western economy and monetary system. All that was ever important to America/West was that TPTB remain on top. No doubt this has been done many years not so much by making the West better but by making any challengers worse. I don't believe these so called power brokers have an invite to help run a Russian or Chinese Hegemony. Both countries have seen what happens when "their" system is released on society. This is why they have completely hitched their wagons to the West; particularly the USA.
Unfortunately its do/die, sink/swim for all of us now. This leads me to believe the threat of Nuclear Armageddon is all too real. Not dissimilar to a spoiled child smashing the gameboard he was losing.
Pfff there are so many inaccuracies that it would take hours to correct everything... For the main ones:
1) We can say that Putin took power at the right time, following the collapse of the USSR, the Russian economy rebounded, which has nothing to do with him. But if you want to think of putin as someone who straightened out a country, a good comparison is Adolf who arrived in a ruined Germany and wanted to revive his dream of antiquated imperialism. Germany and Russia were empires long ago, but in today's world they are just dwarfs.
2) If we can say that the world is becoming bipolar, it is centred between the USA and China (therefore bi- and not multipolar to be precise). India remains to be seen in a few decades. Russia has nothing to do with it, just like BRICS.
3) Autarkic Russia… well, most of its economy is based on the export of raw materials.
It struggles to provide certain key components, hence the problems in certain industries (automotive, aeronautics, etc.). And, while I have no doubt that they will succeed in recovering certain industries (they succeeded in replacing Mcdo and Zara), technologically, no longer being so integrated into supply chains such as semiconductors and the massive loss of advanced knowledge (10% of IT engineers who left, that is 100k people! it comes from Shadayev, Russian minister, so a low figure certainly) will not be recoverable.
Finally, the Russian economy is like the Kalibr missiles, supposedly invincible on paper, until the day they are used in real world and destroyed.
4) Rather than reading RT or Sputnik articles, it is better to read the source. In this case we see that the UN CPI report is not a ranking of places where it is good to live, but a study of 29 cities (29 cities are not the whole world) comparing their relative prosperity compared to the rest of the country (therefore GDP of the city vs GDP of the whole country and not a comparison between cities themselves)
5) The issue of dedollarization. This is what comes up every 10 years because a country has bought an oil tanker in a currency other than the dollar… There is no doubt that for your limited knowledge of economics, understanding the dollar and the debt must be complex. But to put it simply, between 60% and 80% of China's foreign exchange reserves are held in dollars, China has $1.5 trillion in US debt and even though they've been talking about this concentration risk for years, they have no alternative to the dollar.
Btw, USD is 60% of the world currency reserves, EUR 20% and JYP and GBP 5% each (so Western covers more than 95% if also including Canada, Switzerland, Australia). So your chart showing that USD decrease from 2013 is true but hides that the increase comes from other Western countries.
The collapse of the United States? It would take facts to demonstrate that an economy of 25,000 billion GDP which, over the last 40 years, has only experienced 2 years of negative growth (2008 crisis and covid) is in decline.
6) The Tao of Vladimir Putin. Nice story, David versus Goliath -like, you should work in Hollywood where the facts matter less than the narrative (ah wait, you're already doing the same thing as a good Kremlin propagandist). In fact, historically, hyperpowers are not defeated by dwarfs but by new hyperpowers, re-read Thucydides' trap.
USA the great satan, the west is collapsing, big pharma is controlling the world, the earth is flat. Blah blah blah. Nothing new in conspiratorial circles that I see.
Hiis longevity as a leader, is, in many ways, its own proof. A lot of the head honchos at the top are always cycling, but Putin has probably shaken hands with past heads of state one deep, maybe even two deep.
You make a point that most others miss -- Putin's "spiritual depth", which informs his vision. Need to write an article on this.
He is the most important and strategic leader of this era, hands down.
Feeding off Michael Hudson and similar minds larger than my peanut.
That was my impression also from reading comments from people who know him.
Putin is one of the all time greats. As a leader he has a spiritual depth sadly lacking in the West. An extremely capable and intelligent man of vision, in the right place at the right time, Russia (and perhaps the world) should consider itself very lucky.
Found your link at Sonar 21 Julian. Very good article. Have always considered myself a big picture guy too. I was one of those who couldn't find Ukraine on a map prior to Feb 2022. The events that unfolded closely thereafter really tied up the loose ends in my mind. I knew by the media's reaction and the swarm of trolls there had to be a bigger picture. Why all of a sudden does America care if two mostly white countries exterminate each other? The passion from the usual suspects gave it away. Risking nuclear escalation just to protect the giant ongoing grift in the Ukraine made no sense either.
By March of 2022 I came to the conclusion TPTB were trying to protect something else. Its all about the Western economy and monetary system. All that was ever important to America/West was that TPTB remain on top. No doubt this has been done many years not so much by making the West better but by making any challengers worse. I don't believe these so called power brokers have an invite to help run a Russian or Chinese Hegemony. Both countries have seen what happens when "their" system is released on society. This is why they have completely hitched their wagons to the West; particularly the USA.
Unfortunately its do/die, sink/swim for all of us now. This leads me to believe the threat of Nuclear Armageddon is all too real. Not dissimilar to a spoiled child smashing the gameboard he was losing.
Pfff there are so many inaccuracies that it would take hours to correct everything... For the main ones:
1) We can say that Putin took power at the right time, following the collapse of the USSR, the Russian economy rebounded, which has nothing to do with him. But if you want to think of putin as someone who straightened out a country, a good comparison is Adolf who arrived in a ruined Germany and wanted to revive his dream of antiquated imperialism. Germany and Russia were empires long ago, but in today's world they are just dwarfs.
2) If we can say that the world is becoming bipolar, it is centred between the USA and China (therefore bi- and not multipolar to be precise). India remains to be seen in a few decades. Russia has nothing to do with it, just like BRICS.
3) Autarkic Russia… well, most of its economy is based on the export of raw materials.
It struggles to provide certain key components, hence the problems in certain industries (automotive, aeronautics, etc.). And, while I have no doubt that they will succeed in recovering certain industries (they succeeded in replacing Mcdo and Zara), technologically, no longer being so integrated into supply chains such as semiconductors and the massive loss of advanced knowledge (10% of IT engineers who left, that is 100k people! it comes from Shadayev, Russian minister, so a low figure certainly) will not be recoverable.
Finally, the Russian economy is like the Kalibr missiles, supposedly invincible on paper, until the day they are used in real world and destroyed.
4) Rather than reading RT or Sputnik articles, it is better to read the source. In this case we see that the UN CPI report is not a ranking of places where it is good to live, but a study of 29 cities (29 cities are not the whole world) comparing their relative prosperity compared to the rest of the country (therefore GDP of the city vs GDP of the whole country and not a comparison between cities themselves)
5) The issue of dedollarization. This is what comes up every 10 years because a country has bought an oil tanker in a currency other than the dollar… There is no doubt that for your limited knowledge of economics, understanding the dollar and the debt must be complex. But to put it simply, between 60% and 80% of China's foreign exchange reserves are held in dollars, China has $1.5 trillion in US debt and even though they've been talking about this concentration risk for years, they have no alternative to the dollar.
Btw, USD is 60% of the world currency reserves, EUR 20% and JYP and GBP 5% each (so Western covers more than 95% if also including Canada, Switzerland, Australia). So your chart showing that USD decrease from 2013 is true but hides that the increase comes from other Western countries.
The collapse of the United States? It would take facts to demonstrate that an economy of 25,000 billion GDP which, over the last 40 years, has only experienced 2 years of negative growth (2008 crisis and covid) is in decline.
6) The Tao of Vladimir Putin. Nice story, David versus Goliath -like, you should work in Hollywood where the facts matter less than the narrative (ah wait, you're already doing the same thing as a good Kremlin propagandist). In fact, historically, hyperpowers are not defeated by dwarfs but by new hyperpowers, re-read Thucydides' trap.
USA the great satan, the west is collapsing, big pharma is controlling the world, the earth is flat. Blah blah blah. Nothing new in conspiratorial circles that I see.
Sounds like the Eisenhower of Russia.
Agree 100%.
A mutual acquaintance who has worked with him since St. Petersburg says he is as he appears: rather shy, modest, funny and likable.
Once dollar share drops to less than 40% then America May implode financially.
Interesting and wonder how Julian came up with this?
Hiis longevity as a leader, is, in many ways, its own proof. A lot of the head honchos at the top are always cycling, but Putin has probably shaken hands with past heads of state one deep, maybe even two deep.
The link to the UN–HABITAT City Prosperity Index is broken.
A man named Adolf performed a similar miracle in 1930's Germany.
The West and their financiers appear not to have been too keen on that one either.