I’ve never been especially swayed by concerns of capital flight, though clearly the Russian economy is especially well insulated. I was just being flippantly facetious about Putin et al, who at one point really went way beyond any reasonable sense to try and have nice relations with the west. But, the broad coalition needed to keep the Communists out of power is far too fragile for Putin to do anything too purely self-interested—despite western insistence on his infinite dictatorial powers.
I very much agree, and I’d argue that one of the biggest outcomes from the war was that European masks fell off. Russians finally got to see what Europeans really think of them, and I don’t think there’s any going back from this now. At least not for a generations. Ever since the fall of USSR, Russians really wanted to be part of Europe, hence Putin’s attempts to bend over backwards for them.
Now, Russians know that Europeans hate them with a passion, and they can never be part of Europe. At the same time, Russians are now seeing that they don’t need Europe nearly as much as Europe needs them. Russian economy is doing fine while Europe is collapsing without Russian energy. I expect there’s going to be a lot more self confidence in Russia going forward.
I’ve never been especially swayed by concerns of capital flight, though clearly the Russian economy is especially well insulated. I was just being flippantly facetious about Putin et al, who at one point really went way beyond any reasonable sense to try and have nice relations with the west. But, the broad coalition needed to keep the Communists out of power is far too fragile for Putin to do anything too purely self-interested—despite western insistence on his infinite dictatorial powers.
I very much agree, and I’d argue that one of the biggest outcomes from the war was that European masks fell off. Russians finally got to see what Europeans really think of them, and I don’t think there’s any going back from this now. At least not for a generations. Ever since the fall of USSR, Russians really wanted to be part of Europe, hence Putin’s attempts to bend over backwards for them.
Now, Russians know that Europeans hate them with a passion, and they can never be part of Europe. At the same time, Russians are now seeing that they don’t need Europe nearly as much as Europe needs them. Russian economy is doing fine while Europe is collapsing without Russian energy. I expect there’s going to be a lot more self confidence in Russia going forward.