Putin recalled the history of Russia’s conversion to Christianity, which began after a Kiev prince he shares a name with—Vladimir the Saint—conquered the Greek trade colony of Khersones in what is now the city of Sevastopol. Putin claimed that for Russians this historic site therefore had the same “sacral and civilizational importance as Temple Mount in Jerusalem for those who profess Islam and Judaism.” I can't quite picture it (My eyes are bleeding)
He is trying to come up with excuses for his illegal invasion and annexation of territory. It might work with Russia's elderly and those who have been blinded by patriotism but the rest of Europe will punish him, and by proxy the Russian people, for trying to redraw borders by force. Hell, the sanctions so far have been rather small and measured but as western financial institutions can't do the due dilligence profitably they've pretty much cut off all Russian companies even if they aren't on the sanctions list. That is horrible news for a country with such shallow capital markets especially where both banks and the government owe dollar based loan payments. They won't be able to pay them by next 2016 at the longest. Already the banks are out of assets to use as collateral to borrow from the central bank so they're asking for a bail out, that will cost an average of $35 billion per month for the next two years just to keep the loan repayments current. That in and of itself will suck up all the dollars in both the central bank and the sovereign wealth fund in one year assuming that money doesn't get spent on anything else. Only it will get spent on other things because there are lots of demands as inflation is now 10%, the econony is in recession, and worst of all the budget is way out of wack yet they can't borrow. Putin's budget needs oil at $100 but now it is $65 and still sinking. Yet he is promising a big new high construction program to stimulate the economy and fight the recession. That would mean spending going up not down so they will be burning throw cash reserves fast.
Sing it sister! Or brother! Sorry, idk you yet Putin is a piece of work. Perhaps if he and his buddies (And Gfriend) hadn't pocketed all those millions from the Olympics,the people wouldn't be starving. As much. I saw the saddest interview. An old woman in a soup kitchen, so painfully thin. She was pissed tho- said she had been the leader of a defense group during WWII and now she was receiving charity from the Germans. Yes, the Germans are funding and feeding these soup kitchens throughout Russia. As, I presume are other nations. He has destroyed the economy, couldn't care less about the population, pocketed more money then we can imagine and yet there he is. Still. Smug bastard. I'd love to slap that smirk off his lame ass Stalin wannabe face. Grrrrrrrrr...
Remeber there is no free press in Russia or at least not on TV or Radio where virtually everyone gets their news. Since he started his third term, and he probably would have won any way but Putin engauged in a huge amount of ballot box stuffing (some of it caught on video of government workers filling out thousands of ballots for Putin, workers at state owned industries told they'd be fired if they didn't vote for Putin then getting bused to 20-30 polling stations so they could all vote multiple times) so something like 120% of the population voted with an astouding number of small villages of 100 people reporting thousands of votes all for Putin, etc... So anyways there are a lot of People who only see Putin's state propaganda and no other media. Will they stick with Putin even as they become poorer and their standard of living goes down? Putin is using all of his propaganda to say it is a patriotic battle against the evil west but we will see. If bread prices get high enough maybe people will start to wonder if the dictator is to blame after all.
Not to mention body bag stuffing. I don't know how those poor peoples standard of living could go any lower. It seems to me, and its just my opinion, that the Russian people as a whole pride themselves on being stoic and able to survive no matter how bad the circumstances. Which is a very admirable quality. What angers me is they (for the most part) have no idea what is really being done to them. Nothing makes me crazier than abuse and injustice. And Putin struts around (shirtless, yak) and just keeps pushing the envelope. As soon as it kicked off btwn Israel & Palestine, Putin and the Ukraine kind of faded out. Idk that sanctions will ever make a diff. Have you seen or read Poisoned by Polonium? Fascinating, horrible story. That reveals the real Putin. If you haven't here's a quick summary: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko
There's a long tradition in Russia, going back to at least Czar Peter, of equating the nation's history with some manifest destiny of Christianity as a whole. I realise how such an idea would be utterly foreign to Americans, of course...
Pardon me? How would you have any idea of my thoughts? Presumptuous much? Oh, also lovely manners. What your comment has to do with Putins actions you'll have to explain to this ignorant American. I think I can struggle through if you go slowly. As to Tsar Peter he was a wonderful reformer who dragged Russia forward to become equal with European powers. No small feat. However his dealing with Christianity was quite simplistic. He pulled a Henry the VIII. One should never presume that everyone is familiar with all aspects of history, so I'll break it down quickly. He stripped the church of all lands, wealth and possessions. He then incorporated it into the state with himself as supreme leader. He had no thoughts of a Christian destiny. Nor did the people. Which led to an exodus of nuns and priests, as there was no place for them anymore. Catherine the Great took that a step further, but no need to get into that now. I look forward to your response, as i am truly interested to know what the hell your rude comment means.
First, my comment wasn't rude, but contained a joke you clearly missed, which turns on the phrase "manifest destiny"; thus my comment that the idea wouldn't occur to Americans is ironic, meaning I was going for an audience that would understand I'm saying that under this perspective, the two histories aren't that different, and that Americans do know that very well. Second, you should have no expectation whatsoever of comments in the Red Room not being rude. Mine usually aren't without good cause, but they certainly don't go out of their way to be polite. We can get along great if you'll be less easily offended on both counts. From Constantine through Peter and Katharina to In God We Trust and not least the ideology of the Third Reich, historic messianism translates into the identification of church and state, just as you point out; and what I'm saying is that Putin is standing in the long line of that tradition. That was my point.
That doesn't make him a wonderful reformer. That makes him an autocrat who is determined to ensure that there can be no challenge to his power from civil society, of which the church is the an important part. An autocratic central government has been a serious problem in Russia for centuries. Also, get over yourself. This is the second time you've taken offense to someone being "rude".
All right. Thanks for explaining. I do believe I've got it now. Red Room = No manners, snide/rude comments right off the bat. Go, go Godzilla!
Eye roll~ Obviously that gag over your mouth serves no purpose. Is it just there to squash hopes you might shut up? My meaning was in reference to his building a modern navy, enlarging Russia's land holding's, among other 'great' things. Hence the name- Peter the Great. How's about you've been stagnating here so long, you've forgotten how a little common decency to someone unfamiliar with your freak show, never even occurred to you. #AssHat Go have a nice hot cup of shut the fuck up.
This is why we keep trying to ban you. Patty, if you're really new and not a dual, you've not been here long enough to know the personalities yet. Packard generally does not engage in rudeness or ad hominems. He's a furriner but he's one of the more literate and well-spoken voices at Wordforge. Wait, I thought I'd been told that excessive government spending is exactly what should happen during economic downturns? I'm so confused . . . Russia now is basically Detroit writ large: an economy based on a single pillar with leadership that's either inept, corrupt, or both. Plus with the demographic trends against them, their time as a world power is coming to an end.
Wow. This is really a trial by fire, isn't it? I'm not sure what a dual is but I'll presume dual personality? Definitely not. Just myself, debating if I'm amused by all this or if I should run for the hills! Packard and I are fine. At least I think we are. We ended on a joke in another thread. With a Godzilla gif. I'm certainly not trying to stir up trouble. Seems like I'm comfortable, chatting with someone, than BAM, someone attacks from the rear. Just trying to acclimate myself. This is getting too long! I so don't want to hear about it! I can give you my bona fides in private message if you'd like. ACK! Tooooo longgg... Preemptive strike- Cram it- couldn't be helped
When you have a reserve currency or the ability to issue bonds on international currency markets, yes. When you are Russia, well, sucks to be them. Not a perfect analogy, since Detroit's circumstance is highly mis-stated when people ignore the wealth in surrounding suburbs.
Yeah, we sang Mothra's peace song. We're fine as far as I'm concerned. But Lanz is right: Don't expect overt signs of love here, it's just not the style of the place. For instance, Lanzman just said something downright nice about me, so now I know he's plotting with Sokar's ghost and Castle's cancerous liver to tear down my house and eat my unborn babies. Which, and this is the main point, I will accept as par of the course, because it's just the way we role here at Wordforge. Sokar and Castle, whom I just mentioned, are people who were worse about this than any of us, and are no longer here; so just to give you the whole picture: What you see now is the place when it's mellowed out. Stay at your own risk, though I do hope you will.
Ty I appreciate the info. And Mothra's peace song? You do like Godzilla! Lol [emoji218] I'm perfectly capable, if I do say so myself (and I do) of handing out a verbal beat down. It's just difficult determining when someone is joking or not. I will say it's quite a group here. But.... A group of what!?!? Muahaha Thanks again for the heads up. Does this mean you're going to steal my cat & send him to India, where he'll be a delicacy? [emoji33]
Lanzman, yes, you want a stimulus but the problem is Russia is cut off from international capital markets which means they have to pay everything with cash on hand out of their currency reserves. That is the key difference. To compare the US could borrow and at effective net negative interest rates. See the difference there? Putin would love to carry out a stimulus and Russia badly needs modern roads but he is going to run into cash problems, probably in early 2016, as even his half trillion in reserves aren't enough to do everything he has said he wants to do. He wants a huge infrastructure program to stimulate domestic economic activity, he wants to bail out the banks, he wants to modernize the military, he wants to build pipelines to China, to not default on the national debt, and to have the CBR intervine to stop the collapse of the rouble. He doesn't have the cash on hand to do all that especially since his budget is based on oil and oil prices have taken a dump.
Er, he also wants to lay a beat down on the Ukraine. And say that he's not. Even though we all saw the Russian tank hauling ass out of there after he attacked them. The lengths he's gone to in Ukraine are insane. Remember a few years back Russia had a hostage situation in a theater, where Ukraine terrorists were holding all those people? Nope. Putin's secret police, not Ukraine terrorists. What kind of sick mind comes up with that?! Putin's. Sick MoFo.....
