You knew it was coming. Putin decides he will take power back.

[Serb]

Uh, no. We changed the Constitution after FDR's presidency.

Ok, if you say so. I'm not an expert in your history.

[Serb]

Serb, have you seen the budget yourself?

Excuse me, since when budget=GDP?

[VetLegion]

It's so much easier to study world history when rulers stay in office for decades

The question is, Medvedev 2024 or someone else? We know who wins 2030...

Putin is popular, but if he had not played rough he wouldn't be. AFAIK Berezovsky
is still trying to overthrow Putin from Israel, but if you don't have control of the
media in Russia there's only so much you can do. And you don't get control of the
media by asking them politely to write positively about you.

So Putin is definitely more the strongman type than the democrat. He's not done
too much damage internationally, if we except bullying the Baltic countries and
Ukraine (the latter deserving it a bit perhaps). Internally, it's up to Russians to decide
how they want their country run.

[Lorizael]

Ok, if you say so. I'm not an expert in your history.

And yet somehow you saw fit to make definitive statements about it. A little wikipedia never hurt anybody.

[onodera]

Excuse me, since when budget=GDP?

GDP is meaningless, and you should really check where the money comes from.

[giblets]

And yet somehow you saw fit to make definitive statements about it. A little wikipedia never hurt anybody.

If someone writes 'AFAIK' they probably don't intend their statement as a definitive one.

[Lorizael]

Bah!

[Barnabas]

Serb, don't look at what % of your gdp Oil and Gas represent, look at how important they are for Russian exports.

[VetLegion]

As Serb says, the real disaster was in the 90s. Even if oil dried up
tomorrow, Russia would weather it more easily now that it has a
market economy in place.

[Serb]

It's so much easier to study world history when rulers stay in office for decades

The question is, Medvedev 2024 or someone else? We know who wins 2030...

Humanity won't survive that far anyway.

Putin is popular, but if he had not played rough he wouldn't be.

Really?

AFAIK Berezovsky is still trying to overthrow Putin from Israel,

The f*cker lives in London, not in Israel.

but if you don't have control of the media in Russia there's only so much you can do. And you don't get control of the
media by asking them politely to write positively about you.

That is true for anywhere in the World, not only for Russia.

So Putin is definitely more the strongman type than the democrat.

He is surelly the strongest world leader and can beat any other country leader in hand to hand combat.

He's not done too much damage internationally, if we except bullying the Baltic countries and
Ukraine (the latter deserving it a bit perhaps).

It's a big question who is bullying whom there.

Internally, it's up to Russians to decide
how they want their country run.

Thank you very much.

[Serb]

As Serb says, the real disaster was in the 90s. Even if oil dried up
tomorrow, Russia would weather it more easily now that it has a
market economy in place.

Yep, thanks, Vet. But it's not only about the market economy really. It's about the end of chaos. In EU terms we had a -3 stability after collapse of the USSR. That was a time of complete lawlessness. Putin took the country after nearly a decade of Yeltsin's chaos and brought stability and simple rules.

[Serb]

GDP is meaningless

You open a new chapter in economic science with the statement like this.

[Serb]

Serb, don't look at what % of your gdp Oil and Gas represent, look at how important they are for Russian exports.

They are important for our export (but not as important as they were before), so what?
If you ask me, on the long-term, it's better to be somehow dependent on oil and gas export, have a world's third largest gold reserves and the lowest debt in G8 (a tiny percentage of GDP), than to be dependent on export of green papper and have world's largest debt which equals to the size of GDP. Oil and gas have a real value. Green papper does it only untill that dollar bubble won't burst. Just my HO.

[Dr Strangelove]

Yep, and legal. Oh wait, he did good things for the hoi polloi. Well we can't have that. Look to the next Republican president to outlaw decency, caring, compassion and all that other stuff that's not in the fundamentalist Christian bible.

[Hauldren Collider]

He is surelly the strongest world leader and can beat any other country leader in hand to hand combat.

The truest test of any leader's worthiness!