@Horrrflmlvr He thought he was Peter the Great. He'll go down as Nicholas II. @Render
@LiberalLibrarian @Render
My take.
I don't know about collapse of the state, but Russia is fucked in about three ways.
1. The demographics are upside down.
2. They don't have enough storage for crude oil, or gas, so if they can't store it, the well head freezes, and has to be re-drilled, or abandoned. Most are drilled in tundra.
3. When Putin is gone, (dead), or flees country, the guys that take over, will try and squeeze many Oblasts, which won't work, and they will splinter off.
@corlin @LiberalLibrarian @Render Wish I could share your optimism. But Russia has nukes and relatively boundless natural resources and as always ,except for 1917 and the early 1990s,negligible domestic opposition.(I have never understood that last part)
@Mendips62 @LiberalLibrarian @Render
Nope.
I strongly disagree.
1. Demographics
2. Russia has only one wheat crop a year.
3. The oil and gas economy, will fail, soon.
@corlin @Mendips62 @LiberalLibrarian @Render
I agree with this
on demographics - the state of it is even worse than we might think.
years ago I've read a bbc article about russian hiv positive women. how they live, how they got infected. I was shocked to learn that there are whole cities in russia where the population is 100% hiv positive (at least). and this is just ONE thing..
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32792830
@rakshy @Mendips62 @LiberalLibrarian @Render
More on why Russia is fucked.
btw...
#2. Already happened when the soviet union broke up, took 20 years and only with massive help from western oil companies did they reach capacity again.
@corlin @LiberalLibrarian @Render
problem with oil and gas in russia is that it's much more expensive to produce than middle East for example. it can't be done without high-tech from the West.
another fun thing about the nukes - they will sell it to these who "pay" the highest bid. both the US and China will be the most interested and should succeed.
@LiberalLibrarian @Render leader of coumtry is an ass