| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:56 - Jan 18 with 6394 views | Eireannach_gorm |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:45 - Jan 18 by DJR |
It does, however, have to be acknowledged that it comes 87th in the 2022 Economist Democracy Index.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index
This makes it a hybrid regime. Hybrid regimes are nations with regular electoral frauds, preventing them from being fair and free democracies. These nations commonly have governments that apply pressure on political opposition, non-independent judiciaries, widespread corruption, harassment and pressure placed on the media, anaemic rule of law, and more pronounced faults than flawed democracies in the realms of underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.
And this shows its democracy index rating has generally been on a level or slightly downward trajectory since 2006.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu?tab=chart&country=~UK
Until things like this and corruption improve, EU membership is a long way off.
EDIT: it fares even worse on Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Index at joint 116th. [Post edited 18 Jan 2024 12:09]
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I agree with you regarding democracy in Ukraine but it suffers from the legacy of being a former soviet country. The mother country does not fare too well in the Democracy Index.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu?tab=chart&country=UKR
Of course we only have to look at the elections in the invaded areas to to see how Russia handles democracy.
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/27/1125322026/russia-ukraine-referendums
There are clearly attempts being made by Zelenskyy to clean up corruption in the country.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/24/europe/ukraine-anti-corruption-zelensky-intl/
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/bribery-is-treason-zelensky-sacks-112-army-d |  | |  |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:06 - Jan 18 with 6380 views | DJR |
Those are all very valid points. |  | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 09:52 - Jan 25 with 6075 views | DJR |
EDITED: posted on the wrong thread. [Post edited 25 Jan 2024 9:55]
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 21:57 - Jan 26 with 5972 views | Eireannach_gorm |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 11:59 - Feb 1 with 5717 views | Kievthegreat |
Nation with effectively zero navy continues to bully Russia in the black sea. Some astonishing footage too.
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 00:51 - Feb 5 with 5605 views | Eireannach_gorm |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 08:06 - Feb 5 with 5522 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
‘Germanified’, sorry Russified - another move straight out of the Nazi playbook from Vladolf. |  | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:03 - Feb 6 with 5418 views | Eireannach_gorm |
Great news. Apparently you can charge your phone by a USB port now.
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:46 - Feb 14 with 5172 views | Eireannach_gorm |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:33 - Feb 16 with 5084 views | Eireannach_gorm |
So Putin waits until the invasion of Ukraine goes out of the news to clear the decks for his coronation ( presidential election ).
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:53 - Feb 16 with 5058 views | Churchman |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:46 - Feb 14 by Eireannach_gorm |
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Stalin had done a deal with Hitler as part of the Non-aggression Pact to carve up Poland and promptly did.
In a sense, Putin is right. It didn’t want to negotiate with its strong neighbours and not really being a real country anyway, Poland asked for it. Negotiate surrender, that is. Absolute nonsense of course but exactly the argument Putin used for Ukraine and will use for the Baltic states, Poland and Finland.
Crazy. |  | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:59 - Feb 16 with 5049 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:33 - Feb 16 by Eireannach_gorm |
So Putin waits until the invasion of Ukraine goes out of the news to clear the decks for his coronation ( presidential election ).
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"Don't give up. If they feel the need to kill me it means we are strong. The only thing that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing."
An incredibly brave individual. |  |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 19:24 - Feb 16 with 5032 views | Churchman |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:59 - Feb 16 by Nthsuffolkblue |
"Don't give up. If they feel the need to kill me it means we are strong. The only thing that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing."
An incredibly brave individual. |
An astonishingly brave man. Strong, principled and right. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 19:28 - Feb 16 with 5022 views | DJR |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 19:24 - Feb 16 by Churchman |
An astonishingly brave man. Strong, principled and right. |
Especially as he didn't have to go back to Russia in 2021, following his poisoning and treatment in Berlin. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 15:52 - Feb 19 with 4838 views | WeWereZombies |
I found this a good read on how Russia continues to operate financially across the World and what that means for the continuation of this grim war:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68249043 |  |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 14:12 - Feb 20 with 4609 views | Churchman |
Interesting that in addition to disposing of Navalny inside Russia, I see that a defector pilot in Spain didn’t last long either. Shot dead. Navalny’s widow is very brave speaking out given how long Putin’s arm is.
The other bit of news that interests me is how well Russia is doing economically. Growth in excess of the rest of the G7 put together. Given insatiable demand for oil etc in best buddies India and China plus western countries avoiding sanctions, Putin’s position gets ever stronger. The article on the BBC said it can’t last. I really can’t see why not. | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 15:33 - Feb 20 with 4561 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 14:12 - Feb 20 by Churchman |
Interesting that in addition to disposing of Navalny inside Russia, I see that a defector pilot in Spain didn’t last long either. Shot dead. Navalny’s widow is very brave speaking out given how long Putin’s arm is.
The other bit of news that interests me is how well Russia is doing economically. Growth in excess of the rest of the G7 put together. Given insatiable demand for oil etc in best buddies India and China plus western countries avoiding sanctions, Putin’s position gets ever stronger. The article on the BBC said it can’t last. I really can’t see why not. |
Yes but that lacks the context of the Russian economy contracting 10pc after beginning the war. The Tories got pelters for saying Britain had the fastest growth post covid - because disingenuously they didn’t mention it was from the lowest base. Same applies here - context is everything.
The central bank rate is at 20pc in Russia as they prop up the Rouble. They’ve also moved to a total war footing, so most of that ‘growth’ is not high margin exports, but shells to be used in eastern Ukraine. There are very few positive metrics coming out of Russia other than it has stabilised, interest rates are crippling, the stock market capitalisation is half what it was at it peak, and they are burning off gas they can’t sell. It’s simply unsustainable in the medium term.
Edited just to add I don’t see any merit in comparing Western GDP growth rates to authoritarian, low wage, low workers rights economies like Russia and China. [Post edited 20 Feb 2024 16:00]
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:45 - Feb 20 with 4878 views | WeWereZombies |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 15:33 - Feb 20 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
Yes but that lacks the context of the Russian economy contracting 10pc after beginning the war. The Tories got pelters for saying Britain had the fastest growth post covid - because disingenuously they didn’t mention it was from the lowest base. Same applies here - context is everything.
The central bank rate is at 20pc in Russia as they prop up the Rouble. They’ve also moved to a total war footing, so most of that ‘growth’ is not high margin exports, but shells to be used in eastern Ukraine. There are very few positive metrics coming out of Russia other than it has stabilised, interest rates are crippling, the stock market capitalisation is half what it was at it peak, and they are burning off gas they can’t sell. It’s simply unsustainable in the medium term.
Edited just to add I don’t see any merit in comparing Western GDP growth rates to authoritarian, low wage, low workers rights economies like Russia and China. [Post edited 20 Feb 2024 16:00]
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This is all very interesting but it does not address the points about the structural rearrangement of Russia's economy that Faisal Islam made in the BBC piece. | |
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| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:54 - Feb 20 with 4858 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:45 - Feb 20 by WeWereZombies |
This is all very interesting but it does not address the points about the structural rearrangement of Russia's economy that Faisal Islam made in the BBC piece. |
It’s literally the same conclusion? I.e government spending on military equipment is propping up the economy but cannot be sustained long term… | | | |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 18:05 - Feb 20 with 4832 views | WeWereZombies |
| The 'special military operation' continues to reach new lows. on 17:54 - Feb 20 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
It’s literally the same conclusion? I.e government spending on military equipment is propping up the economy but cannot be sustained long term… |
Except that Islam questions that conclusion and looks at how oil sales to India and China have directly replaced energy sales to Europe, so giving Putin the funds to grind on.
Also worth considering how Russia is extracting mineral wealth from West Africa using the Wagner network there:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-68322230
Edited to correct Wager to Wagner. [Post edited 20 Feb 2024 18:08]
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