Putin met with business for the first time in a year. To do what? They gathered a bunch of millionaires and billionaires in one room, and all that came out of it and what everyone is talking about is Putin's phrase about a turnip. That's it. The rest is nothing? I mean, you can imagine, of course, that Putin is saying that it doesn't matter that there are oil sanctions, it doesn't matter that we lost the European gas market, because we have "turnip". And we will sell this "turnip". There is nothing to eat in the West. Soon we will organize TurnipProm, 51% of which will be registered in the name of Kabaeva's grandmother, and we will export it.
For what purpose? The only thought is to imitate normality. Imitation of a situation where nothing is happening. Everything is going according to plan. As for the budget deficit, don't look there. Look, there is nothing to eat in Europe.
The Russians shot down an American drone. Two Su planes were pouring fuel on it (well, there's nowhere to sell it, you can pour it into the sea) until they hit the propeller because of their incompetence and shot it down. And for what?
Imitation of power. ‘Cheeky in the side street’ is Putin's favorite game. He knows that no one will do anything about such an incident, no one will escalate because of the drone, which means you can show everyone that you are scary, strong and not afraid of anything. And yet you found a place to hit that insidious NATO. And to show everyone that you have sunk an aircraft carrier near Crimea. Like a small dog barking at an elephant. And then brags about how strong and scary it is. After all, everyone saw that she was barking and she didn't suffer for it.
“Putin knows that no one will do anything about such an incident, no one will escalate because of the drone, which means you can show everyone that you are scary, strong and not afraid of anything. And yet you found a place to hit that insidious NATO. And to show everyone that you have sunk an aircraft carrier near Crimea”
Russia is a country of constant imitation. A country that imitates greatness, confusing it with a large territory. A country that imitates stability, confusing it with a slide into madness. A country that imitates the struggle for freedom, confusing it with fascism.
But does this imitation work?
By the way, it does. Both with Russian society and, for example, with the Global South. And with some citizens of EU countries who are sensitive to Russian propaganda and believe that prices in the store are rising because of sanctions, not because of trillions of dollars and euros printed.
Russian society behaves like the bürgers in Munich around 1938. "What about the war? War is bad, but we have no choice. If not for us, these reptilians would have attacked us first. And these Ukrainians (Jews) are just getting what they deserve. And so, we will be a little poorer, but life goes on, war is normal, this is how humanity has always lived." They are really "eating" this history, hiding behind official propaganda, behind "Everything is going according to plan" from the madness.
“Russia is a country of constant imitation. A country that imitates greatness, confusing it with a large territory. A country that imitates stability, confusing it with a slide into madness. A country that imitates the struggle for freedom, confusing it with fascism”
The global South believes in Russian strength. In India, for example, they are convinced that Russia has only become stronger during the war. But what about India and Ukraine - Ukrainians are competing with each other to come up with a more humiliating term for NATO, which, for some reason, does not start World War III because of a drone.
So Putin will continue. As if nothing is happening. Ignoring reality because he is allowed to ignore it. Like an economy on the eve of a crisis. When everyone pretends that nothing is happening. Even if all the signals say that the holiday cannot last forever. But no one is going to come and tell a Silicon Valley banker that he needs to think about risks at a time when everyone is thinking about profits.
This means that no one will stop Putin on his path of self-destruction. And he has started this process himself. And we can only hope that the fear of him will be so strong that he will destroy Russia together with him and no one will dare to create a mutiny to turn that ship around.
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About the author. Serhiy Fursa, investment expert, blogger.
The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.