FILE IMAGE: Prime Minister Medvedev, President Putin, and Patriarch Kirill at the unveiling of a new monument to Vladimir the Great. Source: Sergei Karpukhin, Reuters
This article provides a critical look at the situation inside Russia from the Russian perspective.
Written by Vladimir K. exclusively for SouthFront
Russia is in a complicated political and economic situation. Smoldering conflicts near its borders and the continued pressure from the US and NATO affect the situation in the country negatively. It is possible to observe the decreasing approval rating of the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin, in particular. However, this very tendency is not linked to the foreign policy course of the Kremlin. It’s the result of the recent series of ill-considered liberal-minded economic reforms, which look similar to the economic course undertaken by the Russian government in mid-1990s. For example:
- The government increased the Value Added Tax amid the slowing Russian economy, especially in the industrial sector;
- The government employed an unpopular pension reform increasing the retirement age;
Additionally, the population is facing an increasingly restrictive administrative pressure faced by the population: new fines and other penalties for minor violations in various fields and additional administrative restrictions limiting the freedom of actions of citizens. The traffic management of big cities and federal highways as well as policies employed towards small business and self-employed persons are among the most obvious examples.
In fact, the general population has no effective levers of pressure to impact the government policy. The public political sphere is turned into a desert. The United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya) is the only political pseudo-party, which still de—facto exists in the public politics. Nonetheless, its ideological and organization capabilities are exhausted. Other “political parties and organizations” are just media constructs designed to defend interests of a narrow group of their sponsors. It is hard to find a lawmaker in the State Duma and the Federation Council, who would not be affiliated with the established political elite or oligarchs.
In the media sphere, the government failed to explain its current course to the population. A vast majority of initiatives of Dmitry Medvedev’s cabinet faces a negative reaction among the population. A spate of scandals (example) involving high and middle level government officials made the situation even worse. They publicly revealed blatant hypocrisy, neglectful attitude to duties of some Russian officials. In the period from 2018 to 2019, there were multiple arrests of officials caught exceeding of the limits of authority and being involved in corruption schemes. In comparison to the previous periods, this number increased by 1.5-2 times. However, this does not help to change the established media situation.
The aforementioned factors fuel the negative perception of the Medvedev government, and thus Vladimir Putin as the head of state, among the Russian citizens.
The situation is also complicated in the foreign policy field. In fact, the Kremlin failed to exploit opportunities to expand its influence, which it got after the reunification of Russia with Crimea. In fact, by February 2019, the Russian policy towards eastern Ukraine has been ill-defined. At the same time, Moscow continues to lose its influence in post-Soviet states. This can be observed in both the Caucasus and Central Asia. Even, the close ally, Belarus, occasionally demonstrates unfriendly behavior and focuses own efforts on the exploitation of economic preferences granted by Russia.
Evaluating the current internal political situation in Russia and its foreign policy course, it’s possible to say that the Russian leadership has lost the clear vision of the national development and the consistent stiff policy, which are needed for any great power. Another explanation of this situation is that the Russian leadership is facing pressure from multiple agents of influence, which stand against ideas of the powerful independent state seeking to act as one of the centers of power on the global stage. One more factor, often pointed out by experts, is the closed crony-caste system of elites. This system led to the creation of the leadership, which pursues own economic and security interests only. Apparently, all of these factors influence the Russian foreign and domestic policies in one way or another.
In any case, it is highly likely that Russia will face hard times in the next two years (2019-2020) and face various threats and challenges for its economy, foreign policy course and even the statehood.
I admire this move from SouthFront, it shows your brand as an objective source.
I don’t think that the increase in the VAT is that significant, something in the vicinity of 2%. As the Russian state wants to avoid borrowing at any cost, this is probably the right thing to do. Since 2014, when the western hybrid and especially economic war on Russia entered top gear, Russia has managed to adjust herself in a low-oil-price environment, a development that NATO powers did not expect. For this to remain possible and for Russia to be able to confront the West, alternative sources of revenue must be created, the VAT is one of them. As things stand, Russia stands to gain a lot from the great pipeline projects that the current Russian administration has managed to launch and is about to complete in late 2019 and early 2020. Nord Stream 2, Power of Siberia and Turk Stream. All these projects will soon bring Russia additional foreign currency and will allow for a more expansionist state budget that will benefit ordinary Russians. Moreover, the ability of Russia to sustain herself fiscally even at a low oil price, will mean that Russia will be able to “defeat” high-cost US oil production in the long run and and reap even more benefits from there as well. It is true however, that Russia’s policy apropos NovoRossia is ill-defined and that millions of East Ukrainians (in reality, Russians) are suffering under shelling from NATO-backed Banderites. On that issue, Russia must do more to protect and provide for that people.
This is probably how they see it from an academic point of view. Statistics. For the majority they first suffer foreign sanctions, foreign threats, foreign provocations and involvement in foreign wars.
Next they are confronted with VAT increase, 5 year jump of pension age, world record in Russian Oligarch $billionaires living outside sailing around in giant yachts in the Mediterranean Sea, while the average salary in Russia still is maintained at $100-200.
I think all grace is giving for the right policies done, but something is not right in this long term passivity toward outside Oligarchs, US/Israel and internal high usury rates and taxation.
Well, statistics if properly understood, are truthful. As for foreign sanctions, the RUS government can do nothing about them, if the West wants to impose them, they will be imposed. Russia has to adjust to them for all time if need be. Foreign threats -> that’s why Russia has built a new generation of strategic and tactical weapons, to keep NATO’s belligerence in check.The foreign wars Russia is involved in, are absolutely essential for the survival of the Russian state, anyone who does not understand this is stupid or anti-Russian. The jump in the pension age will happen extremely gradually, it will still be lower than in the West. All capitalist countries have oligarchs, including Russia. The average salary in Russia is higher than what you say there.
Agree the wars are essential for survival. No need to be world leading in Oligarchs living overseas ;-).
They are remnants from the 90s. May take another decade to completely reign them in.
The pension increase had to happen. It was far too low given a number of factors but primarily the increase in life expectancy from 65 in the early 2000s to just under 73 as it is today.
The 1st State Pension in the UK was voted for in parliament in 1908 with a radical expansion in 1925.
The average life expectancy in the UK in 1920 was 55.6 years for men and 59.6 for women. The pension age in 1925 was 65 for men and 60 for women then.
The average life expectancy in the UK in 2011 was 79 for men and 82 for women.
Effectively in the 1920’s far fewer citizens in percentage terms lived to draw their pensions ,who are able to do so today.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/articles/howhaslifeexpectancychangedovertime/2015-09-09
Tommy, stop spreading BS :) $100-200? Are you talking about Ukraine? Everage salary was about 1000$ till 2014 and than ruble exchange rate dropped 100% from roughly 33 to 65 and so everage salary is around 500$ now. But you can’t compare it to Europe or USA. Russians can have much more (in many aspects) for 500$ than one can have in US for 1500$. Majority of prices are stable and a person can buy about the same amount despite exchange rates.
True. Whatever, trying to see it from the average Russians view it became exaggerated. I take my point of view back.
$1500 a month in the U.S. is just enough to starve on in the most rural of places. It’s literally nothing.
True. Average one bedroom dilapidated apartment in any dumpy city is now close to $800 a month, in San Jose and Silicon valley we are talking $ 2200 at least. The average Americunt’s life is worse than a dogs while Bilderberg Jews rip off the system. Vast majority of the dumbed down Made in China Walmart flag waving thrash have no health care or future. US is the only OECD country with a declining male life span, largely thanks to no access to any kind of preventative or basic health care. If you are corrupt rick Jew then no problem, you can even organ harvest poor black and Hispanic kids to live forever. Ever wonder why repulsive old Jews like Kissinger don’t die?
Too bad for US.
do they pay you to sound so ignorant in everything you saying, or retard comes natural to you?
No.
redistribution of wealth and prosperity through taxation is a corner stone of any society, regardless of its political nature. VAT and progressive taxation is a must approach to Russian internal struggle. the point is how well can you sell it to the poorest segment of the population and how quick you can outfit taxation office with new recruits… to begin clearing the decks.
This oozes emotion and panic based on a very warped view of reality, influenced by the 5th column media in Russia. I suggest the writer looks at the economic indicators of Russia and has a beer. Relax.
Thanks.
Good thing you can’t ban the author like you do in your site with anyone who dares express any opinion critical of the Kremlin Olie..
Trolls are welcome to find somewhere else to camp other than my site.
Ha! I see you revert to the troll non-argument, the favorite of the russophobe fanatics in the West “Whoever supports Russia is a Kremlin troll” but you turned it upside down “Whoever dares criticize the Kremlin is a troll”..
Perhaps you should have heeded the Nietzschean warning-“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” (Or a blatant and blind mouthpiece in your case.)
What is your site Ollie?
Eager to get banned if you dare claim that Putin is doing something wrong Tudor?
Stalkerzone
Thanks.
is SF your site? because logically this you should post it on your site and ban who ever fail to keep your rules and is trolling kid not here. None knows your site here and none really give a sh………..
Yeah …what is your “site” Ollie? I am so much pro Russian that is even embarrassing…
come on just feck off and comment on something you like, like the good anorak wanker that you are
Like all nations – only when Russia shakes off all oligarchs and their evil cloak of capitalism will it be free. Unlike the west Russia has the advantage of history and nationalism – if it were not for Russia the world would have already slid even further into the horrors of zionist bankster occultism.
crony capitalism is the problem, not capitalism itself.
There is no capitalism left, the Bilderberg Jew corporations have impoverished the world. 1% control 99% of global wealth.
and who is vladimir k? impossible to judge what he claims if there is no reference to who he is and from what standpoint he departed – find it difficult to see his ideas as anything else than hyperbole and being an agent for the destitute states of morons (aka usa). it’s quite obvious that it’s easy to find personage all too ready to betray his country and/or spew illwill ad infinitum – sf, you can do better!
wonder why don’t you just republish articles from the msm instead of taking from 5th columnists in Russia.
In many aspects the author is stating the truth – he’s just failing to see the actual cause and effect of what is going on. What we witness is a huge counter attack of US “country level” elites against Russia dealt through local ruzionic bureaucratic corps installed by US in 90s. Since 2018 elections when Putin went for elections as independent candidate (refused to be elected as Edynaia Rossia candidate) and received huge support from Russian population, there is strong attack against him and authorities in general in all sorts of media (it’s a stupid mistake to think that media is controlled by Putin). To put it simply, US is pushing it’s vassal ruzionic “elites” to create a maidan (civil war) in Russia and those traitors obey being unable to understand that they are committing suicide – they will be wasted in that civil war (if they manage to get it) and their US masters will lough while those traitors will die. In fact, situation does look like it is worsening and Putin is yet to make his counter move… I still hope that he knows what he’s doing and has a plan how to deal with this 5th column that is roughly 80% of our governing apparatus.
let us hope you right and he does have a plan to counter act what is allowed to happen for the moment as it is very hard to dissolve, 80% of the government working machine.
Stalin had much easier situation than Putin has :) I can only hope (I can’t know what is in Putin’s head) but life without hope is not fun at all. To dissolve 80% one has to have enough competent and honest people to put in place of traitors. Gradual changes without loosing stability of governing is what he’s trying to do. Let’s see how it unfolds.
so very true. What surprises me with SF is all this articles is putting up, about how bad in russia is, But fail to do so for US and EU for example and the shit situation this countries have in all aspects. I believe they are paid to put them up. Sure as heel I hope they dont use our donations to pay for them.
A new book on Russian Kleptocracy amply describes a corrupt junior KGB Major’s rise to Russian presidency in a mere decade, with its depiction of capitalist greed, corruption and chaos fostered by Jew Oligarchs after the collapse of USSR and the question is when does unbridled capitalism turn into kleptocracy? When does democracy fall prey to manipulation? What is our greater impact on the world stage? I feel like a lot of those themes that we struggle with in the west are the same themes that Russians are struggling with but in a more oppressive totalitarian system where voicing discontent can have fatal consequences.
Stripping all the wealth of the Jewish Oligarchs who were complicit in the 1990’s plunder of Russia would ba a good start, as long as that wealth was used directly to improve the lives af all other Russian citizens.
Not that easy to do as it is to say. They can easily distabilise overall situation – they still hold too much power/positions etc. to be able to sabotage effectively. Abrupt moves may well lead to chaos and revolutions is the last thing that we need here.
Russia has the most dumbed down, corrupt and repressed population and the Soviet revolution was a Jew enterprise, who do you think Lenin was? The Jews will never allow another revolution in Russia as the oligarchs now have total control. Putin has been the worst so far.
The US populations is number one in stupidity and ignorance of world affairs.
do you think that by openly opposing Rothschilds will help Russia? First of all ,Putin is the reason why Russia is still standing. Second Putin wants to avoid WW3. Four years after Great purges of 1937 ,Operation Barborossa started if Putin does a Great Purge ,the satanists will openly move to ww3 in a matter of months. Putin knows how the elites operate and he has stalemated and frustrated them many times.
form an underground movement, stickerman! :)))
k think it this way. the settlers in america and before that in europe destroy all their natural resources in less that a century europe and in less than 2 centuries in US and colonies.
Europe has 10s of millions unemployed and none yet knows how many homeless, with her economy with failing badly EU has and so do most western countries. US is even worst with over 50million homeless or families living in tents and cars and more than 100 million on food stamps.
Now tell me a homeless russian, or one even of the poorest of them that has no food on its table. Also what many fail to understand, is yes the average salary in russia that be the whole of russia not major cities is low compared to lets say some european countries, but what you can buy with that salary is 3-5 times the amount you can buy in the so called high salaries countries as US is for example.
I want to share this with you given the topic of the article
I have been saying very little for the past few months because of a much bigger than anticipated project. I am now close enough to completion that I will provide some of the main findings from my paper. Note that I relied on several hundred source materials cited in footnotes. This does not guarantee my findings are correct, but I also did not pull them out of a hat.
First, I found this to be true:
‘Kremlin political intrigues are comparable to a bulldog fight under a rug. An outsider only hears the growling, and when he sees the bones fly out from beneath, it is obvious who won.’ Winston Churchill
But the growls and the bones still told the story. Below is an excerpt from the introduction:
After four-months of effort, what I learned were some truly unexpected findings. Perhaps the most important is my conclusion that there was a soft coup in Russia and Putin, although still President, is no longer in charge. There were earlier clues Putin was in trouble, but their significance went unnoticed. In the aftermath of the incident, is compelling evidence that Russia’s strongman had fallen from power. The Russian military is now in control and the international community needs to grasp this reality.
The coup was carefully pre-planned including the quick reversal of Putin policies opposed by the military, which is a reason the S-300 decision and implementation was so fast – it was ready to go in anticipation. The coup was triggered into action by the IL-20 incident. The relationship with Israel was an expected casualty – excerpt:
On September 17, 2018, fifteen Russian crew members perished when a Syrian missile struck their IL-20 aircraft, allegedly as a result of being used as cover by Israeli fighter jets. The Russian military publicly contradicted Putin’s conciliatory response and pushing Putin aside, took control of the narrative to make clear they held Israel solely responsible for the tragedy. This marked the fall of the Russian-Israeli relationship. The sudden change to hostile relations reflected the reality that friendly relations were nothing more than an illusion constructed by the mass media masking the rise in tensions as serious disagreements over Syria went unresolved.
Cause of tensions is a bit surprising when the deeper causal factors are understood
The mass exodus of one million Russian Jews to Israel under the Law of Return , or Aliyah had a major impact on Israeli society, politics and relations with Russia. With nearly a million Russian Jews in Israel, Russia’s relations with Israel were transformed in ways consistent with a Russian constructivist approach to foreign policy – emphasis is on sociological, such as cultural commonalities, as opposed to economic based (i.e. bilateral trade).
However, the far-right political inclinations of the Russian Jews that settled in Israel would in time shift Israeli politics sharply to the right, allowing for the domination of Netanyahu’s coalition with its hard-line policies. These policies would in turn increase tensions between Russia and Israel as their respective interests increasingly collided. The image of friendly relations could not mask the tensions indefinitely.
The IL-20 incident brought to a final resolution the true repercussions for Russian-Israeli relations of the emigration of a million Russian Jews – the relationship they had a hand in creating, they would also ultimately destroy. And there lies the paradox
Let me correct you on one common mistake by the western researches they but search it deeper dont relay on this link do, about who is russian and who is not. Same as is happening now in greece in a different way but basically the same. 1 million russians moved to israel……….90% of them are coming from Ukraine and Caucasus area not russians, just holders of russian passports. Many of the jews living actually in russia not even by force they will go to israel, as in russia are well situated and the ones they did went to israel is because all is paid for them and in their majority all they do is collecting their pay cheques and drink themselves to death, beside running most of the drugs in israel and forming nazi groups there. Yes you hear me right. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israels-nightmare-homegrown-neo-nazis-in-the-holy-land-396392.html But search it better dont relay on one link I got googling it since I am unable to give you my records here and the net is not the best source for the truth in this cases. My group now is creating a databank server, members only with all the records we been accumulating the last 100 years or so as we are very old root families who are aware from birth of this war between us and the globalist that is not a new fruit so we are the last generation against the modern NWO that started the 16th century. So….. the Khazar left overs from Caucasus and ukraine yes moved in mass to israel replacing the old jews there that in turn moved out of israel in 3 locations in europe Holland – France – England. I dont remember if I given you the chart we created on .pdf file that shows until 2004 the connection between the banking system and who owns all the global companies in the world and pull the strings of globalization and the countries under their control. If I have not let me know and I give them to you where we speak before. As for Putin falling from grace and power, I have not hear such a thing from my contacts in russia which are very high within the orthodox church there as well among the high ranking russian military and the old school in the government.
In few days now you make me aware of your thinking I will tell you if you are on the right track. Lately we been absorbed in what is happening against our own motherland so every thing else went into secondary place. Contact me outside of here because we also been feeling something serious happen in russia could not explain why, but also did not bother to check it out as is not one of our priorities right now.
Good point on the Russian Jews as not Russian – this I do address and I explain Putin referred to them without distinction as Russian and
Hi Promitheas, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Would you be so kind as to send me the pdf file you mentioned? My Yandex email address is mark.d.roberts@yandex.com. I would appreciate it if you could. Cheers, Mark
dear S Melanson. I would take some liberty in suggesting to you doing some deep thorough research of a website created by an Australian journalist John Helmer that called “Dances with Bears” …and further attempt to learn a bit more about internal mutual relationship between Russian president and so called Stavka. while you probably find John’s writing style a bit on sarcastic side of unfolding evens in Russia, yet his intuition and professionalism along with experience providing quite a informative view of Russian internal affairs. Kind regards. alex
thank you i will look at it. warm regards stewart
Russian politics is tough to research, quite challenging.
Stavka is High Command of the Soviet military in WWII but Putin has created Stavka 2.0 – I thought this is more Shoigu, old stye Soviet large troop formation, need Stavka command and control. so undoing brigade size force approach of previous defence minister, but if putin also really involved…
also, soft coup (this is conclusion so far) may have been pre-emptive to head off a more severe toppling of putin, although conflicting evidence Shoigu been presented as successor since 2015-2016
…there is an interesting view of events described in the article called : “Trump Kneels Again Before AIPAC” at tomluongo.me inside section – Israeli Overreach https://tomluongo.me/2019/02/04/trump-kneels-again-before-aipac/
Shoigu is now 63, when Putin retires in 2024 Shoigu will be 68. A bit late to come to office then. Perhaps he is now the real president.
I agree, I think Shoigu is effectively President and Putin a figurehead.
I read several John Helmer articles but the most important is Helmer on the IL-20 as I know a fair bit. What he wrote is the best piece I have read on what happened in the days following the downing and i have read well over a hundred accounts. Helmer’s account is more detailed in ways that i have not found elsewhere.
Helmer has also attracted some flak trolls so he must be doing something right. ;-)
I did feel that there was a definite change in the Russian government after the IL 20 was shot down. President Putin almost apologised to Israel for the plane being in their way of bombing Syria. But then Shoigu changed the narrative and hey presto the Jews were the bad boy. As an aside, I can’t understand President Putin have Medvedev as a prime minister. To me he seems like a US plant.
Many in Russia’s power elite share your view of Medvedev. I think this power struggle is far from over. I like Shoigu and hope he pulls things together, the Russians deserve some good life now…
Read what Dugin has stated always. Putin balances between Eurasianists and Atlanticists . Medvedev fears to challenge Rothschild power. Putin does not.
dear Stewart. You have hit the jackpot with Medvedev… and an entire Russian population did so when he was again appointed and reassigned by VVP orders to remain as a Prime minister for the rest of the term. Russian people did understood immediately that Medvedev is an observation man from US CIA/Israeli Mossad kind of a guy… and this is where things are started to go wrong for Russian president… Medvedev enjoys kind of a untouchable demeanor person, regardless of what he says and do and how much wealth he acquired … you can find it all on John Helmer’s website as well… people of Russia can swallow anything that they are getting fed with… however they are not stupid at all what so ever, and Medvedev is huge issue in regards of Russian majority trust… this is where your coup is unfolding, yet not with the Stavka boys…
Russia is a failed state and the most corrupt country in the world, totally controlled by Jews and their puppets like Putin and ex-KGB and military cronies. The so-called Oligarchs have siphoned off Russia’s immense wealth and sent it to the west. In the tiny lawless EU colony of Cyprus, the Jews have bought almost have the property and assets. Putin’s own wealth is estimated to be in billions with his daughters managing his ripped off wealth in Europe. Since Czarist times Russian Serf and Boyar mentality has not changed. The only difference is that in post USSR era, the Jew scum have got total hold over Russia. The Russians people are so repressed and controlled now that any challenge to the corrupt status quo is not possible. Putin and the Jews have stacked the system and much worse is yet to come.
Russia’s only #2, U.S. is #1 (corrupted).
and both plagued by the Jew cancer.
Hi Florian, I like reading your postsand I want to share this with you. I also shared with Harry andTudor
I have been saying very little for the past few months because of a much bigger than anticipated project. I am now close enough to completion that I will provide some of the main findings from my paper. Note that I relied on several hundred source materials cited in footnotes. This does not guarantee my findings are correct, but I also did not pull them out of a hat.
First, I found this to be true:
‘Kremlin political intrigues are comparable to a bulldog fight under a rug. An outsider only hears the growling, and when he sees the bones fly out from beneath, it is obvious who won.’ Winston Churchill
But the growls and the bones still told the story. Below is an excerpt from the introduction:
After four-months of effort, what I learned were some truly unexpected findings. Perhaps the most important is my conclusion that there was a soft coup in Russia and Putin, although still President, is no longer in charge. There were earlier clues Putin was in trouble, but their significance went unnoticed. In the aftermath of the incident, is compelling evidence that Russia’s strongman had fallen from power. The Russian military is now in control and the international community needs to grasp this reality.
The coup was carefully pre-planned including the quick reversal of Putin policies opposed by the military, which is a reason the S-300 decision and implementation was so fast – it was ready to go in anticipation. The coup was triggered into action by the IL-20 incident. The relationship with Israel was an expected casualty – excerpt:
On September 17, 2018, fifteen Russian crew members perished when a Syrian missile struck their IL-20 aircraft, allegedly as a result of being used as cover by Israeli fighter jets. The Russian military publicly contradicted Putin’s conciliatory response and pushing Putin aside, took control of the narrative to make clear they held Israel solely responsible for the tragedy. This marked the fall of the Russian-Israeli relationship. The sudden change to hostile relations reflected the reality that friendly relations were nothing more than an illusion constructed by the mass media masking the rise in tensions as serious disagreements over Syria went unresolved.
Cause of tensions is a bit surprising when the deeper causal factors are understood
The mass exodus of one million Russian Jews to Israel under the Law of Return , or Aliyah had a major impact on Israeli society, politics and relations with Russia. With nearly a million Russian Jews in Israel, Russia’s relations with Israel were transformed in ways consistent with a Russian constructivist approach to foreign policy – emphasis is on sociological, such as cultural commonalities, as opposed to economic based (i.e. bilateral trade).
However, the far-right political inclinations of the Russian Jews that settled in Israel would in time shift Israeli politics sharply to the right, allowing for the domination of Netanyahu’s coalition with its hard-line policies. These policies would in turn increase tensions between Russia and Israel as their respective interests increasingly collided. The image of friendly relations could not mask the tensions indefinitely.
The IL-20 incident brought to a final resolution the true repercussions for Russian-Israeli relations of the emigration of a million Russian Jews – the relationship they had a hand in creating, they would also ultimately destroy. And there lies the paradox
Your thesis has merit and is very plausible.
Another twist to this could be that President Putin is likely in his final term of office, and considering that his policies have largely restored control over Russian assets and rejuvenated Russian military power, he is loath to see the Russian Atlanticist cabal again gaing control of Russian state wealth.
The transfer of power to true Russian patriots is all that can prevent another rape and pillage by Khazar and Zionist swindlers. A soft and progressive transfer of responsibilities in the run up to President Putins retirement is preferable to the chaos we witnessed in the early 90’s , I think.
Very good angle and it explains a few things about how events unfolded. I plan to publish in a week or so. Before doing so, I wanted to float the main thesis and appreciate your comments as well as comments from others, even if negative. I see stirring up heated debate as a good thing to get at what really happened. It is important to know I think and will share why I think that but later as I have to go.
Cheers
putin, medvedev, lavrov = also jewish oligarchs.
Agree on some levels but its actually American/Russian globalists who lead their two countries into war. They’ll be in their bunkers when it happens.
Maybe… but if after 18 years of Putin, the Yeltsin rot still hasn’t been cleaned up, that says as much about Putin as about the Yeltsin rot. So often, Russia’s ills are being blamed on Team J (how many of them are left in Russia anyway). And indeed, the zios … don’t always play a constructive role. However, isn’t a key issue the passive slavic mindset “Time is on Russia’s side; in due course, God will take care of it.” But opposite you, you have the jewish/protestant ethic of the US: relentless, go-get-’em … aggressive.
I don’t mean to be offensive but Russians also say of themselves that they’re slow to saddle. Wouldn’t the time to saddle be–right about now?
Russian Central Bank is private as per Russian constitution. Second, the russian wealthy are dependent on the dollar-euro system which ties them to the West and this is so for even State controlled corporations including Gazprom,Rosneft and the oiligarchs which in turn influences the politicans and who in turn influence the Presidential circle. Its not as easy so you think. If Putin shakes the system too violently chances are CIA and western agencies will start mass counterfeiting roubles and create a lot of inflation and instability.
Hi Tudor, along with Harry, I liked reading your post and I want to share this with you. I also shared with Harry.
I have been saying very little for the past few months because of a much bigger than anticipated project. I am now close enough to completion that I will provide some of the main findings from my paper. Note that I relied on several hundred source materials cited in footnotes. This does not guarantee my findings are correct, but I also did not pull them out of a hat.
First, I found this to be true:
‘Kremlin political intrigues are comparable to a bulldog fight under a rug. An outsider only hears the growling, and when he sees the bones fly out from beneath, it is obvious who won.’ Winston Churchill
But the growls and the bones still told the story. Below is an excerpt from the introduction:
After four-months of effort, what I learned were some truly unexpected findings. Perhaps the most important is my conclusion that there was a soft coup in Russia and Putin, although still President, is no longer in charge. There were earlier clues Putin was in trouble, but their significance went unnoticed. In the aftermath of the incident, is compelling evidence that Russia’s strongman had fallen from power. The Russian military is now in control and the international community needs to grasp this reality.
The coup was carefully pre-planned including the quick reversal of Putin policies opposed by the military, which is a reason the S-300 decision and implementation was so fast – it was ready to go in anticipation. The coup was triggered into action by the IL-20 incident. The relationship with Israel was an expected casualty – excerpt:
On September 17, 2018, fifteen Russian crew members perished when a Syrian missile struck their IL-20 aircraft, allegedly as a result of being used as cover by Israeli fighter jets. The Russian military publicly contradicted Putin’s conciliatory response and pushing Putin aside, took control of the narrative to make clear they held Israel solely responsible for the tragedy. This marked the fall of the Russian-Israeli relationship. The sudden change to hostile relations reflected the reality that friendly relations were nothing more than an illusion constructed by the mass media masking the rise in tensions as serious disagreements over Syria went unresolved.
Cause of tensions is a bit surprising when the deeper causal factors are understood
The mass exodus of one million Russian Jews to Israel under the Law of Return , or Aliyah had a major impact on Israeli society, politics and relations with Russia. With nearly a million Russian Jews in Israel, Russia’s relations with Israel were transformed in ways consistent with a Russian constructivist approach to foreign policy – emphasis is on sociological, such as cultural commonalities, as opposed to economic based (i.e. bilateral trade).
However, the far-right political inclinations of the Russian Jews that settled in Israel would in time shift Israeli politics sharply to the right, allowing for the domination of Netanyahu’s coalition with its hard-line policies. These policies would in turn increase tensions between Russia and Israel as their respective interests increasingly collided. The image of friendly relations could not mask the tensions indefinitely.
The IL-20 incident brought to a final resolution the true repercussions for Russian-Israeli relations of the emigration of a million Russian Jews – the relationship they had a hand in creating, they would also ultimately destroy. And there lies the paradox
This makes a lot of sense. Are you publishing this on other platforms as well? (Which??)
Southfront offered to publish as first appearance and then on other sites. I have a few days of work still to do to make it ready but when the evidence is organized and structured, it is jaw dropping.
here is from my notes, this is one of several sections of notes to make the case:
Establishing the Case that there has been a Soft Coup in the Russian Federation
• Putin’s initial conciliatory response is consistent with the conclusions of expert observers that Putin would maintain the status quo regarding Russia’s relationship with Israel. The implicit assumption was that Putin would smooth over any incidents so there would be no lasting negative effects for Russian-Israeli relations. So long as Putin was in power, it was expected there would be no change in the Russian-Israeli relationship.
• Putin’s conciliatory response strongly suggests he was unaware of the soft coup that was about to take place – if he was aware, he would not have made a statement he knew would be publicly contradicted by his military.
• Putin’s conciliatory response was challenged by the Russian military which then seized control of the response to the incident as well as media relations while a humiliated Putin withdrew to the background. The military’s public rebuke of Putin and taking from Putin control of the narrative makes it very unlikely Putin changed his mind voluntarily to match the position of his military. This was one of the few (but clear) outward signs of an internal power struggle.
• It can be assumed that if Putin maintained power, the damage caused by the incident would have been contained to preserve the status quo in relations – Putin, having provided a response to the incident, signaled his intent to shield Israel and would use his position to prevent changes to the Russian-Israeli relationship – it is very doubtful Putin would permit a reset in relations to hostile. Therefore, the reset of Russia’s relations with Israel from friendly to hostile is an indication of Putin’s fall from power.
• Numerous expert observers of relations between Israel and Russia had concluded that despite serious disagreements on regional issues, Putin would maintain the status quo of friendly relations. I believe this conclusion is correct. However, concluding the status quo would continue indefinitely implies Putin’s grip on power will not be challenged in the foreseeable future. This assumption proved incorrect as Putin’s position had weakened sufficiently that his hold on power had become vulnerable to challenge. There is ample evidence that Putin was challenged successfully and in the wake of his fall from power, only then did the status quo of friendly Russian-Israeli relations come to an end.
• The end of the status quo also effectively ended the friendship between Putin and Netanyahu. Putin had several telephone conversations with Netanyahu and a high-level meeting was planned where Netanyahu would travel to Moscow to met with Putin to mend relations. Then with suddenness, the high-level meeting is changed to a meeting between Israeli and Russian military peers without Putin or Netanyahu’s involvement. The meeting apparently did not go well. After that, Putin would not agree to a meeting with Netanyahu and the phone calls have ceased. It would be a hard sell to convince me that these decisions were Putin’s.
Putin removed from power and military is in charge now? :) Just wait and see.
Will Putin take back control? Has he already done so? I have not tackled such questions yet, but to me, the military took control after the Sept. incident . I will concentrate on finishing up the paper .
uzionic bureaucratic corps installed by US in 90s
putinboy is so weak, that is not able to remove them? :DDDDD
It wasn’t completely clear why Putin has sought another term, besides “who else is there”–not a strong argument when the Putin political machine has been hard at work marginalizing serious rivals. But OK, you ran, you won another term. Then the least you can do is reshuffle your cabinet to reflect the seriousness of the times. But no, all the scumbags kept their jobs, without even an admonition from the headmaster to be less scummy going forward. Not reassuring.
P.S.: this article doesn’t strike me as typical “5th column”. I know some of those types, and for them Western pressure on Russia is automatically Russia’s fault. Here and more realistically, the pressure is presented as simply a fact of life that isn’t going to change any time soon. So Russia better man up and rise to the challenge. But indeed, an out-of-touch Kremlin often seems more focused on keeping whiny oligarchs happy.
Get rid of the jew Medvedev and his cronies.
so russia is becoming everyday like the united states ?
Putin, despite his many virtues as a leader, is a genuine product of the Russian system and as such, he considers Russia to be part of Europe in terms of its culture and civilization. He began his Presidency seeking closer ties with EU and USA and even after all the provocations and threats he has not given up on that utopian goal. That is hie major weakness. Russia needs a new brand of leader-one that will finally burn all bridges with the West and finally allow Russia fulfill its civilizational purpose.
and you need very badly to activate if possible a second cell between your ears. I know it be a miracle but dont lose hope and try any way.
Exactly with which of the above you dont agree? That is how on dicourses, not by resorting to silly and childish insults.
a conclusion coming directly of what you wrote, is neither a childish insult or silly.
my native redskins brothers in america teach me to respect mentally challenged people and at least once to connect the dots for them. So let us see what I dont agree with you. In the process I also teach you, to think and learn to connect the dots, as not as single cell but an intelligent human being.
Until 2000 when putin took the wheel of russia, russia had over 90% unemployment and all her major factories and not only been sold for scrap metal not to mention, that her army was almost destroyed thanks to the actions of Gorbyshit. What followed with Yeltsin completed the destruction of the bigger country of the globe and the richest one.
In short 8 years Putin reversed that and in 12 years put the country back on track going upwards and not searching for her ID in the sewers and basements. Tell me a leader of any where in the world who manage to do this. Of course he did not done this alone and he did have help.
he also formed SCO with the chinese and began to unite eurasia with asia. Now SCO represent almost 2/3 of the world population. But that part in order to be an alternative reality to the western reality needs few more years to become fully operational so stopping trying to unite european populations and lead them towards russia it be very stupid and short sighted and what bring me to conclude about the single cell between your ears.
When Putin try to unite europe since also russia is part of europe and I know because I was personally participating in the miracle russia on the Caucasus site of russia, so I knew the directives and the strategy, since we knew the targets set to accomplish, is because europe had the factories and trained workforce ready but it was failing badly, due to competition from countries with cheap workforce as well due to the fact anything they produce, must import all raw material from other countries. Uniting europes factories to russias raw materials was and is a win win situation as well the end of all wars west is provoking and starting in order to destroy nations, plenty of examples since 16th century onward and loot their natural resources.
Now what you suggested is a very good way to start a world war that this time if any one is left alive, will wish he was one of the first casualties of this war. In case you missed it already china and russia work to establish the silk road as well russia close a deal with china and is building gas pipe lines going into china none operational yet. That as an alternative to european market. For Putin to do what you saying or for a new leader to do what you saying it be an act of war.
First none can cover the gas supply right now russia supply europe and it be playing straight into the hands of city of london and its colonies i.e. us/canada, that will be selling to europe gas three and four times more expensive and beside the population of europe who will freeze to death and instead of see russians as they see them now and despite what you think european people are friendly towards russian people no matter what their puppet governments do or say, will have the whole of european population hate them and begin to accuse them of all their short comings.
The european union get 69% of her gas from russia so closing the valves on them not only will destroy over night all their industries relaying on that gas but also will destroy over night europe and send her back in the stone ages killing 10s of millions of their population. Brainless people as you with limited understanding of the global reality, when suggesting what you have suggested dont have the brain power or knowledge to put the dots together and what will follow if one is stupid enough to follow their suggestion.
Even worst are paid writers either of the zionist or some other western organization. So which one are you. one who can not connect the dots or a paid troll?
You comtinue your insults and write a barely comprehensible answer that does not in the bit contradict what I wrote. Try harder next time-and try to be polite as well. I am not sure which of the two you will find harder, but I dont realy care anyway.
statement of fact is not an insult dinky bell, so answer what I say and stop trying to make it personal. You are a person mentally challenged and your answer to what I said is the proof of that.
I will not step down to your level and try to contradict you and what I wrote and what you answer prove how limited you are so…… I did my bit as my native american brothers teach me now go find one who is low as you and make your day.
“dinky bell” , “mentally challenged” , ” how limited you are” , “one who is low as you”. Every time you open your mouth-well, figuratively-you only spew another childish insult.. :)
oh you are insulted by the truth and the way you sound like……….. my deepest apologies. My conclusions for you until you answer intelligently still stands.
Ahh..Nope, I am insulted-to the degree one can be insulted by any coward hiding behind a keyboard-by your insults. But you can’t understand even that :)
I understand you perfectly well what you attempt to do single cell. But is ok, as I said, mental low level cases as yourself all they know is read from the yellow little papers in front of you and try to sound relevant.
You and verner are way out of line with your hostility. What Drinas wrote is in the same vein as what points you so inelegantly and clumsily are making, other than his contention that Russia should shun Europe entirely.
you smell, a nasty smell so please go away and close the door behind you
Ah..how about nope. But blocking and reporting you is a good idea :) Then again, lookign at your “argument” already makes me vindicated.
no it’s you who bring an unpleasant odour to this commentary – so please just feck offfff
I care little about your drival Drinas. I just look at the facts.
Russia was raped and pillaged in the 1990’s by Jew oligarchs who were the front men for US banks and corporations.
Today ,Russia is again in control of her national assets and the people are not starving as they were when US Democratic Values hit Russia in a Tsunami of US fraud and direct theft.
President Putin and his team of loyal Russians have now regained much of Russia’s strength in terms of the Russian people most importantly and the strength of the people and Russian military power are all that can halt the bloody march of the US Coalition of Terror.
if you really don’t care, why even bother to post a comment – dumbnut
Well said my friend.
That is what he says in public and especially when the audience is western. In reality, Russian strategy revolves around building leverage over Europe. What’s more, one has to understand what “closer ties to Europe” might mean. Dominating their energy markets, attracting capital and investment, have puppet leaders and political parties in the EU, is some kind of “closer ties with Europe” that would suit Russia just fine.
What a nice empire with a foundation on mafia and pumped by the oil price. Would be a shame if the oil price stopped growing.
I agree, the US is built on oil that is stolen from others to enrich the US nouveau riche elite Mafia types.
Haha you are partially right. However if the price of oil drops isn’t the US who increase the retirement age.
That’s possibly due to the fact that life expectancy in the US has been falling :) Being the fattest nation in the world is something the US citizens should increase :) Being the biggest national drug users in the world, prescription and illegal , is another reason for the decline in Life expectancy.
The average American lives 9 years longer than the average Russian. Meanwhile Russia surpassed Guyana at suicides rate, advanced from 3rd to 2nd place. I think they are so bored of Putin/Medvedev faces they opt out.
The American life expectancy statistics are like their employment statistics, in that they don’t often count the people living in poverty. Much easier for lower class Russian’s to be counted when they can afford the basics and a place to live.
Russian life expectancy is about 73 years and rising, US life expectancy is 78 years and dropping. Those numbers will probably equalize by 2030.
That is true and there was a collapse of health in Russia during the rape and pillage of Russia in the 90’s where Russian industrial production was eviscerated and free health care greatly reduced.
The 2000’s have seen some relief, but recovery will necessarily be slow, as the damage has been done , due to a period of poor diet and general hardship.
30 years ago.. you are soooo poor in mind
Time is a great leveller and the US is not immune from that.
The author-a russian-makes a sound point arguing his case with facts. A bunch of non-russians who are driven by a “cult of Putin” mentality flock to discredit him by crying “troll” and similar nonsense. Such a healthy state of affairs..
The author says that average salary for Russians is $100-$200. That is patently not-a-fact. The average salary in Russia is much higher than that and we must also take into account that prices in Russia are much lower than in say the EU or the US. For example, here in Cyprus (per capita income much higher than Russia in nominal terms, and higher even in PPP terms) the cost of petrol is more than twice that of Russia’s. Rents and houses are maybe 3 times higher, food is far more costly as well and so on and so forth. Now, this is not to say that Russia living standards are as high as in the West, but some context is appropriate here. We must also keep in mind that Russia is under constant and relentless economic sabotage from the US-EU Axis and that also commodity prices (Russia’s main export) have been in a low-price phase for almost 5 years now. Considering this context, Russia is doing extremely well, it just won’t show in GDP and wages, yet. This is exactly what Russia’s mortal enemies want, they want the Russian people to grow impatient and restless and turn on their government. Western powers know that they cannot kill Russia on their own, they are encouraging the Russian people to commit suicide instead (just like they did with the USSR) Many underlying trends will be working in Russia’s favor in the coming decade, mark my words.
Κάπου τα έμπλεξες πατριώτη.. Ο συγγραφέας πουθενά δεν λέει κάτι τέτοιο, ένας σχολιαστής το έγραψε.. Και καλός είναι ο Πούτιν αλλά όχι αλάθητος.. Αυτό λέω
so you know what is right and wrong, it doesn’t tally with what I know so I reserve judgement to another day. however until that day, vladimir k is just pounding sand and nothing much else
The author Vladimir K..should know that Nordstream 2 and Turkstream are building…it means the end of Ukraine and aditional preassure on Yamal pipeline in Belarus….Trade with China are growing…Gold and monetary reserve are higher than a year ago…Armenia remain with Russia…Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have increase the cooperation with Russia….EU has a problem…as we have seen riots of Yellow vest in France, sparatism in Spain… and Italy among other countries dont Follow US orders in relation to Venezuela!…
Special K
voting seems disabled on this article. at least for me.
nope working just fine just voted you. refresh your page
i meant the voting to the article, with the stars, check it
aaaaaaaaaa dont even see the stars. Let me bang my head on the wall maybe they come back……… one minute :-)
That’s capitalism my friends, so don’t complain.One thing is for sure, with Patriotism and religion Russia is going nowhere not to mentions oligarchs who still the countries resources. Shall I add that most of them are Jews and friends of Putin?
There’s also Muslim or two as very rich tycoons… and with them also Putin is on “good” terms ….so convenient for people like you to accuse Putin to be on everybody side except to his own people (ethnic Russian Orthodox ) because they are by far in smallest numbers tycoons considering that they are huge majority in Russia.
So he can’t hide from you….all proves are on your side Putin is Jew lover Islamist!
And you are great Russian patriot and…. not Russian at all ?
No my dear, I am a Greek who loves Russians, their history( especially the period from the revolution to the death of Stalin) and their culture. Look at the photo from left its the 5th column and the representative of oligarchs, in the middle is patriotism and on the right is religion. Isn’t it funny? I think Putin has to reject totally the left side and do more for his people.
” especially the period from the revolution to the death of Stalin”
No wonder that you don’t like Putin than. Good leader embodies the balance of power and compromise. To whomever he gives more it will create only more problems because NOBODY has ever enough! They all want much more. The truth is that there are plenty of countries where standard of living is much lower than in Russia. So they are OK even by Greek standards …definitely much better than in Lenin,Stalin; Gorby ,Yeltsin times
PS I just knew that you are not Russian…
As I know that you are not a Russian or a Russian not living in Russia. I think we had a similar conversation a while ago. It’s not personal with Putin, I find him a very clever politician, but in capitalism the leader always serves the capitalists and for the people they have plenty of patriotism, religion and feed the for the next election. That’s why the rich become richer and the poor became poorer every where in the world.
Please calm down guys! Socialism and capitalism were invented by Jews, so stop fighting at nothing.
Maybe you confuse friendship with politics and business?
may be, but that doesn’t change the facts.
your facts no it does not change them but then your facts are based on assumption of whose putins friends are.
Ας μην συνεχισουμε τα εχουμε ξανα πει, δεν πειραζει να διαφωνουμε
εχεις δικιο αλλα στην διαφωνια ερχεται και η συνενοηση. Απλως εσυ θεωρεις οπως και πολλοι αλλοι που μιλησα μαζυ τους, οτι γνωρηζωντας το εξωφυλλο ξερεις και το περιεχομενο.
Yeah yeah exactly.
Welcome to planet earth. It is the same everywhere, always challenges and difficulties.
If you follow Peter Schiff, you will KNOW that the price of commodities will rise substantially and that will benefit Russia. The USA will go into stagflation. Look how its Federal Reserve has caved into the stock market and will sacrifice the dollar in an effort to blow more air into this burst economics bubbles.
IF the US played by the rules as propagated by itself :) That is the known unknown though and we will have to wait and see just how far they will go to keep their hegemony.
Sucks, eh? Russia is the worst ruled. Except for all the others.
So Putin is Jew and Trump is against deep state and for peace ? Russia is fucked and US & West are booming… right?
For example:
“The government increased the Value Added Tax amid the slowing Russian economy, especially in the industrial sector; The government employed an unpopular pension reform increasing the retirement age;”
Right. So the author wants government benefits but doesn’t want the taxes to pay for them. Figures. People like this destroy their countries more thoroughly than any foreign intervention.
Russian life expectancy is 73 years and growing, so pension budget needs to reflect this reality.
“In the period from 2018 to 2019, there were multiple arrests of officials caught exceeding of the limits of authority and being involved in corruption schemes. In comparison to the previous periods, this number increased by 1.5-2 times.”
Prosecution of corruption is not a bad thing.
“Other “political parties and organizations” are just media constructs designed to defend interests of a narrow group of their sponsors.”
Well, change them and vote for them if you dont like United Russia.
“Evaluating the current internal political situation in Russia and its foreign policy course, it’s possible to say that the Russian leadership has lost the clear vision of the national development and the consistent stiff policy, which are needed for any great power.”
Not sure what you would have Russia do – turn Russia into Venezuela, destroy the country, and then blame others for your own policy failures?
Well, some remarks from a conservative Russian, living in Russia.
1. “pension reform increasing the retirement age” is not working for most of middle class. Because in accordance with the letter from the Ministry of Labour, Russian citizens, who have signed retirement contracts with non-state pension funds before Jan. 1st 2019 will retire at 55 women and 60 men respectively. So middle class as base of the every normal state kept it’s ground.
2. The expression “new fines and other penalties for minor violations in various fields and additional administrative restrictions limiting the freedom of actions of citizens” says nothing for non-Russian and says all for a Russian. So the explanation will be kinda long. First we must understand that here in Russia there is a group of people, who getting it’s salary from the US State Dept using different funds like NED or USAID. The main job of this guys is to tell to the westerners, who watch MSM, about “atrocities of the blood-lust tyrant Putin and his insane supporters”. BUT, westerners are getting smarter so they does not believe in the plane words now. So, MSM need some actions. Until the last times that US paid guys used some high-school teenagers to show the awful picture of the “Putin regime” which “eats” even kids. Not in the last place because in Russia teenagers can not be penalized. Here some proof of a US paid guy in the police bus together with his supporters: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f9d7a21f25d9d2ff99f4cfbf958da6857bc692e33d245ce69674d5a9d3fd3a4f.jpg So the last changes prohibit to the people, who organize the meeting, use of teenagers. What a awful unhuman law! How those poor people now can earn some US tax-payers money? The pure tyranny!
Hi Harry, I liked reading your post and I want to share this with you. I am also sharing this with Tudor Miron.
I have been saying very little for the past few months because of a much bigger than anticipated project. I am now close enough to completion that I will provide some of the main findings from my paper. Note that I relied on several hundred source materials cited in footnotes. This does not guarantee my findings are correct, but I also did not pull them out of a hat.
First, I found this to be true:
‘Kremlin political intrigues are comparable to a bulldog fight under a rug. An outsider only hears the growling, and when he sees the bones fly out from beneath, it is obvious who won.’ Winston Churchill
But the growls and the bones still told the story. Below is an excerpt from the introduction:
After four-months of effort, what I learned were some truly unexpected findings. Perhaps the most important is my conclusion that there was a soft coup in Russia and Putin, although still President, is no longer in charge. There were earlier clues Putin was in trouble, but their significance went unnoticed. In the aftermath of the incident, is compelling evidence that Russia’s strongman had fallen from power. The Russian military is now in control and the international community needs to grasp this reality.
The coup was carefully pre-planned including the quick reversal of Putin policies opposed by the military, which is a reason the S-300 decision and implementation was so fast – it was ready to go in anticipation. The coup was triggered into action by the IL-20 incident. The relationship with Israel was an expected casualty – excerpt:
On September 17, 2018, fifteen Russian crew members perished when a Syrian missile struck their IL-20 aircraft, allegedly as a result of being used as cover by Israeli fighter jets. The Russian military publicly contradicted Putin’s conciliatory response and pushing Putin aside, took control of the narrative to make clear they held Israel solely responsible for the tragedy. This marked the fall of the Russian-Israeli relationship. The sudden change to hostile relations reflected the reality that friendly relations were nothing more than an illusion constructed by the mass media masking the rise in tensions as serious disagreements over Syria went unresolved.
Cause of tensions is a bit surprising when the deeper causal factors are understood
The mass exodus of one million Russian Jews to Israel under the Law of Return , or Aliyah had a major impact on Israeli society, politics and relations with Russia. With nearly a million Russian Jews in Israel, Russia’s relations with Israel were transformed in ways consistent with a Russian constructivist approach to foreign policy – emphasis is on sociological, such as cultural commonalities, as opposed to economic based (i.e. bilateral trade).
However, the far-right political inclinations of the Russian Jews that settled in Israel would in time shift Israeli politics sharply to the right, allowing for the domination of Netanyahu’s coalition with its hard-line policies. These policies would in turn increase tensions between Russia and Israel as their respective interests increasingly collided. The image of friendly relations could not mask the tensions indefinitely.
The IL-20 incident brought to a final resolution the true repercussions for Russian-Israeli relations of the emigration of a million Russian Jews – the relationship they had a hand in creating, they would also ultimately destroy. And there lies the paradox
Just simple question. If there is a bulldog fight, then who are “the bones”? No one from the Russian Govt was arrested. I.E. like Ulyukaev or Serdyukov before.
with stalin, the bones were often real bones but now the bones are more metaphorical, I did not include that caveat, so sorry about that. below is some rough notes used to create the report:
The Hit Is In Against Dmitry Medvedev KARINA ORLOVA An explosive exposé alleging Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was deeply corrupt blew up on the Russian internet last week. Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation published a report and a movie (with English subtitles) that link Medvedev to an impressive number of residences, yachts and even two vineyards, both in Russia and abroad. The report has garnered so much attention—the video has had 6.5 million views on YouTube at time of writing—that even the New York Times took notice. What’s missing in most stories covering Navalny’s report is what it actually means: Medvedev is under attack. And yes, in Putin’s Russia, where journalists are murdered https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/03/07/the-hit-is-in-against-dmitry-medvedev/
Umland, A. (2013), New Extreme Right-Wing Intellectual Circles in Russia: The Anti-Orange Committee, the Isborsk Club and the Florian Geyer Club, Russian Analytical Digest, 135(5): pp. 2-5 http://www.css.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/pdfs/RAD-135-2-5.pdf Growing anti-western sentiment, Aleksandr Dugin of Florian Geyer Club, joining forces with other groups.
The Russian authorities’ clan system is described differently by various researchers, who place different people with different groups. Also, the number of groups varies. The number of the most important clans that operate in the entire country is unclear as well. But analysts generally agree that there’s a continuous struggle for power inside the Russian authorities which determines the outcome of decisions while Putin is constantly struggling to balance the powers…
Dmitry Medvedev, leader of the ‘liberals’ [pro-western] people close to medvedev charged so getting closer to Putin
The Siloviki in Russian Politics, Andrei Soldatov and Michael Rochlitz, Aug.2017 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55510affe4b06afeca50df07/t/57d3923859cc684a23285460/1473483331787/Siloviki+Final+Aug+17+.pdf
However, even as he was moving members of his personal bodyguard squad into high political and administrative posts, Putin also began to retire some of closest long-time associates with a siloviki background. In April 2016, Viktor Ivanov’s antidrug agency was disbanded and he was not offered a new post; Evgeny Murov, the head of the FSO, was fired in May 2016; and, most dramatically, Putin dismissed Sergei Ivanov as head of the Presidential Administration in August 2016…
MY NOTE: Three close powerful associates gone in a short period – review date of article with Shoigu presented as a successor and speculation that Putin inner circle actively seeking a successor. – check these names for what they were up to 2017-2018
Alexey Navaliny is pure US Govt product. He studied in the Yale University at the Yale World Fellow Program. The program which prepared most of the last decade unrest leaders like Fares Mabrouk in Tunisia or Svyatoslav Vakarchuk in Ukraine.
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/t1605973.shtml Xi meets with Russian defense minister, 2018/10/19 Shoigu meets with key ally China soon after the IL-20 incident without Putin the IL-20 incident has had major repercussions for interstate relations and global security – it would be expected that the president of the Russian Federation would meet with the president of the People’s Republic of China to discuss such important developments – if Shoigu accompanied Putin, he would meet with his Chinese counterparts.
But Chinese President Xi is meeting the defence minister and not the President – Putin stayed back in Moscow. Considering that Shoigu contradicted Putin and forced Putin to the sidelines in a publicly humiliating display, it is not plausible to me that Putin would allow Shoigu to travel to Beijing without him to meet President Xi after a major international incident involving the nuclear states of Russia and Israel.
S.4 A Successor Waits in the Wings
Russia’s worsening security situation finally forced the hand of those who had lost patience with Putin, and they had a successor in mind, Shoigu would be their new King. For years, Shoigu has been mentioned as a potential successor in the face of growing dissatisfaction with Putin:
By 2015 dissatisfaction with Putin among Russia’s oligarchs was growing… Andrey Okara, director of the Moscow Center for East European Research, said “in Putin’s entourage,” there are people who today “are quietly searching” for a successor, with the names of Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin being the most often mentioned…
The level of trust in Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reaches 88%, reported on 18 February 2016… “The approval of [his performance as] Minister of Defence… are extremely high 84%… The level of confidence in the army of Russians is 82%…
With a pronounced lack of subtlety, Shoigu was heralded in a Moscow Times article with the prophetic title “Shoigu at 60: The Man Who Would Be Russia’s King?” The article speculated on Shoigu as Putin’s potential successor in 2018, even though Putin was expected to run again for President in the 2018 election:
…the three last years, Russians have named Shoigu “Person of the Year” behind only Putin, according to polls by the independent Levada Center. Last month, Shoigu took second place behind the president in a rating of Russian officials and politicians … as the most trustworthy leaders… The political longevity and widespread public acclaim of Shoigu have prompted analysts to name him Putin’s potential successor either at the next presidential election in 2018, or in 2024.
The article implies that Putin is not indispensable and there is a successor in the wings ready to take on the mantle of President if need be. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/shoigu.htm https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/shoigu-at-60-the-man-who-would-be-russias-king-46771 https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/12/06/israel-and-russia-are-on-a-collision-course-in-syria/ “If we consider the situation in Russia more closely, we will discover that almost all that is said in the West about Putin is wrong. It is a complete caricature. The most important criticism of Putin inside Russia is not from the liberals. Liberals represent the smallest part of the critics. They are absolutely marginal… So the West is absolutely wrong in thinking that there is this big liberal opposition to Putin that is artificially kept down.
Interview Dugin The real opposition to Putin is growing completely on the other side of Russian society. It is growing discontent with “lunar” Putin, against the Putin who is surrounded by liberals. All the government is completely not only corrupt, it consists of pro-Western liberals. Nothing has changed after the last election. Russian society wants strategy, wants institutionalization of sovereign politics. It needs new ideology, it needs spiritual and social revival, a new education system and social justice. There is no social justice in Russian society, and there is no coherent national strategy. But the absolute majority of our society is for social justice, and national traditional conservative values ttps://www.aspeninstitute.it/aspenia-online/article/russian-conservative-view-putin-interview-alexander-dugin
Well, if meeting Shoigu with Xi means that Shoigu contradicts Putin, then Wei Fenghe, the Chinese defence minister, contradicts Xi, because he met Putin at September 2018 without Xi. And please, stop reading guys like Dugin.
I did not say Shoigu contradicts Putin by meeting with Xi. What I was saying was under the specific circumstances, I would expect Putin to go. I provided some notes to illustrate but not the full argument – for example open consideration in 2015-2016 of a successor for Putin with Shoigu as the prime candidate who publicly contradicted Putin during a major incident and then controls the narrative reversing Putin policies that had been opposed by the military which many observers indicated they did not foresee being changed while Putin is still in charge – such as the relations with Israel – now hostile.
When I cite a person it can be for many reasons, and I have reasons for citing Dugin along with a hundred or more persons that cover a spectrum needed to look at the broader picture. Regarding Alexey, I use people like him as part of pointing out the contradictions on reporting on Russia’s power relations and this was to illustrate the difficulties in determining what happened after the plane went down – I thought I included that qualification that public documents are contradictory – and it is also my notes I provided in haste and perhaps that was a mistake as notes are from investigation of differing perspectives which include inaccurate perspectives which are instructive in their own right. .
At my point of view, most of the “facts”, provided by the people like Navalny or Dugin are nothing, but product of their imagination. Kinda seagull from Mermaid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5CmteugcQY
Look, Russian government is like a mega-corporation with Putin in front of it. Gazprom, Rosneft and even oligarchs are just subdivisions of the corporation. And, the irony is the West by itself granted Putin this power, when started to confiscate their assets in western banks. And even more. They robbed Firtash, the Ukrainian oligarch after he financed the Maidan. What a stupidity! So the West convinced the oligarchs and Putin’s subordinates, that only Putin is the person who can guarantee their freedom and protect their wealth. Look, I do not say that our ruling elite is solid like a rock, but, at my point, your conclusions are not right.
Anyway, the world is in the eve of the negative super cycle. The perfect worldwide economical storm. The short term cycle 7-11 years. 2019 – 11 = 2008. The middle term cycle 15 – 25 years. 2019 – 25 = 1994. 1994 – Mexican crisis, 1997 – Asian crisis, 1998 – Russian crisis. And the long term cycle 45-60 years. 2019 – 60 = 1959 the first after ww2 crsis and 2019 – 45 = 1974 the worldwide crisis. This you should real care about.
Sorry, was looking for this in my notes, last reply to you question – arrest to someone close to Medvedev – signal displeaser of Putin associating with pro-western people
Billionaire’s arrest points to Kremlin power struggle https://www.ft.com/content/24b0c55a-35c3-11e8-8b98-2f31af407cc8
How does this Magomedov is related to Putin or Medvedev?
Medvedev is supposed to be a key ally of Putin.
https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-putin-reshuffle/4330260.html MOSCOW — Reelected to a new term, Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to announce his ministerial lineup next month, but there are already signs that his long-time prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, is being reined in amid maneuvering by Moscow’s political clans, say analysts.
One of Medvedev’s oligarch allies, Ziyavudin Magomedov, has been arrested and accused of large-scale embezzlement of state funds in connection with energy projects and the construction of a World Cup stadium in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
Few observers in Moscow believe the tycoon’s arrest could have happened without Putin’s approval.
In January, the 49-year-old Magomedov, whose worth Forbes magazine estimates at $1.4 billion, was on a list of high-ranking officials and plutocrats U.S. authorities said they considered close to Putin and his inner circle. Magomedov is a friend and political ally not only of Russia’s prime minister, but also a confidant of Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
He was arrested Saturday along with his brother, Magomed Magomedov, and ominously, both are being held at Lefortovo, the former KGB detention facility.
https://www.ft.com/content/24b0c55a-35c3-11e8-8b98-2f31af407cc8 The charges brought against Mr Magomedov — which he denies — and his older brother Magomed have triggered a flurry of speculation about the fate of Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister, regarded as the most loyal of Mr Putin’s senior associates. Mr Magomedov is close to Arkady Dvorkovich, a deputy prime minister and Mr Medvedev’s most senior aide.
“Before the arrest of the Magomedovs the scenario of Medvedev remaining prime minister was the most likely one. Now the chances for that are falling significantly,” said Igor Bunin, president of the Centre for Political Technologies think-tank.
Mr Magomedov’s fortunes are often seen as a bellwether for Mr Medvedev’s.
Also see: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/04/02/how-moscow-arrested-its-latest-billionaire-ziyavudin-magomedov Magomedov enjoyed wild success during Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency. In 2009, the magazine Finance valued his wealth at $70 million. A year later, Magomedov’s worth had jumped to $800 million. Arkady Dvorkovich, then an advisor to President Medvedev (and currently a deputy prime minister in Medvedev’s cabinet), was one of Magomedov’s old dormitory neighbors in the early 1990s. They studied together in the economics department at Moscow State University.
OK, what we have here. Stratfor says “Medvedev has close ties with Magomedov”. What kind of ties? They do not say.
Voanews says “Magomedov is a friend and political ally not only of Russia’s prime minister, but also a confidant of Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.” Good. Where is the prove?
FT writes “Before the arrest of the Magomedovs the scenario of Medvedev remaining prime minister was the most likely one. Now the chances for that are falling significantly,” . Medvedev is still the Prime minister.
Meduza writes “Arkady Dvorkovich, then an advisor to President Medvedev (and currently a deputy prime minister in Medvedev’s cabinet), was one of Magomedov’s old dormitory neighbors in the early 1990s. They studied together in the economics department at Moscow State University.” Well, that is something. A real fact and Dvorkovich says it’s true. And Dvorkovich is not in the Govt now. But Dvorkovich is not from St. Petersburg and he is more like from Arkadiy Gaidar team.
Anyway, if you want to understand the who is in who’s team start to dig about dacha consumer cooperative “Ozero”
The Russians have been fooling the west for a long time, the most famous scam being the Trust. The US/UK was trying to destabilize the Soviet Union, by bribing Russian officials, as they are doing today.
The Cheka(KGB) created a group of senior Russian officials, and allowed the Americans to bribe them, and supply them with money to fund an insurgency. The Americans and British handed over millions thinking they were on a winner and soon the US/UK would control Russia, but the money was actually going to the Soviet Government. Russian intelligence plays western intelligence like a piano.
I have been saying very little for the past few months because of a much bigger than anticipated project. I am now close enough to completion that I will provide some of the main findings from my paper. Note that I relied on several hundred source materials cited in footnotes. This does not guarantee my findings are correct, but I also did not pull them out of a hat.
First, I found this to be true:
‘Kremlin political intrigues are comparable to a bulldog fight under a rug. An outsider only hears the growling, and when he sees the bones fly out from beneath, it is obvious who won.’ Winston Churchill
But the growls and the bones still told the story. Below is an excerpt from the introduction:
After four-months of effort, what I learned were some truly unexpected findings. Perhaps the most important is my conclusion that there was a soft coup in Russia and Putin, although still President, is no longer in charge. There were earlier clues Putin was in trouble, but their significance went unnoticed. In the aftermath of the incident, is compelling evidence that Russia’s strongman had fallen from power. The Russian military is now in control and the international community needs to grasp this reality.
The coup was carefully pre-planned including the quick reversal of Putin policies opposed by the military, which is a reason the S-300 decision and implementation was so fast – it was ready to go in anticipation. The coup was triggered into action by the IL-20 incident. The relationship with Israel was an expected casualty – excerpt:
On September 17, 2018, fifteen Russian crew members perished when a Syrian missile struck their IL-20 aircraft, allegedly as a result of being used as cover by Israeli fighter jets. The Russian military publicly contradicted Putin’s conciliatory response and pushing Putin aside, took control of the narrative to make clear they held Israel solely responsible for the tragedy. This marked the fall of the Russian-Israeli relationship. The sudden change to hostile relations reflected the reality that friendly relations were nothing more than an illusion constructed by the mass media masking the rise in tensions as serious disagreements over Syria went unresolved.
Cause of tensions is a bit surprising when the deeper causal factors are understood
The mass exodus of one million Russian Jews to Israel under the Law of Return , or Aliyah had a major impact on Israeli society, politics and relations with Russia. With nearly a million Russian Jews in Israel, Russia’s relations with Israel were transformed in ways consistent with a Russian constructivist approach to foreign policy – emphasis is on sociological, such as cultural commonalities, as opposed to economic based (i.e. bilateral trade).
However, the far-right political inclinations of the Russian Jews that settled in Israel would in time shift Israeli politics sharply to the right, allowing for the domination of Netanyahu’s coalition with its hard-line policies. These policies would in turn increase tensions between Russia and Israel as their respective interests increasingly collided. The image of friendly relations could not mask the tensions indefinitely.
The IL-20 incident brought to a final resolution the true repercussions for Russian-Israeli relations of the emigration of a million Russian Jews – the relationship they had a hand in creating, they would also ultimately destroy. And there lies the paradox
Good; but just a tweak of your analysis here according to my understanding of the inner workings during Putin’s most recent term as President. The inner circle of supreme decision makers has for some time consisted of representatives of business interests who are championed by Medvedev on one side and then the military/national security interests on the other side with Putin in the middle. Putin is naturally inclined to the business side of things and for some time it was mostly smooth sailing for those decision makers as the economy and middle class were growing nicely. Putin was constantly referring to Russia’s “partners” in international matters. Whatever concerns of the security faction, they were rightfully marginalized in the face of relative prosperity and peace. Then, the US neocons and their EU lackey acolytes made their Ukraine coup gambit and the Syria situation became a direct threat to Russian security. The US/EU intention for world hegemony became crystal clear, thus the security faction has become full partners in decision making in the Kremlin leadership. Putin is no dummy. Nukes aside, Russia is not really a military heavyweight but they can very well defend their homeland. They have to rely on their tremendously talented diplomatic resources to compliment their military to protect Russian interests and influence the international order. I wouldn’t characterize the change of focus of the Kremlin insiders as a coup, but rather an indication of clear eyed discernment of a very real threat to Russian security and world peace due to implacable American aggression.
Very good points, I agree the neocons empowered the military side of the equation and Putin seems to be adjusting. But looking at the whole picture including the historical context, I feel there is additional purpose behind what is happening. I can share this with you if you are interested and your thoughts would be appreciated.
The description of any oligarchy always resembles the one that controls the country where I live. Politics a-go-go.
If Russian plan is to make a copy of the capitalist system of so-called “developed” countries, Russia were doomed to fail. Creating Russian oligarchy is a primary task of self-proclaimed western democracies. The oligarchy would be the “fifth column” within Russian society with the aim of promoting and protecting the interest of the western elites. The attempt to make a copy of the societies where 3 % of the population is in the possession of almost everything while 70 % is in a daily struggle to make the ends meet would be the betrayal of Russia with the most unfortunate consequences possible.
America is not a capitalist economy. Capital is defined as excess profits available for investment. America is a Talmudic debt/usury economy where “capital” is loaned into existence as debt with interest owed. The American system can never survive.
Well, you made a good one. Thanks a lot.