🧵 on devastation of Russia in the 1990s and the rise of #VladimirPutin
When the Soviet Union collapsed — officially in Dec 1991 - Russians eagerly embraced America and Europe.
They wanted to be a part of the West and end the centuries-long conflict.
However, the next 8 years would prove to be disastrous beyond belief.
The US handpicked a puppet, Yeltsin, and surrounded him handlers who were really loyal to Wall Street.
For the next years, the US would prop up Yeltsin, who was an alcoholic and an incompetent clown.
Yeltsin and his handlers introduced America’s infamous economic“Shock Therapy”, which was fine-tuned in Chile in the 1970s.
Basically, extreme neoliberalism and privatisation.
In the first year of new Russia — 1992 — inflation skyrocketed to staggering 2500%
Pensions were wiped out. Russians who were hoping for prosperity under capitalism were pushed into poverty and chaos.
It was worse than anything the people had experienced under communism.
And this trauma would last all through the 1990s.
Poverty soared
Suicide skyrocketed
Life expectancy dropped
GDP shrank by 50%
Russia’s industries and agriculture were devastated
Worse, the US had plans to Balkanise and chop up Russia.
So, the US armed and funded jihadists in Chechnya. The Russian military was so demoralised that they lost to the terrorists.
And Al Qaeda was blowing up Russian oil/gas pipelines as well.
Sound familiar?
Russia, the land of oil and gas, didn’t have fuel for its tanks & military planes.
The country with hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of natural resources went bankrupt.
And it had to beg the IMF for money.
Ruble crashed, Russia defaulted on its debt, lost all its gold
However, through all this misery, a small fraction of Russians got super rich.
These were the oligarchs handpicked by the US.
They bought assets for pennies on the dollar — mines, airlines, media, entire industries and so on.
And hundreds of billions were funnelled into USA
To make the long thread short, this was when some patriots in Russia got together and decided to rescue Russia from demise.
They chose #VladimirPutin as their man.
He would become the leader on Dec 31, 1999.
A new century and new beginning for Russia
Putin fixed Russia in every way possible:
🔹GDP grew 1000% in ten years
🔹Traitors were kicked out of Russia (they escaped to London and New York)
🔹Terrorists in Chechnya were defeated
🔹Russia once again became the world leader in oil, gas, wheat etc.
Russia once again became a great power. Its prestige was restored in the global stage.
When Xi Jinping became the leader, the first visit he made was to Russia to meet with Putin.
Russia was back and the US was very unhappy.
Contrary to West’s portrayal, Putin’s primary goal is peace and prosperity.
He wanted peaceful, win-win relations with Europe and even the US.
He knows history and geopolitics.
But USA cannot share power and wealth.
Americans liked the “End of History” and the unipolar world.
Hence all the problems in the world.
Putin is 70 years old. The next 5 years may be the most important in his life.
Can he leave an enduring legacy of a great Russia?
End 🧵
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