Russia sanctions: Amazing how some investment bankers don't understand that people live from economic growth, not macroeconomic stability, looking at budget surplus & reserves rather than real disposable income falling by 11% since 2014. ft.com/content/8ba328….
"Putin has become a model of orthodoxy"! But Russia's GDP in USD has fallen from $2.3 trillion in 2013 to $1.5 trillion in 2020. Is your intention to starve both the Russian people & your foolish investors, Ruchir Sharma?
"Putin talks of boosting economic growth" Not quite true.
"which has average barely 2 per cent over the past decade." No, 0.3% a year since 2014, when sanctions hit, 1.1% a year 2011-20. Check elementary facts before writing!
"Today Russia is less vulnerable to outside pressure than in 2014."
Morgan Stanley banker celebrating Russia's aggravated poverty. Give the money to the Kremlin and not to the people!?
Further Morgan Stanley celebration of increased Russian poverty: "Finally, the Kremlin is making import substitution work. It countered international sanctions by blocking food imports, which has invigorated Russian agriculture and reduced dependence on foreign suppliers."
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It is time to get serious about Trump & his engagement with the Russian mafia & intelligence agencies. @lukeharding1968 & @craigunger have both done so in wonderful books. Trump made his money out of 3 dozens of Russian criminals & oligarchs.
2. In his excellent book "American Kompromat" @craigunger clarifies how Trump has been a Russian intelligence asset since 1987. He cannot be understood otherwise.
3. Robert Mueller painfully failed his important task. Is it because he is an old-style republican, a friend of the defective Bill Barr, or just censored? Yet, his simplistic report contains a lot of hard facts that should be published without redactions.
Vladimir Putin has received his first dose of a Russian-made coronavirus vaccine in private, Dmitry Peskov told news agencies late on Tuesday.
Just bizarre. In private & not saying what jab?
What is wrong with him.
Is Putin afraid of being poisoned? theguardian.com/world/2021/mar…
Putin needs a better spokesman. Peskov "had earlier explained why Putin would not be getting vaccinated on camera and that journalists would have to “trust his word” that it had happened. “The president has already done a lot to popularise the vaccine,”"
Nobody is so stupid that they trust the mass murder Putin on his word.
Nobody has done more to undermine the credibility of Russia Covid vaccines than Putin, but first delaying vaccination & now refusing to say what vaccine he received & not in public.
Putin on Biden: "With regard to my US colleague’s remark, we have, indeed, as he said, met in person. What would I tell him? I would say “stay healthy.” I wish him good health. I am saying this without irony or tongue in cheek." en.kremlin.ru/events/preside…
"Secondly, ... when we evaluate other people, or even other states and nations, we are always facing a mirror, we always see ourselves in the reflection, because we project our inner selves onto the other person."
"whatever you call me is what you are called yourself. ...We always see ourselves in another person and think that he or she is just like us, and evaluate the other person’s actions based on our own outlook on life."
The US National Intelligence Council report on foreign threats to the 2020 US elections are not surprising, but quite a bombshell. Its essence is that Putin himself and the Kremlin worked hard for Trump. dni.gov/files/ODNI/doc…
2. "We assess that Russian President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump..."
3. "Moscow's strategy this election cycle was its use of proxies linked to Russian intelligence to push influence narratives - including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden..."
Secretary of State @ABlinken's outstanding speech on March 3 has received far too little attention, perhaps because it is too sound & principled. The first principles are obvious: US leadership and international cooperation. state.gov/a-foreign-poli…
But then it comes: "we will renew democracy, because it's under threat" (at home and abroad). "Corruption is growing." "We don't ignore our failures and shortcomings or try to sweep them under the rug and pretend they don't exist. We confront them..."
Blinken: "Because strong democracies are more stable, more open, better partners to us, more committed to human rights, less prone to conflict, and more dependable for our goods and services. When democracies are weak, governments can't deliver for the people."
What surprises me about the US is the abject absence of any morals.
How can Trump even be a public person?
He instigated a coup against the US.
He is blatantly anti-democratic.
He praises dictators (Al-Sissi: "My favorite dictator")
He opposes the freedom of the press.
He refused to accept his obvious loss in the elections.
He opposes any public health care (against Obama Care without any proposed alternative).
His tax giveaway was entirely to the rich (himself & his donors).
He favored Putin over Merkel & NATO.
His daughter & son-in-law made up to $640 million while in the White House unknown how.
He persisted in driving government expenditures to his own companies.
He never showed his tax returns or his foreign incomes.
How could the US ever tolerate such a lowlife?
& GOP today?