Thread by @UnlockAstrology

Good points in this article if it’s not behind a paywall. But I’m amazed how the author also doesn’t mention how communist/totalitarian states also learned to have hybrid capitalistic economies. That changes everything. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…

For example, during much of the Cold War, countries like India and China had closed economies. But as they opened their economies up, they were better able to support themselves. Russia has learned to do the same, unlike its Soviet self.

If you can have a thriving economy without democracy and more civic safety even (and compliance), many more nations, like China and Russia, are like why try to have a democracy?

People keep thinking Russia will go broke fast from this invasion. They will not, especially while having 1/3 of Europe’s energy reserves AND a strong trading partner with China.

And Putin has been making the argument for almost 15 years that democracy isn’t even really helping the West. And yeah he’s invested in showing that as well by tampering with free elections.

But he wouldn’t have been easily able to do that if indeed we hadn’t become such a splintered democracy. And any student of history knows that democracy has always been a fragile creature even from the heady days of early Athens or Rome.

Yet we had the effing temerity to believe that democracy and free markets presented us with the “end of history.” I knew that was batshit 30 years ago. So this isn’t just as simple as a war of ideas.

It’s also going to have to become a war of BETTER ideas cuz this ain’t the Soviet Union of pre-1992. America can be just as likely to go broke this time as Russia. And even be broken up.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe Putin is a POS. I’ve been watching him for over 20 years when he would come hat in hand to George W.’s ranch to beg for surpluses from the US. He’s a thief and a liar. He’s always been. The Putin we see today is the one who has always…

…been waiting in the wings. Just biding his time. And as much as we see people in his streets defying him, know that there are many in his country who love him. Who don’t believe that democracy can work in Russia.

And Putin only brokers so much defiance. Ask his #JupiterReturn twin Alexei Navalny. Be prepared for a long haul to change things. But charity and change will have to begin at home.