S.L. Kanthan Profile picture
Oct 7 14 tweets 6 min read
🧵 on devastation of Russia in the 1990s and the rise of #VladimirPutin Image
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. ImageImage
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% Image
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. Image
Poverty soared

Suicide skyrocketed

Life expectancy dropped

GDP shrank by 50%

Russia’s industries and agriculture were devastated Image
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? Image
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 Image
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 Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. ImageImage
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 🧵 Image

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More from @Kanthan2030

Oct 6
The US-Saudi fallout is a rare and shocking geopolitical event.

Both countries have a lot of leverage to hurt one another. 🧵
Saudi Arabia can start selling oil for Yuan and maybe for Euros.

The petrodollar is one of the key pillars of America’s Empire.

Take away the need for US dollar to buy oil, the value of US dollar evaporates! Inflation in USA will be double digits in a few days.
Of course, America’s options to retaliate are endless.

- Confiscate all Saudi assets denominated in US dollar

- Remotely turn off all the fighter jets, missile defense systems etc. in Saudi Arabia

- Give missiles to Houthis in Yemen

- Try to “eliminate” Prince Salman (MBS)
Read 6 tweets
Oct 6
Global market share of exports of goods/merchandise in 2021:

China: 15%
USA: 7.9%
Germany: 7.8%
Japan: 3.4%
India: 1.9%

#manufacturing #trade #economy
In 2022, you can expect China’s share to grow and Germany’s share to plummet.

Thanks to anti-Russia sanctions, Germany’s factories are being shuttered.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 6
While real estate will deflate in China, the comparison with Japan of the 1990s is misleading. Three reasons listed in following tweets:

asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/China-…
1) Japan was forced by the US to commit economic suicide in the 1980s through the Plaza Accord.

That’s not happening with China — although the US tried to do it under Trump administration.
2) Under the Plaza Accord, Japan was forced to strengthen Yen (by whopping 200% between 1985 - 1995) and move many manufacturing factories to the US.

On the other hand, Chinese Yuan is safe and China’s exports and manufacturing are at record levels.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 5
Michael Pettis is the Vanilla Ice of economics. He has ONE theory and he has been selling it for years!

Yes, China has to reduce dependence on infrastructure/real estate. But this Western obsession with consumption as a driver of growth is also flawed!

foreignaffairs.com/china/how-chin…
Look at the US. People just borrow and spend it on consumer goods. Or, people spend 16% of the GDP on “health” care, which is a scam in so many ways.

Are those better ways to get GDP growth than building a not-so-necessary high-speed rail?
In the US, people cannot save much. Vast majority of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck.

The only way to accumulate wealth is thru speculation — housing and/or stock markets.

This is casino capitalism. Terrible model.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 5
I have a conspiracy theory about the India-China clash in 2020:

The US caused it!

Here’s how and why:

🧵
First, there’s no reason to believe that either side wanted a deadly clash.

The clash happened because both Indian and Chinese soldiers truly believed that they were within the boundaries of their countries.

Thus, they were angry that the other side was intruding.
However … after the incident, Indian Prime Minister Modi stated clearly that the Chinese had NOT entered the Indian territory!

How is that possible? In other words, why did the Indian soldiers believe otherwise?

My theory: The GPS system of the Indian soldiers was hacked!
Read 7 tweets
Sep 26
There are now only 4 countries in the world who have mastered and internalized geopolitics:

- USA
- UK
- Russia
- China

There are some who used to be great but now powerless or clueless. And some don’t have it in their DNA.

🧵
Geopolitics is art. And it requires a very sophisticated way of thinking. It's not tribal screaming or raw power.

It's about survival, alliances, conquests, and expansion of power.

And it takes centuries of experience to internalize and master this art.
Naturally, European powers would be ideal candidates. They had to survive constant wars with neighbors, and then go around the world to rule foreign people in faraway lands.
Read 17 tweets

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