President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation | July 16, 2018 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead, public domain, courtesy of Flickr
Chris Snow, at Medium, on the death spiral of the Russian “Potemkin Village” economy. Excerpt:
The collapse of the Russian Potemkin village economy is accelerating, the Ruble is collapsing, and Dr. Steve Hanke states that inflation is 4 higher than the official rate of 8.6 percent, and Gazprom suffered another 3 billion dollar loss so far this year.
“Putin is flaring 68 to 88 percent of his gas. Every segment of the economy has been shut down by a rate of 60 to 95 percent. Putin is counting on Trump getting into office and opening the spigots once again.” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
Other sectors without access to lavish government funds are struggling to pay the wages of their workers.
Siberian coal miners in Kemerovo have begun a hunger strike, as the company owes 1.2 billion rubles in salaries and taxes.
The Mine is located 3500 kilometers from Moscow. One miner reportedly said: “You’re pushing us down a dilapidated mine shaft to our deaths.” The centralized and highly extractive Russian company will break first on the edges, not at the imperial center.
The highly esteemed Yale Professor and economist Jeffrey Sonnenfeld provides highly valuable insights.
Sonnenfeld says that Putin “invents his GDP numbers when he wakes up in the morning.” Two senior economists of the IMF confessed that they are having no insight into Russian numbers. He calls it a “Potemkin village economy.”
“Putin has shut down all 40 income statistics and suppresses the numbers that come out of Rosstat.”
“The Russian GDP growth is an invention. Russia admits to 10 percent inflation. In reality, it is three times that. Russia survives by taking the living room furniture and throwing it into a furnace.”
“If Trump really gets the sanctions lifted, he will get Putin back into business.” Sonnenfeld.
Sonnenfeld says the EU doesn’t require a single drop of Russian gas. Norway, Algeria, 22 other suppliers have driven down the price and replaced Russia.
“The Russian state survives by taking over private enterprises, and charging them 30 percent taxes.” Dr. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
“Energy is two-thirds of the Russian economy. Most analysts have missed that Russia needs a network of pipelines to sell its energy products.”
“Russia brings nothing to the marketplace apart from raw materials. There is no value added. It is just extractive businesses. It is metal, energies, food, and fuel. There are no finished goods from there. There is no value added.”
Sonnenfeld states that around 90 percent of the sanction controlled goods come in through China.
China, NK, and Iran funnel aviation spare parts, critical weapon components, and missile components to Russia. The Russian aviation sector is almost running at full capacity again.
Russia has six bases in Syria that have been training the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Russia is funding and perpetrating global terror.
This war will throw Russia back by several decades. Economic decline has toppled several dictators in the past. Losing a war has also cost several emperors, kings, and tyrants their heads.
Glory to Ukraine.
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