Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumThe Downfall Of Putin After Kursk Invasion
The only thing I'd add is that I understand those Russians in the street interviews. Tjhey mouth the latest propaganda or say they don't know what's going on because telling the truth there is very bad for their health.
OAITW r.2.0
(28,411 posts)Someone is going to hit the lottery, soon....and the whole world will benefit. Russians, too! Think of all the 100s of billions that Putin has stolen from Russia. Returned to the national treasury for rebuilding their economy...not their military.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)OAITW r.2.0
(28,411 posts)Warpy
(113,130 posts)That process has already started. It's going to be a free for all when this government collapses, though, and I do think most of it will follow the old USSR treasury into hiding in Switzerland. The problem for Putin and his buddies will be getting out of Russia to enjoy any of it.
Putin is looking shaky right now. No dictator has ever survived long withot the full support of the military. He has outraged the generals by appointing an FSB guy head of the military, giving them orders about the war (at least in theory) and putting one of his bodyguards in charge of the front.
Putin made a speech today, lying about the rosy economy Russia is enjoying. The head of the Central Bank as off to one side and the expression on her face was the same as the one on Dr. Birx's face when TFG suggested injecting people with bleach and Lysol to kill the Covid virus. You could just see her soul shrivel and die, same as the head of the Russian Central Bank.
Putin is also doing a lot of hand wringing during his speeches, so he must suspect his days are numbered. Absolute power dictatorships are strong but brittle. He's pissed off the generals and appalled the one person in Russia who's been keeping their economy functional, at all. He's fucked up, he knows it, and he's making more mistakes.
OAITW r.2.0
(28,411 posts)the Russian people. Definitely some will go to Ukraine, but Ukraine needs a stable Russia, post Putin. I think they will want those Putin funds going back to the Russian people, provided it's not shuttled into the military fascist bureaucrats.
Warpy
(113,130 posts)While a lot of the country's wealth was sold to make Putin's boyhood pals rich beyond belief, there is so much more that has simply disappeared, that hasn't gone into high end real estate, bling, or fancy cars. I suspect a lot of it has gone to Switzerland and did so at the end of the Soviet era, also.
To sort out the mess and repatriate the money that has been stolen from Russia and its people, The City in London and the Swiss banks are goiing to have to steel themselves and allow a few auditors in. It's the only way.
SWBTATTReg
(24,140 posts)stop him.