First off, you didn’t provide an end parenthesis.
Second, of course it was easy for us to believe that, because there’s a startling amount of evidence!
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This drop-off in support makes sense.
The bedrock of Putin’s popularity is clear to anyone who lived though the 1990s in Russia. The plunge from a global superpower to a bankrupt, corrupt, impoverished basket case of a country was hellish to live through. life expectancy fell off a cliff, salaries didn’t get paid. Even the armed forces had their electricity cut off for non-payment, and a generation of conscripts were thrown into another unwinnable guerilla war against religious fanatics in the south of Russia in Chechnya. All the while, the new oligarch-mafia class stole everything that they could get their hands on.
Putin’s popularity rests on stopping the chaos of the 90s. After he came to power, a quick and brutal victory in the Caucasus ended the death and humiliation, an oil boom put the economy on an upward trajectory, and the state was stabilised. This is the “deal” offered to the Russian people. you won’t starve, you’ll be able to feel proud of Russia again, and there will be stability- today will be similar to tomorrow.
Now, all three promises are looking shaky. There are a number of conflicts that are no longer easy victories. People are dying and conflict is dragging on. And because the Saudis are on the other side of the proxy war, the oil weapon has been deployed, and The petro-economy is shaky. And now these pension changes are eroding the stability of people’s future. Things are horribly reminiscent of the Yeltsin era idiocy, when pensioners had nothing to live on.
So yes, this is exactly the sort of thing that would make Putin’s support shaky.
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On account of we have no pensions…
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Here’s some more for you.
Someone should tell Mueller so he can whomp up another indictment.
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I don’t think Cory is trying state otherwise but it sure read like that initially to me. (I was all like WTAF - when did BB turn into Breitbart.)
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OK, you have video to prove it?
Because Reuters and the BBC say otherwise.
You can see the police are armed in those photos. The fact that Putin makes protesting illegal so he can jail opposition leaders is something Trump hasn’t tried yet, so “Neither is really any better” is a false equivalency; I know a lot of Russian emigres in the US, but I doubt there are a lot of Americans who have sought Russian citizenship.
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Yeah, and the board of directors of the poling company were suddenly ill of radiation poisoning/novachuk poisoning/random street violence.
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