Gorbachev was far better than any of his predecessors, including in Imperial Russia.Mëds wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2020 10:07 amI wouldn't get too excited about that Per.Per wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:02 pm The truly good news about low oil prices is that i tundermines the regimes of Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
I mean, sure, it’s also inconvenient for the USA, Canada and Norway, but those countries aren’t one trick ponies and have other legs to stand on.
The breakup of the Soviet Union coincided with a stretch of low oil prices.
For a large part of Putin’s reign oil prices have been in the USD 100-200 span, which has allowed him to strengthen the military while simultanously improving the lot of everyday Russians.
Now oil prices have been low for five years and counting, and keep going South.
With a little luck it could lead to regime change.
Generally speaking when Regime changes happen in Russia the new regime is no better, or worse, than the first.....Gorbachev maybe the exception in recent history. Or maybe I'm thinking of Yeltsin?
Yeltsin? A mixed bag. A true democrat, who pushed through important democratization reforms, allowed free press, independent TV, free elections, etc. But his alcoholism kkept getting worse, and his government became increasingly corrupt.
I think he had his heart in the right place, but lost his grip. He had always been a hard drinker, but from what I’ve heard, as he got older he needed more and more Mëds, and the Mëds and the booze didn’t mix well. Thus he started behaving like a lunatic.
After Yeltsin came Putin, and he has rolled back almost all democratization measures Yeltsin rolled out.
Today there is no freedom of press and all TV stations are either government controlled or owned by oligarchs loyal to Putin.
They still have elections, but they’re hardly free and fair. Any opposition leader that becomes even a shadow of a threat either suffers some terrible accident or ends up in jail on some phony charges. All to the old Beatles’ tune of Back to the USSR.
