--- Eric Beck <rayrena at realtime.net> wrote:
> >How on Earth are Chavez, Chirac, and Putin "nasty
> >thugs"?
>
> Freezing of wages, meddling with unions, weakening
> social programs
> and job contracts, and brutal counterterrorist wars
> are good tips of
> the icebergs. You know, the same things Bush and
> Clinton get
> pilloried for.
>
I can only stare on with slack-jawed amazement. Before Putin, the Russian economy was in free fall; wages and pensions were not being paid for weeks, months, and sometimes years; the basis of the Chechen economy was the kidnap/slave trade industry; "international jihadists of an apocalyptic tendency" (to use Yoshie's phrase) were trying to bisect Russia across the Volga; the economy was controlled by a habdful of oligarchs bent on looting the state; the country was in hoc to foreign lenders; and the possibility was very real that the Yugoslav scenario would be played out across the Eurasian landmass, resulting in possibly millions of deaths.
The Russian economy is BOOMING. Far from Putin "cutting wages," Russia has had 10% growth in real wages EVERY YEAR for the PAST SIX YEARS. Over 50% of the population receives benefits. Despite just paying off its Paris Club debt 14 years earlier, Russia has a quarter of a trillion US$ in gold and forex reserves and a debt to GDP ratio of 9%. Kidnappings in Chechnya have dropped from 5000 in 1999 to 192 in 2005. Regions are trying to join Russia, not break away from it. And Putin has an approval rating between 70-80%.
Putin accomplished something incredible. There is no doubt in my mind that he will go down in history as one of the most successful leaders in Russian history. Despite the apparent disapproval of foreign commentators. Fortunately, Russians no longer give a fuck what foreign commentators think of them.
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