Honestly hilarious imo
"What a spiteful little bitch you are Putin." - Ritaredditonce +2900
"I'm starting to think this Putin guy might be a bit of a twat." - RudigherJones +413
😂
EDIT - Also I'd like to thank y'all for the amazing thread we've got going here. Real mix of comedy and quality discourse on the material situation
To say that he was always antagonistic to the west is so contrary to the evolution of Russia under Putin. He was effectively privatizing industries and liberalizing the economy, painted as the savior that would heal the relationships between Russia and the West on Time, and whatever prestige shit rag being published in the west at the time.
It's only after he discovered the West will always be xenophobic against Russia and see it as a hostile power that he changed his tune and nationalized some of the same industries he helped tear apart.
Putin mostly led nationalizing efforts after Yeltsin privatized everything. Please stop talking about Russian politics if you are just going off of vibes
I'm talking about the early 00's, not the 90s.
Let’s take a look at the timeline of Gazprom ownership as an example that is indicative of the bigger picture:
1943: Gas production was centralized under the Soviet state
1989: Established as the first state run corporate entity
1992: Privatized by Yeltsin. Sold off as shares to connected cronies. Given tax exemption loopholes and deregulated. Asset stripping started.
2000: Putin comes to power and re-nationalizes Gazprom. Fires the corrupt chairman crony running it and installed his own clique of loyal bureaucrats. Stops asset stripping and orders other companies to return what was stolen. Private entities were regulated and forbidden from exporting gas, only Gazprom and the state held the option. Protectionist tariffs were used and state subsidies to build up capacity
It’s not socialism, but calling Putin’s politics “oligarchy” and “neoliberal” is simply incorrect and conflates him with those forces within Russia that he is opposed to. It would be more accurate to label Putin a protectionist nationalist and anti-imperialist, most similar analogue I can think of would be Gaddafi or Lukashenko. There’s a reason why people preferred Libya under Gaddafi over the neoliberal market anarchy of today, and why Belarus has a better standard of living than the rest of Eastern Europe & why Russia reversed economic course under Putin and differed drastically from Yeltsin’s market anarchy.