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Dave Conant - MO's avatar

We're substantially agreed. I don't think there's much chance either because Putin is more power hungry than venal.

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R Mercer's avatar

Agreed. With Putin, however, I think there is a strong component of actually wanting Russia to be great again. Remember that this is a man who was a member of the KGB and was pretty privileged in the old system.

The venality/corruption is merely a basic part of the way things have tended to work there and he also saw it as a handle on some people and a resource to gain power with.

I think it has always been about getting the power with the goal of restoring the old system under a different name and restoring the image of Russia and its power/influence.

He looked like he had it dialed in for a while there, but it ended up being largely a facade. Had there been less corruption and an intelligent approach/attempt to diversify the Russian economy and build actual greatness rather than the facade, things might have actually been pretty good for him and Russia.

But the Russians did the kind of standard Russian thing and here we are.

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