Posted on by ColinTwiggs

Russia’s shrinking influence

Lorena O’Neil suggests that the number of Russian language speakers will halve from 300 million in 1990 to 150 million by 2025.

….countries that were traditionally bound to Russia by language, culture, energy and ethnicity are starting to gain independence, and relationships with other countries like China are increasing……..[Paul] Goble suggests that Putin will continue to engage in bombast with his neighbors because he’s playing an extremely weak hand that is getting weaker. “In a sense, the thuggishness that Putin is using (on) his neighbors is a product of the weakening of Russia’s cultural influence.”

Read more at Forgetting How to Speak Russian | Fast forward | OZY.

5 Replies to “Russia’s shrinking influence”

  1. The thing is…. if the US hadn’t used snipers to kill police and protesters to undermine the hours old deal between the Ukraine President, the opposition and the EU – Crimea would still be a part of Ukraine. That was the turning point. It was brutal, criminal and the final straw for Russia. It was a coup and they installed a particularly nasty mob in Ukraine.

  2. What does the decline of the Russian language have to do with the character of Putin? It is detestable to use a demographic trend to advance one’s Putinphobia. If Putin is a thug, what does that make of war criminals like Bush, Blair, Obama and sundry European satraps of the Empire who should have been hauled up long ago before a Nuremberg II? On which country has Putin unleashed death tolls in the hundreds of thousands? If anything, Putin has emerged as the only statesman of our times. The rest of the world leaders have proven incapable of rising above populist demagoguery. When they are not spreading neocolonialism and committing serial war crimes, that is. Putin has stood up to the rampage of Gangsters United under the NATO flag around the world. He may lack their hollow socialite polish but in drawing a line against them in Ukraine, he is only protecting the vast natural resources of Russia which is the prize they are after. Anyone arguing to the contrary is out to deceive.

    Many European languages are on the decline as a function of population decline, e.g., Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Belgium. As is Japanese in Asia for the same reason. All these European countries are members of the EU, which is on a relentless expansion eastward. Japan under Abe is in saber-rattling mode against China. If Putin is a thug, what does make of leaders of these countries?

  3. Putin will cost the Russian economy more that 10 times the amount it cost to build and put on the winter Olympics. I consider Russia bankrupt at this time and they will be asking for help in the next year. Short the Russian index.

  4. You know don’t you Michael, that a lot of that money was private enterprise money?

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