A presentation first published in December, 2006 by Dmitry Orlov, and well worth your time.
Sample:
Slide [5]
Continuing with our list of superpower similarities, many of the problems that sunk the Soviet Union are now endangering the United States as well:
- Such as a huge, well-equipped, very expensive military, with no clear mission, bogged down in fighting Muslim insurgents.
- Such as energy shortfalls linked to peaking oil production.
- Such as a persistently unfavorable trade balance, resulting in runaway foreign debt.
Add to that a delusional self-image, an inflexible ideology, and an unresponsive political system.
Review the whole presentation, and don't forget two more articles from Orlov on getting by in the post-collapse USSR.
Or not.
Even if you don't want to address reality, reality will find a way to address you.
Tempus fugit.
If you have a tin foil hat laying around, you might do some research into a few Russian turncoats who paint an interesting picture of the Russian economic cycle, and it's swaying back and forth, deliberately according to them. It makes sense, to some extent, but hasn't been researched enough to be reliable. Regardless, if their population is in decline, any such schemes would be useless without the manpower to make them happen.
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