Let's talk about Russia & Putin

Okay so I have(for some reason) ignored everything going on with Russia/Ukraine/Putin/Obama/EU/Cameron etc but it has all been in the back of my mind all along. I'm trying to educate myself on what's been going on with this whole situation that seems to be very complex now that I have quite some time to do so. If anyone has an article that breaks down this whole thing or most of it, I would greatly appreciate it. Doesn't matter how long the article is or how many articles(I've searched but I haven't found one that puts me up to speed, I'm completely lost).

Also, what is YOUR personal take on this? What are your views? Where do you think the root of the problem(s) lie(s)? Who's right and who's wrong in your opinion? I realise there are in fact quite a number of people that seem to be in support of Putin though I'm not entirely sure if its satirical.

Didn't find a thread in here, so I decided to make one. Can we discuss?

Russia wants to expand its territory, EU and US feel threatened by it. People need something to fight over.

If I remember correctly, Ukraine was either going to form stronger ties with Russia or join the EU, but the government wanted to form stronger ties with Russia. The citizens protested, prime minister of Ukraine fled, Russia was worried because they'd install a PM who was less Russia-friendly, and Crimea had important ports for the Russian navy (they were normally just leased to Russia), so they went and annexed it (◡‿◡✿).

Bump.

The Rouble has been in free fall today, in spite the Russian Central Bank's massive interest rate hike from 10 to 17 percent last night. The bank has spent some $70bn this year to support the rouble, but it has still lost some 50% of its value. The rapidly fallen oil price and consequences of the crisis in Ukraine the main reasons.

Russia's economy could be heading for a really bad recession, even the possibility of a default has been discussed, but considered unlikely still.

It's looking like the Cold War again. Russia's defiance against EU & US continues to this day. The annexation of Crimea beginning to look all too similar to Russia's Soviet days. Ukraine seems to be split and I have a feeling sooner or later the whole country might be annexed, entirely, by Russia.

Well, that's kind of a worry of mine, that this all will lead to a more and more aggressive Russia (and I live in Finland...).

Russia and Putin don't have a tendency to back off, they play hard. And Russia don't really have any other means of playing hard when cornered than military aggression. The West can impose sanctions on Russia and have a real effect on their economy through that. Russia, in turn, have banned some imports from the U.S. and the EU, but that only hurts locally here and there, not the whole economy like is happening in Russia. I guess they still have that "weapon" of limiting their export of energy (gas, oil and electricity) to Europe, but that hurts themselves, too.

Hopefully Russia will manage to re-establish investors' faith in the country's economy and avert a financial crisis, but if their economy nose dives and Russia blames West for it - like they do - their answer could be militarily aggressive since they don't really have the means to be otherwise aggressive and soft they don't want to be.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/16/falling-rouble-all-you-need-to-know

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/16/russia-economy-west-vladimir-putin

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/16/russia-has-lost-economic-war-with-west-rouble-currency

Would recommend these three articles, especially the second one. All pretty quick reads and explain the situation decently.

I found this particular quote from the second article to be significant:

We can, of course, stick to our guns and insist that “sanctions are having an effect”. But what will we gain if the only effect is to destroy the Russian economy? Perhaps the hope is to destabilise the country so much that Putin is overthrown. (I detect much schadenfreude among observers, who desperately hope a collapse of the Russian economy will bring about Putin’s fall.) If so, it is a highly dangerous game of chance. Pouring fuel on Kremlin clan wars that we barely understand would be the height of folly. We have no idea what the outcome might be – and it could be much worse than what we have at present.

The big issue with Russia is that Putin, while well loved in Russia, depends a lot on the economy doing well as it has done over the years (which is, as said, entirely dependent on oil and gas). With this new crisis, Putin's stock is decreasing and Russia are taking a hit too (internationally and domestically). How Putin reacts is...opening a can of worms that could be a dangerous game.

Putin's stock should decrease if Russia's economy struggles badly, but the problem there is that the state, effectively Putin, controls majority of the press and media. There are cringe-worthy levels of propaganda even in good times; in bad times the state-led propaganda will become ridiculous. Finally, you could question whether Russia has enough democracy anyway to overthrow Putin as long as he enjoys the support of the important few who have the power to fix election results.

May more sanctions for Russia is a the best solution? What are you thinking EU?

Putin seeks to ease fears over Russian economic crisis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30527984

A leading Russian opposition politician shot dead in the streets in Moscow hours after criticizing Putin

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31669061

Night of the long knives

Still behind in the times, unfortunately.

In more ways than one, obviously.

Putin is like a kid failing at the game of civilization now. Nobody in Crimea has power, and there are no signs they are coming back on.

This is what liberation by a failed state looks like. A bunch of people sitting around in the dark like they did 100 years ago.

This Arkady Babchenko operation...

Incredible scenes. Never been so happy in my life when i found out it was staged.

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/a0bn37/russia_fires_on_and_seizes_ukraine_ships/

Tension escalates after Russia seizes three Ukraine naval ships off the Crimean Peninsula

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46338671