Laugh till you cry wrote on Mar 9
th, 2022 at 12:59pm:
1. Russia has foisted millions of disgruntled refugees on Europe;
2. Russia has pushed Ukraine into permanent population decline;
3. Russia has destabilized Europe by the infusion of refugees;
4. Russia has demonstrated that European refugee policies are racist;
5. Russia has imposed huge costs on Europe to feed, house, and clothe refugees;
6. Russia has demonstrated that the USA, EU, and NATO will not protect other countries from Russia;
7. Russia has demonstrated that the EU and NATO are paper tigers;
8. Russia has demonstrated that possession of nuclear weapons makes a country virtually invulnerable to US attack; and
9. Russia has exposed the hypocrisy of the USA and its allies over the occupation of Palestine and Syria by Israel and the US occupation of part of Cuba.
And Russia has just lost most of its value.
Exports, gas, oil, rock bottom prices.
Imports: top dollar. The ruble just tanked, so what are the oligarchs going to buy, if they can get their hands on their cash?
You can't even buy McDonalds or Starbucks in Russia now. They've closed. Buy an airfare? Aeroflot's grounded. Where are you going to go?
Doesn't sound like much of a win to me. Putin can't even get his hands on all those foreign reserves he's been squirrelling away for a rainy day. Not even the Swiss will hand over Russian cash.
I'd say Putin and Russia has lost, but that's just me.