Imagine a scenario where you or I had a chance to speak candidly and in private with President Putin. What questions would you or I ask the man? Can’t speak for others, but here are the most pressing questions burning a hole in my head given the current situation. Perhaps one of the 5D Putinanon prophets of the English blogosphere would like to step in and take a crack at them as well.
Question 1: President Putin, we know that things haven’t gone completely according to plan in Ukraine. The information on and the preparations carried out in Ukraine proved to be extremely flawed. Furthermore, Russian assets were seized abroad because they were not pulled back in time. Import substitution appears to exist only on paper and supplies are running thin. There were people with names and addresses in your government who were put in charge of these things.
Why have you not fired or punished anyone for these mistakes? Are you incapable of doing so? Or are you unaware that these things have happened?
Question 2: Vlad, my man, you and your government say that you are at war with NATO in Ukraine. We know that NATO certainly is providing arms, training, intel and even special forces and mercenaries to the Ukrainian side. We believe you when you say that you are at war with NATO. But, if this is indeed the case, why then is Russia fighting so leisurely and in such a limited capacity, bruv.
Why is Russia so reluctant to respond to the enemy’s escalation? Is there some hidden threat that we don’t know about? Have Russia’s nukes been quietly sold off too?
Question 3: V-V-P-dog, why is it that we hear such different things coming from you and other members of your government? Who are we to believe? You say that we should only listen to you. This only raises more questions like why you keep people around that don’t agree with your vision, that muddy the waters and confuse the Russian people.
*hushed voice* Blink once for “yes” and twice for “no” for this next one …
Are you being held hostage? Do you need us to get you out of there? Are you a just a powerless puppet being set up to take a fall?
Perhaps we ought to mount a rescue operation to get our man out of there.
I used to comment for years that Russia's most deadly enemy was the Russian Central Bank. Some Russians loved to brag about their budget surplus and how they were so much smarter than the West, and I would tell them they were idiots. A surplus simply means you are draining money from the economy. Russia's problem for a very long time, is that there is not enough money. That is under the complete control of the government for a State that issues a fiat currency.
When Nabiullina raised interest rates to 20% at the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, the Duran guys were going on and on about how brilliant this was. I sent them a comment that she was either an idiot or a traitor.
The guy who has the right ideas about monetary / financial policy in Russia is Glazyev. He seemed to be gaining power recently, but I'm not so sure.
One thing about a war is that budget constraints on military go out the window. Putin pretty much said as much. That actually helps the general economy. Puts more money into the economy. What pulled the US out of the Great Depression, was massive spending on armaments after the declaration of war in 1941.
You need to understand 5d chess to ask the correct questions.
Hit your head on the wall until you're a bit dizzy.
Then Putin will make a lot of sense..
It worked for Tom Luongo and other multipolar 5d chess players.