[Unknown Member]

How’s that reset button working out?

[ruszja]

If I was John Boehner, I would be scared.

[odayjassim1978_476]

he was on that CNN show with the chief and he told that guy then he feared for his life

[btomba_77]

[url]http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-12-29/2015-the-year-of-the-putin-dictatorship[/url]

People saw this coming

[b]2015: The Year of the Putin Dictatorship[/b]

I hated what happened to Russia in 2014 so much that I decided to move away. It’s safe to say, however, that 2015 will be worse. President Vladimir Putin’s regime is on the verge of transitioning from mild authoritarianism to outright dictatorship. The country’s newly amended military doctrine is an especially ominous sign. Judging by it, the Kremlin’s response to the ongoing economic crisis will be to crack down on all signs of popular discontent. 

Putin wants Russia to feel like a besieged fortress, and, yielding to his whip and his entreaties, the country is pupating. 

That process usually ends with a butterfly breaking out of the cocoon. But that would take a bigger shock than any of Putin’s enemies, including the current Western leaders, are capable of delivering. Barring a miracle, 2015 will be the year the cocoon hardens — a gloomy home to those inside and an impenetrable, unpredictable object to the outside world.

[kaldridgewv2211]

I was listening to the POTUS channel, Tim Farley, on SXM.  They were saying this was like a hit out of a movie, black cars roll up, and this guy gets whacked.

[btomba_77]

I am very pessimistic about the future of Russia right now.
 
Yeah the West can keep on sanctions, but Putin is moving to consolidate power even further.   It’s sliding from autocracy to a dictatorship.
 
 
Sadly, I could envision Putin doing a full Robert Mugabe and running the Country into the ground using it as his personal cash machine and walled off castle for decades. 🙁

[btomba_77]

[link=https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-police-arrest-thousands-pro-alexei-navalny-protest/]Russian police arrest thousands in pro-Navalny protest[/link]
 
 
I’m not sure how far the anti-Putin demonstrations will go or how bloody it will be putting them down, but there might be some cracks showing in Putin’s control.
 

[btomba_77]

[link=https://twitter.com/biannagolodryga/status/1355871629327405060]https://twitter.com/biann…us/1355871629327405060[/link]
 
 
 
Big protests in St. Petersburg.