Paul Masons blog is one of the best things out there on the shifts in the worlds political economy. Heres a great piece on oil, Putin and the rouble collapse: If there is one thing we have learned in our encounters with the Russian kleptocracy, it is that they are more interested in money than politics. But if politics gets in the way of money they become interested in politics. There are already signs tonight of splits within the Putin inner circle – but the bigger threat is this. Putin halted a mass protest movement in 2011-12 with a mixture of repression, money and ultimately foreign wars. The foreign wars are going disastrously – who now will fund the basket-case economy of Donetsk and the civilian bombing runs of Syria’s air force? The repression is going strong. But the money will disappear. As a result, every certainty about Russia has gone. I don’t usually subscribe to conspiracy theories about history - knowing how easily the cock-up mechanisms work in economics. But if the Saudis and the USA have in fact colluded to inflict economic pain on Putin (at the price of inflicting it on their own industries), then it’s been a master-stroke. Except for one thing. Vladimir Putin’s is an authoritarian rule that cannot bend. If it breaks, the collateral damage could be very messy.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 07:53:30 +0000
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