Stephan: Putin is setting up Russia for disaster. First, Russia's economy depends on the sale of gas and oil. His war on Ukraine is pushing governments around the world to speed up the transition out of the carbon era. At the same time the young, the bright, the well-educated can't get out of the country fast enough, as this report describes. Combine this with the complete suppression of fact-based news, and the imposition of a self-imposed new iron curtain and it leaves Russia a pariah state with a failing economy. This just as climate change is becoming a major factor influencing the future.
What this should tell everyone is that fascism is a failed system of governance, always inferior to democracy. Whether it is Trump and the MAGAt world he created, or Putin and what he is doing to Russia, fascism never ends well for ordinary people, or for the fascist leaders.
The Lumen cafe in Yerevan, Armenia, has become one of the hangouts for young Russian professionals who left their country after Russia invaded Ukraine. Credit: Daro Sulakauri/The New York Times
YEREVAN, ARMENIA — At the Lumen cafe in the Armenian capital, Russians arrive as soon as the doors open, ordering specialty coffees, opening up their sleek Apple laptops and trying to navigate a dwindling array of options for starting their lives over.
The background music and the sunlit interior are calming counterpoints to the frantic departures from their country, where they left behind parents, pets and the sense of home that all but vanished when Russia invaded Ukraine last month.
“This war was something I thought could never happen,” said Polina Loseva, 29, a web designer from Moscow working with a private Russian I.T. company that she did not want to name. “When it started, I felt that now, everything is possible. Already they are putting people in jail for some harmless words on Facebook. It was safer to leave.”
What an opportunity for the selected counties to welcome and keep these professionals to boost their economies. But only if the countries are smart and work to lure this group to settle down.
Rev. Dean
on Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at 2:07 am
And now we’re burning or banning books in this country, just like what Hitler did when he was trying to get to be “Supreme Leader”.
What an opportunity for the selected counties to welcome and keep these professionals to boost their economies. But only if the countries are smart and work to lure this group to settle down.
And now we’re burning or banning books in this country, just like what Hitler did when he was trying to get to be “Supreme Leader”.