As our special report this week sets out, Russia confronts grave problems in its economy, politics and society. Its population is ageing and is expected to shrink by 10% by 2050. An attempt to use the windfall from the commodity boom to modernise the state and its economy fell flat. Instead Mr Putin has presided over a huge increase in government: between 2005 and 2015, the share of Russian GDP that comes from public spending and state-controlled firms rose from 35% to 70%. Having grown by 7% a year at the start of Mr Putin’s reign, the economy is now shrinking. Sanctions are partly to blame, but corruption and a fall in the price of oil matter more. The Kremlin decides who gets rich and stays that way. Vladimir Yevtushenkov, a Russian tycoon, was detained for three months in 2014. When he emerged, he had surrendered his oil company.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Kentucky? Never Thought I Would See This Day
The Kentucky poll is a good reminder that Trump’s slide isn’t only occurring in national polls. Donald Trump is in decline in solid Republican territory....... there are serious questions about whether Donald Trump will win deep red states like Arizona, Utah, Kentucky, and Texas. ..... What is unfolding is nothing less than the destruction of the far-right led Republican Party.
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