Russia: A Bleak Perspective
. . . Putin's Russia is not the Soviet Union. The Cold War really is over. We are not in a bipolar global order, rivalled by a tyrannical Soviet empire. Modern Russia is a fading country. Its first-rate weaponry, armed forces, and intelligence agencies scarcely obscure its third-rate economy, declining population, pervasive societal dysfunction (high levels of drunkenness, disease, and unemployment), and lowering life expectancy.
Behind the facade of democratic elections and constitutional restraints, Russia has less a principled system of government than a marriage or rulers, oligarchs, and organized crime. To endure, Vladimir Putin's regime must terrorize the Russian people. [Andrew C. McCarthy, Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency, (New York: Encounter Books, 2019), p.2.]
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