It is estimated that 200,000 people left the country in the first ten days of the conflict alone; millions more are likely to follow, whatever the outcome — partly to reject the regime, partly to escape the impending, sanctions-driven economic crisis which the country faces.
Meanwhile Russia is losing thousands of young men in the war in Ukraine. Many in their early twenties, they are unlikely to have had any children, which doesn’t bode well for Russia. Already ageing and shrinking, the nation simply cannot sustain the kind of campaign it has fought in the past. Its days of vastly superior manpower are over. A long, grinding war followed by a bloody occupation would cripple it.
Russia is Emptying Out
The collapse of foreign investment, high inflation and interest rates, severe economic recession with lingering drags on growth, a shrinking population, greater strain on health-care systems, a declining demand for its exports, worsening environmental crises . . . on a variety of fronts, the Russia of 2030 is likely to be weaker than the Russia of today, and the Russia of 2040 weaker still
A Long Demoralizing War Won’t Help
Over the next 15 years, Russia will lose almost 1 million people per year. Russia is quickly running out of people of working and military age which it needs to defend its long borders and maintain a viable working nation’s economy. Going to war is not the best way for Putin to get more men of military age.
Russia cannot sustain 5000-10000 killed and wounded each week.
NextBigFuture
In the story linked just above, Brian Wang talks about the large number of Russian troops killed and wounded in Ukraine. But there are also high numbers of desertions and captured troops. All of these losses must be replaced if Putin is to continue to try to achieve the goals of his invasion in Ukraine.
The Demographic Crisis Doesn’t Go Away Just Because You Start a War!
This steady depopulation is more than a nuisance; it is a strategic headache. Russia’s immense size was supported by the preparedness of its people to settle in some of the most inhospitable habitats in the world. As it reduces, it retreats back towards the big cities of the west and centre, and will leave vast regions uninhabited. “In Siberia it becomes harder and harder to find people to maintain big infrastructure. Things are starting to collapse. And that is making the place less and less liveable which reinforces the problem,” one expert told me. Thousands of villages have been abandoned, particularly in remote areas.
Russia is Emptying Out
Russians have no access to reliable news about Putin’s large scale invasion of the country of Ukraine. As the reality slowly diffuses through the Russian population, the scale of resistance to the war can only grow.
Most Russians… said that they were “scared” about the prospect of war with Ukraine. David-Fox notes the official state media hasn’t been able to show “any kind of mass support or jubilation.”
….If Russians understood the true nature of the war, the opposition would be far greater, says Robert Orttung, a professor at George Washington University who specializes in researching Russia and Ukraine.
“If Russians had access to reliable information about what’s actually happening on the ground, there would be strong opposition to this war, because they went through World War II,” he says.
A Slowly Dawning Realization of Betrayal
Economic conditions are steadily worsening for average Russian citizens, as prices skyrocket and staple products increasingly disappear off the shelves. Jobs are disappearing as foreign stores and factories close up and move away.
Putin wanted to grow Russia’s population by making Ukraine and Belarus loyal parts of Russia, but obliterating Ukraine’s cities seems an odd way of creating loyalty and friendship. Putin will be lucky to hold Russia together in its current form. The population, however, is beyond saving.
And as Russia’s population crashes, the ability to defend Russia’s borders will crash along with it.
Putin is the Nazi Here
Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine with the claims that ethnic Russians needed defending, and the country needed to be “de-Nazified.”
Russia has provided no evidence of its outlandish claims that Ukraine engages in ‘genocide’ against Russian-speakers in Ukraine.
Indeed, it is Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine that has suffered the most under the Russian onslaught, and Putin himself basically now a fascist.
Putin is the Biggest Nazi Around
Defending Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is basically a game for people with limited thinking skills. Blame that on the school systems and dumbed-down media. Clearly Putin gave phony excuses for his invasion, keeping his real reasons close to his vest. Regardless, a massive catastrophe is underway. Putin and his inner circle need to be taken out of the picture so that the ongoing human tragedy can begin to be reduced and reversed.
Punks in Bunks in Bunkers in Urals
PARANOID Vladimir Putin and his inner circle are reportedly living in top-secret nuclear bunkers as the bloody war unfolds in Ukraine.
The use of the high-security bunkers is alarming as it suggests Putin may be preparing to deploy nuclear weapons, a move that would lead to inevitable reprisal.
His Mind is Going, Dave
Russian Soldiers Defecting to Ukrainian Army
Kharkiv Once Loved Russia… Now Hates With a Passion
For the Russian soldiers, there are times when it must feel like they are being broken by warriors from the future, ghost spirits that can take them out while they hide in the thickest of forests. They are fighting time itself.
New Lines
Putin sends untrained boy soldiers into combat with ancient rifles that don’t fire
With its weakness exposed, Russia faces new enemies
Europe loses its fear of Russia
Putin calls up the cannon fodder
What will be left of Russia when Putin emerges from the doomsday bunker?
India’s Balancing Act … Putin will sell out India to China in a heartbeat.
al fin next level 