I gave great thought to Putin and his interference in the 2016 US elections. Some claim that his help to Trump "tipped the scales" and made Trump president. In any event, Putin invested a lot of time and money in this project. He wanted a better deal with sanctions and he had a pathological hatred for Hillary Clinton. What did Putin get for his big investment? He got more sanctions. He got access to Western capital blocked and technology blocked. He got a bad image in the world. I have a dear friend who lives in Moscow. Before all the sanctions she had an incredible high-paying job in the Russian technology industry. After the sanctions, she struggles to survive in a mediocre job paying low wages. Many Russians will tell you the same story.
Russia used to be the hated and feared Soviet Union that wanted to take over the world. Russia still has a large land mass and 170,000,000 people. It is armed with very sophisticated nuclear weapons and other armaments. Yet if we look at Gross Domestic Product, its economy is about the size of Italy's. California and Brasil have richer economies. Russia's population is dropping. The country does not attract new immigrants like the US, Europe, Brasil and Chile do. Putin has not made Russia great again.
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