By now, the Russian economy was supposed to be in a depression and Vladimir Putin was supposed to be out of office. That was the Biden strategy, but it hasn’t worked out. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:
After a smaller than expected GDP loss in 2022 of -2.1%, Russia has slipped through the NATO sanctions net and is projected by the IMF to see growth of 0.3% in 2023. Western media proponents, shocked by this development, are wondering how this could be? (Report starts at 15:43)
Only months ago, political leaders and mainstream economists were expecting the complete fiscal destruction of Russia, leaving the nation in economic ruins and ending any chance of a continued military presence in Ukraine. Joe Biden pledged to “crater” Russia’s economy, stating that Vladimir Putin “had no idea what was coming.” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire predicted Russian collapse after the first wave of Western sanctions. Politico lauded the “benefits” of the coming disintegration of the Russian Federation. The propaganda has obscured certain economic realities that should have been obvious.
The development of Russian economic resilience is not a surprise to those in the alternative media, who pointed out a year ago that Russia’s primary trading partners including China, India and Brazil make up a third of the world’s population and around 24% of global GDP. They are also production based countries which manufacture a large portion of the world’s goods. Russia is rich in raw commodities and resources including oil and natural gas, allowing for profitable trading opportunities for nations willing to ignore western sanctions.
Far from severing trade relations between the BRICS nations, US and NATO efforts to wage economic warfare over the Ukraine conflict have instead brought the countries closer together. The BRICS are now engaged in bilateral trade which cuts out the US dollar as the world reserve currency and China is pursuing stronger military ties to Russia on top of its increased purchases of Russian commodities.
STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC 