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[TheRealTalker]

Russia's deputy finance minister says Russia's Reserve Fund to be exhausted in 2017. It stood at 142billion in Sept 2008.

https://twitter.com/BBCSteveR/status/774245316988137472

One of Russia’s two sovereign wealth funds had its biggest drop of the year in August, underlining the urgency of bringing the deficit under control as the budget gap remains on track for the widest since 2010.

The Reserve Fund, which peaked at $142.6 billion in 2008, fell to $32.2 billion last month, a decrease of 16 percent from July, as the government converted foreign currency into rubles to cover the deficit, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. The government’s other stockpile, the National Wellbeing fund, was at $72.7 billion, compared with $72.2 billion a month earlier.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-has-this-year-s-biggest-drop-as-buffers-wilt

The funds are “the symbol of stability,” said Vladimir Miklashevsky, senior strategist at Danske Bank A/S in Helsinki. “Yes, they’ll be drawn down, but not to the bottom of the barrel. The deficit will be financed through other sources, or by weakening the ruble in an extreme case.”

Oil producers from Norway to Saudi Arabia are adjusting to the collapse in crude prices by tapping rainy-day funds accumulated during the boom years as they seek to bolster their budgets. Russia, the world’s largest energy exporter, has amassed its reserves by funneling windfall revenue from oil and gas sales -- beginning in 2004 -- into what was then known as the Stabilization Fund. The holdings were later split in two.

The withering buffers are a challenge for President Vladimir Putin, who put on a brave face last week by saying in an interview that Russia has enough cash in the government’s reserves to finance its expenses without recourse to foreign capital markets. Russia sold its first Eurobond since 2013 in May.

Under the Finance Ministry’s proposals for drafting a 2017-2019 budget program, the government will fully deplete its Reserve Fund next year, while another 783 billion rubles ($12.1 billion) will be taken from the National Wellbeing Fund, originally created to cover long-term outlays for social spending such as supporting the pension system.

Budget Woes

As Russia muddles through its longest recession in two decades, it racked up a budget deficit of 3.3 percent of economic output as of end-July. The Finance Ministry said 390 billion rubles from the Reserve Fund were used in August to cover the deficit. That’s on top of the 780 billion rubles taken in April-May. The government plans to spend 2.1 trillion rubles from its Reserve Fund this year.
Russia is preparing its budget for the next three years after the Finance Ministry proposed the fiscal gap at 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2017, from about 3 percent this year. It then plans to reduce it by one percentage point each year to balance the budget by 2020.

Putin's approval rating was dipping due to the decline of the Russian economy way back before he began his armed interventions abroad. That distracted the public and stabilized Putin's approval as long as there were 'wins' in his future wars and conflicts.That can only go so far as the more he pushed himself into a forced military situation the more harder it was for him to have further successful progress. (See Syria and Crimea)

A dragged out conflict is wasteful and also not good for image shaping.

Seeing as the Russian economy is waning more quickly then expected and that Putin can only go so far to distract the Russian people, 2017 may prove to be truly interesting for him if his gambles he took around the world fails. (Gambles for oil, US politics, Syria, Ukraine, etc...)

 

[sphagnum]

Legislative elections are in a week or so right? Wonder how this will affect the polls. United Russia would probably take a big dip if Putin hadn't shored up support with his adventurism.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

Better leader than Obama tho...

 

[Piecake]

Legislative elections are in a week or so right? Wonder how this will affect the polls. United Russia would probably take a big dip if Putin hadn't shored up support with his adventurism.

Is it possible for Putin's party to actually lose their congress?

 

[LucidMomentum]

WikiLeaks isn't cheap, fam.

 

[Escape Goat]

Donald Trump will float them a loan.

 

[Slayven]

Shit is about to get wacky, by wacky i mean they might try to annex poland

 

[Nomadic Sparks]

WikiLeaks isn't cheap, fam.

Well that's true

 

[Jackpot]

Legislative elections are in a week or so right? Wonder how this will affect the polls. United Russia would probably take a big dip if Putin hadn't shored up support with his adventurism.

ha.

Literally the last polling agency that reported a decrease in support for Putin's party got shut down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37278649

Russia's Levada Centre polling group named foreign agent

Russia's leading independent polling agency has been labelled a "foreign agent" by the justice ministry and says it cannot now work.

The Levada Centre surveys political opinion among Russian people.

Its director, Lev Gudkov, said the move, which comes two weeks before parliamentary elections, amounted to "political censorship".

Laws require all NGOs receiving any overseas funding to register as foreign agents and so face restrictions.

The Levada Centre cannot now conduct any work linked to the election campaign.

Mr Gudkov told Agence France-Presse news agency: "The consequences of such a decision for us are devastating - with such a label, we won't be able to work.

"This practically means the imposition of political censorship and the impossibility of independent polls. It's the typical behaviour of this repressive regime."

The other main pollsters are state-controlled.

 

[Spoiled Milk]

I thank God for this bounty of fracking.

Legislative elections are in a week or so right? Wonder how this will affect the polls. United Russia would probably take a big dip if Putin hadn't shored up support with his adventurism.

Daddy Putin does not risk anything with elections.

Oh no! The opposition has suddenly died! How tragic.

 

[andythinkpad]

Putin is going to shake down China for some front money for some joined development energy projects.

 

[Poohblaster]

Thanks goodness the US doesn't have to resort to outside financing to fund it's government.

 

[TheRealTalker]

Legislative elections are in a week or so right? Wonder how this will affect the polls. United Russia would probably take a big dip if Putin hadn't shored up support with his adventurism.

yeah Parliamentary this month

I believe Presidential in 2018

2017 is going to be the most interesting since I truly believe this month's elections will have a positive effect for Putin seeing as people are high on Russian dominance right now before the illusion shatters in 2017... That and the fact that true opposition are shutdown and what not...
What likely might happen is Putin's approval plummets is not seeing it in the polls but on the streets.


I linked this video in the OP via the blue writing under the article but I'll actually post this video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT4sK36cU3Y

it brings up serious points on how singular Russia is with Putin

 

[sphagnum]

Is it possible for Putin's party to actually lose their congress?

Probably not but their majority can be eaten into. The communists made sizeable gains last time.

 

[El Topo]

Shit is about to get wacky, by wacky i mean they might try to annex poland

...what? No.

 

[Spoiled Milk]

Thanks goodness the US doesn't have to resort to outside financing to fund it's government.

Thank goodness the US has the kind of growth that makes foreign finance a reasonable option, and Russia emphatically does not.

 

[Funky Papa]

Shit is about to get wacky, by wacky i mean they might try to annex poland

Poland has an actual, functional army in the process of being modernised.

Oh, and it's both an EU and a NATO member. One that neighbours Germany.

I'd be more scared of a resource starved Russia than from a cash strapped one. Waging war is really expensive.

 

[Piecake]

Probably not but their majority can be eaten into. The communists made sizeable gains last time.

Are those actual communists or some hybrid Putin/Stalinists?

 

[sphagnum]

Poland has an actual, functional army in the process of being modernised.

Oh, and it's both an EU and a NATO member. One that neighbours Germany.

I'd be more scared of a resource starved Russia than from a cash strapped one. Waging war is really expensive.

You forgot that God Emperor Trump is going to crush NATO, personally.

 

[Funky Papa]

Are those actual communists or some hybrid Putin/Stalinists?

Ultranationalist communists.

Make of that what you will.

 

[Earthstrike]

Thanks goodness the US doesn't have to resort to outside financing to fund it's government.

U.S. Economy grows faster than the interest rates of bonds. The U.S. selling its debt is the correct financial choice.

 

[friday]

Ultranationalist communists.

Make of that what you will.

Hitler and Lenin are both turning in their graves.

 

[sphagnum]

Are those actual communists or some hybrid Putin/Stalinists?

From what I can tell, it's messy. They've been quite critical of Putin due to his ties to the oligarchs but they've praised his recent anti-NATO policy, though they say that's because he moved closer to them than vice versa. Other socialists in Russia have claimed that the CPRF is a stooge party that Putin keeps around to show that he has critics, because they got away mostly unscathed while other avtivists got locked up in the protests a few years ago, but the CPRF itself accuses those socialists who set up opposing socialist parties of being government plants trying to subvert communist opposition.

They still adhere to the revolutionary theories of the Leninists and talk about how Rusian democracy is a bourgeois construct but their actual platform sounds mostly social democratic if you look at their site - taxing the rich according to progressive taxation for example. They dont officially adhere to Stalinism but they did use him in an ad campaign smoking an e-cig (ha) to try to make communism apealing to younger voters, and they do have a bunch of young cadres. And they talk an awful lot about the "patriotic forces" defeating United Russia at the polls and how they need to stop "globalism", which we usually hear more from the right, but I think they mean it in the sense of neoliberalism. Considering how conservative Russia is culturally, I would think that's probably part of it though. Can't imagine there's much love for gays.

If I had to take a stab at it, I'd say they are mostly Russian nationalist social democrats who idealize the USSR but don't necessarily have a plan for going full command economy, so sometimes they align with Putin and sometimes they dont. I think they probably want to model themselves more after China's economic system than anything though.

 

[Funky Papa]

Hitler and Lenin are both turning in their graves.

It's a Russian tradition. I mean, the Soviet Union itself was basically a roided up version of the Russian Empire. Cuba has always been much closer to the international aims of communism than the Soviet Union ever was. Nobody in Moscow gave a shit about spreading the revolution, but creating new vassal states out of nationalism (see the russification of Chechnya, Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics) or to counter America/NATO's expansion.

 

[sphagnum]

It's a Russian tradition. I mean, the Soviet Union itself was basically a roided up version of the Russian Empire. Cuba has always been much closer to the international aims of communism than the Soviet Union ever was. Nobody in Moscow gave a shit about spreading the revolution, but creating new vassal states out of nationalism (see the russification of Chechnya, Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics) or to counter America/NATO's expansion.

That developed with Stalin though. The Leninists, especially Trotsky, were all about the world revolution.

 

[Funky Papa]

That developed with Stalin though. The Leninists, especially Trotsky, were all about the world revolution.

Trotsky's death (and his ideals) was an inevitability. Although Stalin killed him along the revolution, he didn't came out of thin air. Russian nationalism has always been too huge to be set aside by genuine international solidarity.

 

[sphagnum]

Trotsky's death (and his ideals) was an inevitability. Although Stalin killed him along the revolution, he didn't came out of thin air. Russian nationalism has always been too huge to be set aside by genuine international solidarity.

I'm sure there would've always been tensions, but I would imagine if the German Revolution had succeeded and the two had linked up like they planned, things would've gone quite differently since it wouldn't have been a primarily Russian project at that point. I take Stalin at his word that the inward turn that happened with Socialism in One Country was because of the need to preserve the state since they were in no position to carry out world revolution after the civil war. He was always an ardent supporter of world revolution before the civil war anyway.

 

[friday]

Russian seems like they have had a long history being invaded, does that tend to play into them liking hawkish leadership?

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

Russian seems like they have had a long history being invaded, does that tend to play into them liking hawkish leadership?

who invaded them, besides the Nazi?(one of the dumbest decision ever btw)

 

[Piecake]

I'm sure there would've always been tensions, but I would imagine if the German Revolution had succeeded and the two had linked up like they planned, things would've gone quite differently since it wouldn't have been a primarily Russian project at that point. I take Stalin at his word that the inward turn that happened with Socialism in One Country was because of the need to preserve the state since they were in no position to carry out world revolution after the civil war. He was always an ardent supporter of world revolution before the civil war anyway.

I have a hard time believing that someone who essentially purged all the original revolutionaries and put in a bunch of bootlickers in order to consolidate all power in the hands of himself would be cool with sharing power and leadership on the world stage.

 

[Slayven]

...what? No.

Poland has an actual, functional army in the process of being modernised.

Oh, and it's both an EU and a NATO member. One that neighbours Germany.

I'd be more scared of a resource starved Russia than from a cash strapped one. Waging war is really expensive.

I played half a game of Risk, I know what I am talking about

 

[sphagnum]

who invaded them, besides the Nazi?(one of the dumbest decision ever btw)

Napoleon, the Mongols, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth...

 

[sphagnum]

I have a hard time believing that someone who essentially purged all the original revolutionaries and put in a bunch of bootlickers in order to consolidate all power in the hands of himself would be cool with sharing power and leadership on the world stage.

I'm talking specifically about Russification. Also, it's hard to assume that Stalin would automatically have been the next leader had everything worked out the way it was intended.

 

[Cake Boss]

who invaded them, besides the Nazi?(one of the dumbest decision ever btw)

Napoleon?

 

[Drazgul]

 

[sphagnum]

I, for one, remember the totally ferocious, detente hating, totally not stagnating USSR of the 1970s.

 

[TheRealTalker]

I just want to know what would be left of Russia if you take out Putin (out of the equations)

there are some oligarchs but can anyone fill in his shoes

 

[smurfx]

just in time for president trump to look the other way while russia annexes a bunch of countries.

 

[Lagamorph]

Is it possible for Putin's party to actually lose their congress?

How can he lose with a campaign slogan like "Vote for me or else"

 

[Laevateinn]

Legislative elections are in a week or so right? Wonder how this will affect the polls. United Russia would probably take a big dip if Putin hadn't shored up support with his adventurism.

This is bad. I bet in some regions, United Russia will only receive 130 % of the vote.

 

[andythinkpad]

I just want to know what would be left of Russia if you take out Putin (out of the equations)

there are some oligarchs but can anyone fill in his shoes

A lot of nuclear weapons.

 

[Ogodei]

I'm sure there would've always been tensions, but I would imagine if the German Revolution had succeeded and the two had linked up like they planned, things would've gone quite differently since it wouldn't have been a primarily Russian project at that point. I take Stalin at his word that the inward turn that happened with Socialism in One Country was because of the need to preserve the state since they were in no position to carry out world revolution after the civil war. He was always an ardent supporter of world revolution before the civil war anyway.

Stalin was a ruthless pragmatist above all. I'd be curious to know if he honestly believed in Bolshevism or if he just followed the ideals because he saw it as a way forward for a poor Georgian boy, because the guy was a consummate flip-flopper on all of the pressing issues before the point where he had consolidated power beyond all doubt.

 

[sphagnum]

Stalin was a ruthless pragmatist above all. I'd be curious to know if he honestly believed in Bolshevism or if he just followed the ideals because he saw it as a way forward for a poor Georgian boy, because the guy was a consummate flip-flopper on all of the pressing issues before the point where he had consolidated power beyond all doubt.

Kind of a bizarre thing to join if his goal was simply to get ahead in life since the Bolsheviks never had the support of the majority of the country and they were originally so far on the margins that they had to rob banks to fund themselves.

I don't really see a reason to doubt that he was sincere just because he was hypocritical. Politicians always find themselves having to subvert their own beliefs to accomodate the situation they're in. Villains typically see themselves as the hero, and he just did what he thought he had to do to win and turned out to be a brutal monster.

 

[TheRealTalker]

A lot of nuclear weapons.

there was some 2050 book I read by some annalist a while back and surprisingly they had Russia being segmented into multiple states

mostly based on ethnic lines

financially I know Chechnya wants Moscow's funding to quell independence movements by doing project funding

also Chechnya's "leader" is a Putin puppet so if Putin ever did leave that would be bad news for him

 

[Jenov]

Thanks goodness the US doesn't have to resort to outside financing to fund it's government.

I bet you thought this was clever, lol

 

[Piecake]

How can he lose with a campaign slogan like "Vote for me or else"

That's what I was wondering. Is Putin's Party allowed to lose?

 

[Pancake Mix]

^No, Russia is not a real democracy. In 1991 though, sure.

Stalin was a ruthless pragmatist above all. I'd be curious to know if he honestly believed in Bolshevism or if he just followed the ideals because he saw it as a way forward for a poor Georgian boy, because the guy was a consummate flip-flopper on all of the pressing issues before the point where he had consolidated power beyond all doubt.

Yup, Stalin was absolutely ruthless and changed opinions on the fly. About the only time he was ever remotely soft or balanced was by going relatively soft (for him) on Finland after the Winter War, and if it was honest, the Stalin Note.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin_Note

Probably wasn't honest, though.

 

[2MF]

This is what happens in a one trick pony economy. They rely too much on fossil fuels.

 

[andythinkpad]

there was some 2050 book I read by some annalist a while back and surprisingly they had Russia being segmented into multiple states

mostly based on ethnic lines

financially I know Chechnya wants Moscow's funding to quell independence movements by doing project funding

also Chechnya's "leader" is a Putin puppet so if Putin ever did leave that would be bad news for him

Chechnya is a tiny place. Russia should worry about Ukraine and Kazahkstan post Putin, not Chechnya

 

[Learn2read]

Napoleon, the Mongols, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth...

the Swedes