Mr. Putin, Your Economy is Showing
Robert Skidelsky, Warwick University | October 31, 2008
Commodity prices are falling, Western credit has dried up, and Russia has failed to diversify its economy. ++ Russia’s dazzlingly successful economy turned out to be just make-believe. ++ Despite the professionalism of the finance ministry’s rescue plan, Putin does not see the need to make that consistent with his foreign policy. ++ He can no longer assume Russia’s energy power entitles him to world power. ++ Russia desperately needs to develop its human capital and scale down its geopolitical ambition “to its real weight.”
