‘Anyone Who Thinks That The Sky Will Fall Without Him Is Basically A Megalomaniac’
“2014 was a turning point for Putin and Russia’s national fortune. The annexation of Crimea has put Putin’s government in a difficult position with no room to maneuver… [T]he annexation of Crimea suddenly made him an international pariah and warmonger, on par with Hitler and other war criminals of World War II. Before 2014, Russia also experienced the financial crisis of 2009, but without lasting setbacks, and entered the ranks of high-income countries for a time. However, after 2014 Russia plunged into a long-term recession, with no significant recovery so far. According to statistics, Russia’s GDP shrank by a total of 5% in 2015 and 2016, and the average growth rate in the following five years remained around 1% to 2%, much lower than the world average growth rate of 2.9%. Russia’s nominal GDP in U.S. dollars shrank from a peak of $2.29 trillion in 2013 to $1.48 trillion in 2020, reducing its share of the global economy from 2.96% to 1.77%, with a resulting drop in ranking from sixth to eleventh place. This prolonged, moribund slowdown resembles the stagnation at the end of the Soviet Union…
“Until 2014, Putin could be described as a shrewd, calm, and sharp-minded strategist. With his handling of domestic and foreign affairs, his assessment and judgment on situations almost never missed their targets. But why did he make so many bad moves and was so wrong and outrageous in the years afterward?
“It was his greed for power that ruined him. And he could not escape the ultimate fate of strongman politics. Although contemporary Russia still retained the shell of a democratic system, the actual democratic system that Russia managed to build at a very staggering social cost went backwards due to Putin’s various maneuverings that violated political ethics after he came to power. The check on power and term limits became but empty shells. Surely, due to his outstanding achievements in the early years of his administration, Putin’s public approval rating remained above 60%. This led him to be overconfident, believing that he was the only one who could revitalize Russia. But history has proven time and again that the world goes on without anyone. Anyone who thinks that the sky will fall without him is basically a megalomaniac…