Quote:
Originally Posted by WCW Nitro
I don't get what the long-term plan is for Russia.Ok, you install a puppet government, then what? How long will that government be able to rule when it won't have the support of the majority of the country, the uprising is inevitable. People say Putin is this genius, but to me he was in a great situation before all this, trade deals with the world and personal wealth and an army that is strong enough that no country will invade it regardless of how close NATO gets.
|
In the past, it was all about territorial expansion. Russians would invade and then begin to spread their nation via exporting Russian culture and physically moving their citizens into an area.
The problem with that now is that with open access to information via the internet, cultural assimilation is not possible. If anything, by destroying Ukrainian culture, locals would then fill the void with western culture. Many nation states barely exist as it is anymore, and boundaries between nations are getting less and less important.
Russia also has a rapidly shrinking population. There are no large amounts of population for them to export. You can't move Russian citizens into Ukraine without further stretching thin the population of Russians in Russia. Russia is already at point where they need massive immigration inward to keep things going. However, they've also taken an ethnic based approach to defining themselves as Russian, and new immigrants are basically not welcomed into the culture. Even minorites who've been there 1000+ years aren't welcome.
Maybe Putin genuinely believes this will all lead to some kind of resurgence. After this, Russian citizens will adopt a more traditional Russian way of life, start having more children, stop learning English, etc..?
For the meantime this does keep the EU/NATO out of Ukraine. However, as the population of Russia/Ukraine shrinks, it all starts to crumble from within.