@eva_chaos @kimwulff
for the entire first and second year i thought, ok putin now has to realised he fucked up, he will back off, and instead he has doubled down again and again

he expected sanctions, and had the national wealth fund to keep funding pensions for some years, currently that money is going to military contracts, they have been nationalizing shit left and right, they raised taxes significantly, and they are selling state bonds at rates that any western nation would never consider

also noteworthy, any international bank can take a loan in yuan, from a chinese bank (it's called shibor), at a rate of ~1,5%, that rate for russia was 31% (rusfar cny) at some point in july

now that they have a surplus of women, i actually do expect that, via methods of force, he would really set up countless brothels along the border with china to keep making money