$26B is the total budget of one of many Putin's national projects - "New Health Preservation Technologies"[0] which intends to raise the life expectancy of Russian citizens and support Russian biotech research and local production of medicines.
Implying it is Putin's personal multi-billion quest for longevity is just disgusting.
Why are you trying to spread such crude propaganda?
"Russia remains marked by some of the developed world’s harshest mortality rates. Average male life expectancy in Russia today is about 68 years, according to official statistics, compared with roughly 76 in the U.S. and over 80 across much of Western Europe.
Death, unlike elections, remains difficult to manage even for the Kremlin."
Now look at the World Bank data [0]: Russian male life expectancy has risen during Putin time from 59 to 68 years.
Why would free, independent and objective Western media fail to mention that?
Male life expectancy used to be 65 in the USSR but dropped to 58 during "democratic" 90s when Russia was ruled by sick and drunk Eltsin beloved by the West.
>If you go through life believing that your value depends on your practical utility
My value definitely depends on my practical utility. Everyone is capable of joy and suffering. A chicken is capable of joy and suffering.
Tell me this: in a hypothetical situation where you are going to end up on an uninhabited island and you can choose one person to go with you, who would you peek? An elderly disabled one or a person that has necessary skills to survive? Maybe utility matters?
The issue at hand is that the US "mid-wifed" a nationalistic coup in the Ukraine in 2014.
The first thing the Ukrainian parliament did after the coup was passing the bill that repelled the law protecting the Russian language in the Ukraine. [1]
There are over 190 countries around the world provoking Russia by having their own nationality and not giving special privilege to Russia. I guess it'll just have to go killing and invading those people too as they are obviously nazis and a threat to Russia's security interests.
Ukrainian nationalism has spanned generations. The U.S. certainly helped, but it was not a contrived psychological operation to convince a majority of Ukrainians to revolt against their Russian dominated government.
When a nationalist movement has garnered support centuries ago from the Ottomans, Nazis, etc. it's a hard sell for me to believe it was not inevitable.
My understanding of Mearsheimer, the only person whose work I've seen, is that the U.S. dropped the ball and made the conflict an inevitable and deadly one which will end in a frozen conflict.
I believe he has argued the U.S. should have supported a Ukrainian nuclear weapons program or accepted its existence as a buffer state controlled by Russia.
Even if you accept the most charitable estimation of the number of people on Maidan in 2014, it's less than 2% of Ukrainian population. Hardly a majority.
>against their Russian dominated government
It is the government that the Ukrainian people democratically elected not a long time before the coup.
>it's a hard sell for me to believe it was not inevitable
The Ukraine was evenly split between pro-Russian South-East and pro-Western, well, West. The only chance they had for stability is respecting the democratic principles when people respect the authority of the president who won an election even if they voted for a different candidate.
The US supported the coup and broke that system. Despite famous Bush Sr.'s speech in Kiev in 1991[0] that warned of 'suicidal nationalism', the successive American administrations nurtured Ukrainian nationalism, supported and fed it.
>its existence as a buffer state controlled by Russia
Ukraine being neutral was enough for Russia, but not for the West.
Same as Russian. The state provides all needed software for filling documents related to taxes. It's been so for at least 15 years, most likely longer.
And for their final trick Ukrainian military hacked russian drone teams Telegram account to upload video of the attack, right? Same Telegram account that has been posting droning civilians for the last year.
As for the UN vehicle, I was wrong, looks like some Russians did it.
Funny, though, that you ignored the crucial detail about Ukrainians repeatedly
committing war crimes by masquerading troop supplies for humanitarian vehicles. Also Security Service of Ukraine are notorious for employing this trick.
It's a war crime for exactly this reason - one day real humanitarian vehicle gets hit.
>The committee was apathetic about the proposal and kept bringing up various trivial issues, in a clear attempt to stall him, but he refused to take the hint.
That's a mean interpretation, mean both towards the committee and towards the author.
Where Americans are renters and garbage service is hidden in their monthly rent payment, sure, but for Americans who own a home, they have to pay their local jurisdiction a fee for taking away trash and recycling and compost (and batteries and light bulbs). Also sewage and water.
Wat. Almost all Americans either pay someone to deal with their waste or are dependents of someone who pays on their behalf. Do you think we're all burning our trash in barrels or dumping it in the local river or something?
What are you talking about. Trash is inexpensive, but Americans absolutely pay for it (solid waste utility bill). I think people conceptualize that they have utility bills?
That will be a huge betrayal of all pro-Russian people in the "new regions of Russia". It will be the end of popular support Putin enjoyed over all the years of his rule.
Withdrawing from Kherson was hugely unpopular measure and over hundred of thousand of pro-Russian civilians left Kherson[0] along with Russian army because they were terrified of what the revenge of Ukrainian regime would be.
That was nearly four years ago. Russia has lost a lot prosecuting this war since then: lives, money, infrastructure. Reports are that Putin is already losing support over it.
I have no idea whether that has changed his mind about anything. I don't give a lot of credence to anything he says.
I hope he's right, and this war will end soon. If that costs him popular support, I won't be sad about that. If he manages to retain office, I won't be thrilled, but it's better than ongoing war. This war is a pure loss for all sides, with absolutely nothing to be gained. It persists solely to avoid even greater loss from surrendering.
Implying it is Putin's personal multi-billion quest for longevity is just disgusting.
Why are you trying to spread such crude propaganda?
[0] http://government.ru/rugovclassifier/926/about/
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