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Feb 25, 2022Liked by Peter Nayland Kust

Here's a bit of irony...well, more correctly stainless-steely...the Mat Rodina statue in Kyiv: https://www.tutorialathome.in/history/rodina-mat-kiev-ukraine-leading-landmarks

Not nearly as impressive as the Mat Rodina statue in Volgograd, the world's largest:

https://lidenz.ru/the-motherland-calls/

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Feb 25, 2022Liked by Peter Nayland Kust

Here is a fantastic piece by Dmitri Orlov on the 'peculiarities of the Russian character' that may offer some insight on the impact of sanctions: https://cluborlov.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/peculiarities-of-russian-national-character-2/

See especially the conclusions.

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Yes, they have clearly anticipated sanctions and proceeded anyway. Counter sanctions will be painful. For example, BA has been banned from overflight in response to Aeroflot sanctions. Gas flows are surging through Ukraine today as new long-term contracts have been signed by European buyers. There will be plenty of media wailing but it appears that the most important business, commodities, will continue as usual.

When talking about the relative pain felt by civilians it appears to me that the Russian state and public are better positioned to deal with economic pain as they are used to hardship, starting from a far lower level of prosperity, have a have significant reserves set aside for this event, are energy self-sufficient, and are the closest country to being an autarky. Thoughts on that?

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