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I am currently travelling in Ukraine. I converted the text document to HTML + made 2 videos giving an overview while in Zhitomir, which lies about 140 km west of Kiev, on 2022-8-30. I give 2 different views of the war that Russia started in Feb. 2022 (although they really started it in 2014) namely from the perspective of myself and of an acquaintance who moved from Ukraine to Russia end of 2021.
I published the initial version of this page with our predictions on 2022-8-28. Additions are noted with the date of addition.
I am placing the video on this topic on my bicycle channel because this affects me in what I want to do related to my website and business. For example I wanted to start a cooperation with a Ukrainian velomobile maker, but he didn't return to UA due to consequences of this war for his family.
To understand what goes on, how people think, how they are influenced, you need to know what they want and how they can be influenced. This depends on the person (personality, desires). If I lived in Russia then even if I had grown up with the propaganda, I would see it as nonsense because I'm a truth seeker. Being this way means you need to search out information that may invalidate your beliefs. Encountering such counter evidence gives a feeling and a corresponding state that in psychology is called 'cognitive dissonance': You don't want to accept that these facts are true, it gives you a bad feeling. So what happens is that as with pain, most people try to avoid this state and this feeling.
I am not like that, I follow what is the most logical position for which I use all sources: the personality of people, their wishes and goals, and actual reality as best as you can determine from facts fitting together. Facts that do not fit are a point to investigate, not to sweep under the carpet!
When I see something that doesn't fit, I dig. The picture of the Moskva that supposedly sank in rough sees but was shown heavily listing to one side on a very calm see, is such a fact that even if I were brainwashed, it would make me see that the Russian explanation for its sinking is BS.
Wrong facts make me dig, but many people ignore them to feel comfortable in their beliefs.
Regarding brainwashing it is interesting that both sides can consider each other to be brain washed. Assuming one side is right instead of there being a 3rd view that is not represented by the 2 parties but which is actually correct, it means one person is right and the other person is wrong. Obviously that means that reality will disagree somewhere with the other person, and from there it unravels if you investigate further. The only retreat such people have if they continue believing what they believe then is solipsism or a form of it. You can see this with people who do not accept counterarguments. Effectively they are solipsists, i.e. the world is created in their minds and everything is interpreted in a way to explain the world and 'counter facts' towards this view with reasons that are not logical nor probable from an outside (non-solipsistic) view. A good example is from the social justice warriors' (SJW) sphere: 'critical theory', which is neither about being critical nor is anything such people talk about a theory because from the start their position is that counter arguments are invalid...
On TV, internet, in NL and many countries the congregation of Russian troops was discussed along with sanctions that would be imposed such as taking Russia out of Swift, freezing accounts etc. for a long time. I didn't think Russia, or rather Putin, could be so stupid as to start a war against Ukraine,but you should never underestimate anyone's ability for stupidity, especially not that of a psychopath.
I had not discussed this topic with anyone I know from Ukraine until very shortly before it all started. A friend from Irpin wrote to me, on 17 Feb.
17 Feb. 2022: at 22:02:
X: Hi Wouter ! How are you ?
It seems that situation in UA can really change in bad side ...
But I hope that all be fine
and at 22:03:
X: What do your media say?
I wrote, 18 Feb. at 8:39
WHS: Hello X, the media here mention a buildup of Russian troops however I don't think Russia can afford to do anything. The consequences that are mentioned here should they be stupid enough to invade Ukraine could be removal of Russia from the international banking system, i. e. nobody could transfer money to/from Russia which would severely impact it's economy.
Then on 24 Feb. 19:24
X: Hi Wouter , unfortunately I was right in my concerns
24-2-2022: 19:28:
WHS: Yes, I didn't think it would happen. Putin is likely going to destroy Russia, no country accepts what he does and Russia will have to deal with heavy sanctions. I hope those sanctions are such that Russia will go bankrupt: The EU and USA should have a complete economic boycot of Russia, no payments to/from Russia, confiscate all assets in the EU/Russia by any Russian companies, and disallow any EU/US companies to continue operating in Russia. If that happens maybe it has effect, otherwise only war.
I meant 'assets in EU/USA', not 'assets in EU/Russia' of course.
24-2-2022, 19:39
X: There have been detailed intelligence data for a long time, and if Western politicians wanted to prevent a war - it was enough to leave a few NATO aircraft at our airports, then they would not dare to attack.
25-2-2022, 13:58
WHS: I heard from a friend in Sumy that some Russian troops refused to fight. I think they realise this war makes no sense. I hope this is really the case and more troops will refuse, as Putin is simply insane. I knew long ago already that he is a psychopath, but also that he is insane because he threatened to use nuclear weapons regarding Crimea. I wonder what the USA nd EU are going to do. They have not yet removed Russia from the Swift banking system but that is likely going to happen. They have already frozen 4 Russian banks' accounts which they say has value of more than 1000 billion EUROs so I'm sure Russia is going to feel the pain...
26-2-2022, 16:29:
WHS: On TV I saw about 15 minutes ago a Russian invading soldier who said it was the first time in 8 years he had action. This proves by admission that he and others of the army were in the Donbass region as a soldier contrary to what Russia claimed. Of course everyone knew it was lies but this idiot admitted it with that statement.
WHS: 2022-8 =2014 so he was active in Donbass (he did not mean Crimea as Ukraine offered no resistance there so there was no military action there)
I asked a friend from Zhitomir, 18-2-2022, 8:44;
WHS: Another weird topic, media here and in other western countries talk about Russian troop buildup and that they might invade Ukraine. I don't think Russia can afford to do that (their economy would get venue [ auto correction? It should be: 'even' ] more affected, it was mentioned that for example they could be expelled from the international banking system) but is this something that you hear anything about? What are the sentiments there?
14:20
Y: People talk about full scale war all the time
14:26:
WHS: Do you mean recently (last 1-2 months), or is that ongoing since 2014?
14:29:
Y: recently. we were expecting russian invasion on Feb 16 but it didn't happen. people are ready for war
Russia started a stupid war in February 2022 against Ukraine. The origin for these events lies in the collapse of the Soviet union in 1991, after which american economists such as Milton Friedman and/or his followers were advising them on how to transition to a market economy, with the advice to instantly switch to freely determined prices (which is one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard of, Adam Curtis made a good documentary about not just these events, in "Pandora's box" ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_Box_(British_TV_series) ). Curtis' other documentaries are also very good). These economists were just playing games with the situation in various other countries seeing what they could do (not their own country, but safely experiment with other peoples' lives!) . Friedman didn't deserve a Nobel prize, but lifetime in jail. Their insane idea naturally (=easily deducable) led to rapid inflation, people not able to buy necessities, then people selling stock of the company they worked in to buy food, and so the first oligarchs were created, those being people with access to more money so they could buy those stocks, i.e. those with access to the system behind everything (politics, banking). After almost 10 years Putin was put forward as a safe temporary leader, but who was not safe. He is and was a psychopath. I see it in the pictures from his youth, an expressionless face, typical of psychopaths.
After the problem of bandits, and oligarchs sucking the economy dry, came the biggest problem: Putin. He made statements in his 2007 speech about the fall of the USSR being a geopolitical catastrophe, which tell you what he wants. You can read in the book "Jonathan Dimbleby: Russia", and see in the accompanying documentary series "Russia: A journey with Jonathan Dimbleby" (TV Series 2008) that there were ordinary Russians longing back to the time of the Soviet union too. This comes from the perceived loss of status in the world as a superpower, the illusion of which was somewhat kept up the last 20 years, but the last remnants of that illusion were removed with the incompetence of armed forces of Russia in the war against Ukraine.
The comment that I read with a video on youtube that the discovery of large reserves of gas was one of the main reasons for Putin to grab Crimea is nonsense, he wanted to restore Russia to his perception of what the status was that the Soviet union once had, long before that discovery. He already encroached on Georgia, there was this discovery of gas which could make Ukraine more independent from Russia, but without that he would have done the same thing. The then Ukrainian president Yanukovych was not just in Putin's pocket, but a money waster with his estate of close to a billion euros worth, was ousted (actually he fled, he left his post) from office. That estate already showed that his removal and the protests were justified as he was living in insane luxury in a poor country. The change in government was what made Putin act not long after that. The timing was interesting, right at the time of the winter olympics. This was without doubt done on purpose.
xxxxxx more to come at a later date xxxxxx
28 feb. 22:30
5 days ago insanity prevailed in Russia. Again. 2 days ago, on Saturday (26-2-2022) a Russian soldier, part of the invasion of Ukraine, was so stupid as to admit that he and thus other Russian soldiers were active in the Donbass region in 2014. This can be deduced because he said that he had not seen action for 8 years. 2022-8 =2014. Russia didn't have other wars going on with ground action, so he was active there! (not Crimea as Ukraine offered no resistance there) Of course everyone knew that Russians were active in the Donbass region, and that they shot down the airliner over Ukraine was later clearly proven, but this moron from the Russian military confirmed it. People who say that in the separatist regions it was other Russians 'helping' (in their own time) the separatists are just as insane as Putin. No military in the world lets its soldiers and especially not their military equipment get used in military conflicts. Obviously Putin not only knew, he almost certainly made it all happen. He is by allowing this to happen also responsible for the shooting down of airliner MH17. I knew in 2014 that Putin is a psychopath, but in 2015 when he mentioned he would consider using nuclear weapons related to Crimea, I knew he is insane. I was right about all that, and his insanity is shining through again.
Why don't psychologists take action to disallow anti-social people into any position of power? Well, they are often incompetent, but even if they are somewhat competent then they have a code to not analyse people in public. This is like a building engineer not telling someone who doesn't have the knowledge to build a bridge, what the problems are and what can happen, but letting it get built and letting it crash.
For more on this see: https://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/kritiek/example-psychological-analysis.html.
To end this comment: Putin has already lost, even in the unlikely event that he 'wins'. He will become the destroyer of Russia if this continues. His legacy will the same as Hitler: Nothing but universal derision and disgust about a psychopath who wants to change the world to his view of what the world should be. Congratulations Putin, you are a complete and utter zero, you have achieved absolutely nothing in your life. I suspect the outcome of this war will be: Putin assassinated or put in jail and further it could be that the prize he managed to keep so far will have to be returned: Crimea. The west should keep all Russia's assets frozen until Crimea is returned, and deduct all costs from those assets, to rebuild damage to Ukraine and to pay for the war expenditure by Ukraine.
Addition 2022-9-10: I talked about this with family friends and thought perhaps it was after 2 months (April), my view was that Russia would lose all of their estimated combat ready 3000 tanks in 6 months if their rate of loss continued. I realised also that despite the Russian stupidity, they would learn and having less equipment means likely more spread out and less easy to destroy from hitting clusters. So my estimate from that was: a year in total maximum until demilitarisation of Russia. Now we are at more than 2100 tanks destroyed after 6 months, and a collapse of their front in the region of Kharkov. I think 1 year is the upper limit for the loss of most Russian military equipment, as I described already in my prediction from end of July 2022:
On 28 July I asked a friend who lives in Russia to give me his predictions for Russia, Ukraine, and the conflict. He is originally from Brazil, studied and lived for years in Ukraine, was dissatisfied with some issues there, criticised for example that people in UA are not nationalistic enough (i.e. not proud of, appreciative of their country), and I agree with that point. I had a talk some years ago in Zhitomir in the library with people taking lessons to improve their English, about this topic. I didn't see the realisation in these people of this fact that Ukraine is not worthless and has good points that the inhabitants of the country don't appreciate enough, after this talk of an hour or so. The leader of this group, was quite dismissive of UA and a good example of the problem: I told him I had travelled quite a bit in Ukraine and he immediately said that likely I didn't like it in UA. He was completely mistaken, I like it a lot in UA.
Back to the predictions. My predictions are based on 'self-sufficiency' that Russia claimed to have many times but still doesn't have and various other factors, one of which is that all anti-social people, such as Putin is, are incompetent.
The predictions for what will happen in Russia (economically, with goods such as phones, cars, politically) are from when we made our predictions, which was end of July 2022,
It has been going disastrously in all senses for Russia since day 1: an extremely inept military and a country sanctioned as strongly as I felt it should have been done in 2014. The psychopath Putin made a huge mistake, unsurprisingly since anti-social people cannot reason well at all.
This war has shown the enormous stupidity in all levels in the russian military up to and including Putin, in which an 'inferior' army was easily destroying Russian ships, tanks, airplanes, and the stupidity was clear even in the propaganda spewed by kremlin trolls, which is of such an inane level that it makes morons look intelligent. One of my first thoughts about this war was that nobody in his right mind will buy any russian military hardware any more.
Shortly after this war started I also felt that this was the time for countries that have problems with Russia (i.e. that have been attacked by Russia) to join Ukraine in attacking Russia or indicating moves as if they were thinking about attacking Russia, to make them distribute their forces. What could happen is that russia gets weakened so much that the cracks not just begin to show, but become so big that Russia falls apart. Western Russia has been dominating other parts of the russian 'federation' for ages, esp. in soviet times forcing the russian language to be used as the official language and much more. This could become a problem, but likely only after the military defeat of Russia.
There are various options of what can happen in Russia such as an overthrow or assasination of Putin, but getting rid of him won't be enough: there are a bunch of psychopaths in the Kremlin. This comes from 'birds of a feather flock together'. You see this in business too. If there is no overthrow/assasination along with removal of all other psychopaths there, then:
3 months: gradual increase in all prices, extreme increase in goods that cannot be obtained new any more (samsung phones, iphones, cars from many brands (already happened with cars still available in dealerships, but this will become worse), etc.). Politically not much change.
By now it is obvious to everyone who is not blind that Russia has been demilitarised to a large degree. In the war Russia loses more and more men and material and will have to quit or go to full scale war, the latter with inferior weapons and with even higher losses than before because of the far superior material available to Ukraine and because Russia cannot just make more high quality material because of sanctions.
They won't have much military material left and as they can't get access to western products used in their equipment, they will not be able to build high quality replacements but revert back to new or refurbished old tanks and other vehicles using worse optics, slower microprocessors, and possibly bad displays (unless there is some factory of good displays in Russia).
In military position the best that Russia will do is a stalemate but it is more likely that Russia is forced to withdraw more and more due to higher quality weapons available to Ukraine.
2nd order sanctions may be imposed by EU/USA to countries selling products to Russia but that is likely for much later. As the EU still buys oil/gas from Russsia logically they can't sanction other countries for doing the same, yet.
6 months: Dissension in bigger cities in Russia because of inavailability of new electronics and much more types of devices (anything that used to be imported), further price increases as have been going on with non-imported things such as food too. Pressure on, and criticism about the government will then get stronger.
If Russia doesn't back down and pay for all damage to Ukraine and more, they will get more and more isolated politically and economically. Nobody is going to buy Russian military equipment even disregarding the sanctions, as it's been completely wiped out everywhere and Russia is continuing only through accepting enormous losses of its people and material. Who wants to buy material that routinely gets destroyed by a far smaller army? This already happened before UA got military aid with better weapons from 'the west'...
As one soldier said in a video not long after the start of the war, asking if he could swear: "We are lucky the enemy is so f*cking stupid!". That goes not just for the lowly soldiers but the whole military and the people in the Kremlin too.
Militarily Russia will by now be almost entirely defeated, i.e. it won't have any significant offensive abilities left. What they try, if anything, will be at a huge cost to them in losses in people, material, economy.
1 year: This is likely crucial: If there is no change, especially handing over all criminals, Russia may by now not get much money from gas/oil any more. unless Russia delivers Putin, Medvedev, Shugoi and all the other criminals in charge from the Kremlin, military, and bullshitters such as Lavrov, to a tribunal to be tried for war crimes (and then spend the rest of their lives in jail), and pays for all damage to Ukraine, Russia will likely get into a worse state than it already is now, with their continuing economic boycott, to which there may be some secondary sanctions added, from which it will likely revert to a country with 1970s-1990s technology and will fall back more and more compared to EU/USA in technology and living standards.
After 5 years: The longer term view for Russia is bleak: Russia may get back behind another iron curtain, claiming they are doing well until finally the psychopaths are ousted and normal people start governing. Unless there is that big change they will not get any more income from oil/gas from EU and possibly none at all from that sector if EU/USA impose 2nd order sanctions (i.e. indirect sanctions, so countries that buy Russian oil/gas will get sanctioned too), which would then be possible as the EU will have made itself independent from Russian energy supplies.
Russia at this time will be isolated politically and economically except for possibly support from insignificant countries, it has no effective military, it has a low technological development, it has nothing that any rich country wants that they can't get elsewhere, it will actually be mostly self-sufficient but not in a positive way to be independent, but forced, restrictive, with big negative aspects coupled to this independence, i.e. 'no more new toys' (electronics, cars).
Putin succeeded in getting his country back to the USSR...
Here you see some videos that show the issues:
Semiconductor problems for Russia: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N_4R4X7AWtU.
Overview of various issues such as an analysis of the economic issues in Russia: There are many videos using a recent Yale study (this study gives numbers but it was already clear from various signs that Russia's economy is crashing), this is an example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_lmROXlSZKU#.
DW news: The true impact of sanctions on Russia | DW Business Special : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vzvR958CYTw.
RUSSIA BANS SALE of All Assets & Investments by FOREIGN COMPANIES as it Prepares to SEIZE OWNERSHIP: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MhGlpB6fM00
These videos did not influence my views. My views are largely based on developments that I knew about months ago, and various facts from several years ago, and how Russia stated to proclaim to become self-sufficient, and that it would be good for the country, which was IIRC ca. 2016, and this was published on the Dutch news site nos.nl, but that 'news' was again stated a year, or perhaps 2 years later when the issue was newsworthy again, and of course it contained the same rhetoric but without good (economically and strategically important) examples of what they got independent in, which means that it actually showed that nothing had changed and that these were nothing more than claims.
Now in 2022 they are still not self sufficient in anything that matters. Russia is screwed unless they hand over all psychopaths in charge.
3 months: Not much should change politically during the next few months as things are being carefully handled by world leaders not to escalate this war in a full scale war in Europe (Yes, it may not look like Russia could throw a full scale war in Europe), however, that is not how it works, they have Belarus, there are more countries not only Russia that could get into this, it is a fact, and Russia is a nuclear power, which is another known fact. Mobiles phones of all sorts are available in Russia, they are even cheaper if bought in the AliExpress website (from China, which borders Russia), no sanctions here. Cars: Russia have always and is now like never manufacturing their own cars, these are modern cars, even electric, not like in the 1980s, they can manufacture cars, why wouldn't they manufacture the parts lol? Check this out: Iran announced that it will send parts for aviation of Russia, Iran supports Russia, half of the world supports Russia in fact. In the end of the day, Russia is not really isolated and they have effective ways to affect the entire world. Look at what happened, 1 dollar is now 1 euro, like never before, that is how your so loved world ruler 'United States' is helping you, you have to obey them, otherwise, you (Europe) are screwed. Oil and gas price is getting higher and higher, groceries prices keep rising. Russia could cut their entire supply if it wanted to cause Europe to colapse, especially in the winter. Russia is one of the key countries in the world, not only that, the leaders won't simply let it fail, Putin has said it even once, no Russia, no anything. of course it is a sad situation, however we are talking about a a war of imperialism. Russia just needs to get things straight in order to guarantee the security of its nation thinking long ahead in the future, its existence, Russia is tying to defend its rights as a sovereign country. America just found an excellent way to sabotage Russia. Can't fight Russia directly to show them who rules? Let's make Ukraine fight the Russians for us, that is what is happening.
6 months:
As you may already be understanding according to what I am telling: regarding the sanctions: these things are symbolic, and not actually that important regarding the real deal behind this war. Russia is trying to impose a world order, it is creating a bipolar world, which we need. The world can't be like that: The U.S. tells everyone what to do, and that is it! They rule the world, and if a country decides that it does not want to comply with that, they U.S will either use its army to bomb it like they did in many countries in the world, Iran, Libya, Afghanistan, the list goes on (or sanctions). Why else does North Korea needs nuclear weapons? They need it because otherwise, the U.S would just go there and bomb the heck out of everything, like they did a lot of times, because North Korea does not comply with the rules of the American Imperialism.
[ Comments: you don't need any poles, that is war-think, rather than competition-think (competition makes you better). Whatever the USA did or might do is irrelevant: someone could say: "That guy killed his neighbour because he was making noise at night, so that means that when I killed my neighbour for making noise, it was clearly justified.". That argument doesn't work, it is an invalid argument, but one that Kremlin trolls put out all the time. The fact that the USA committed illegal invasions such as in Iraq: Yes, they did, though there was some excuse for it, Bush, Rumsfeld and all the nutjobs in charge should spend the rest of their lives in jail. And yet what they did is nothing compared to Putin, he is the worst scum on this earth at the moment. ]
After 1 year: By then Ukraine will have just lost more territory, (if not worse), because if Europe keeps sending weapons like they probably will, Russia will be forced to escale it as well. The biggest goal of the United State is a full scale war in Europe. Continuing: Ukraine have not conquered anything they previously lost in the year 2014, (Crimea, Lugansk, Donetsk), exactly the opposite, they lost more territories. Continuing: Russia never told Ukraine to fight a war, they told Ukraine via multiple channels to just lay down their arms while announcing it would get in in order to protect the people of Donbass (which is, Ukraine should just surrender, and immediately). The United States CAN help Taiwan to defend against China, why can't Russia defend Donbass against Ukraine? It just can. We are living in a unipolar world which the United States do anything they can, this can't be accepted. Let's talk about what Ukraine got so far trying to win a war against Russia: they almost all of their main factures in the country, they lost almost 10 million people that fled in the few first months, they lost half of the value of their currency, they just lost their economy for good, they can't even afford to run anymore the country by themselves. Many people lost their houses, they jobs, they lives, their husbands, wives, they lost the full Oblast of Lugansk, which was only 50% occupied before the war, now it is 100%, the full Oblast of Kherson, 20% of Kharkiv (the oblast) 80% of Zaporizhia (the oblast), and so on, and you will tell me Ukraine is doing a great deal and the one screwed is Russia? Come on. The only whatever progress Ukraine does in this war is thanks to the United States, its intelligence, its specialists, and all sorts of other help. Unfortunately Ukraine died in 2014, that was the last year of the real Ukraine, that is when Ukraine killed it decided by themselves to become an enemy of Russia (not the opposite). Russia never wanted to become an enemy of Ukraine or anyone in Europe. Ukraine made their chose by themselves, it was announced by the president Poroshenko in 2014. They started this, started the hate, started the violence, now it is Russia's fault? With the coup that started in end of 2013, they went crazy with the help of far-right troops, murdering, killing, even burning alive pro Russian Ukrainians, Ukraine air force bombed Lugansk and what they said was that it was an Air conditioner that exploded. Ukraine is part of Russia originally, historically, and culturally, look at the map of Kievan Rus, and almost all population has very strong ties with Russia, such as relatives living in Russia. However Ukraine started a violent war against everything is related to Russia in Ukraine, for which reason? Maybe because the nazis from the Lviv region (back in the world war 2 times fought against the Soviet Union), now they tell everyone that Bandera, a nazist during world war two, is a hero. The people that support Ukraine are people that watched some T.V, believed in everything, why wouldn't they? Let's talk about an example of Ukraine banning VK, the social network that used to be extremely popular in Ukraine, they could barely live without it). Year by year they kept banning things, little by little, so, they are becoming a democracy? Banning stuff? No freedom of speech in Ukraine. Not only it is not acceptable but also sad. Right Sector is a neo-nazi Ukrainian group supported by the government, like many others, Azov which was defeated in Mariupol, and others such as the neo-Nazi Party called Svoboda, they also openly show Nazi symbols anywhere. Russia is not trying to destroy Ukraine or anything, it would have been simpler if that was the case. Russia wants to capture it then resolve these problems.
[ Comments: Bruno has been buying into the propaganda about Bandera, nazis etc. Bandera was a nationalist, fighting against nazis and the communists. Considering the actions of the Soviets in starving Ukrainians, that is fully justified already. Whatever will happen with Taiwan is irrelevant. Are the actions of Russia justified? No, all they give are extremely weak excuses while meddling in another country. ]
After 5 years:
5 years passed and if Europe does not stop the "trying to isolate Russia", probably will, this didn't work as expected to begin with. Russia is a different country, they are independent. For Europe, it will be worse than for Russia. Russia offers gas to Europe at 2000 euros per thousand cubic meters, U.S wants to sell it to Europe for double of this price, that is the solution they have. Europe is dependent on Russia gas, metal, oil, grains, and many other things. Russia is rich in natural resources, that is why the United States needs Russia to fail, so they can manage to put their hands in Russia's natural resources, which has a high cost, which also explains why Russia is a rich country. Russia is the 6th strongest economy in the world, China is at first followed by the United States in the second place, (PPP) Check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP) which is also why this thing regarding isolating Russia is b*llshit. The United States does not rule the world no longer, and that what Russia is about to get straight.
[ Isolating Russia is already working. I stated not long after this war started in some comments on youtube that Russia will go bankrupt. And it will... Russia will not become independent (at least not with regard to various technology such as electronics), the 8 years of mild sanctions in Crimea (and in Russia to some degree, main difference: western businesses were allowed to operate in Russia, but not in Crimea) have shown that, because: after 8 years barely anything has changed in becoming self-sufficient that they were so proudly speaking about. The EU can get everything elsewhere, conversion to 'green' energy has only been accelerated by Russia's actions. Russia is not a rich country, rich in resources yes but most it got drained away to Putin and the oligarchs. The average Russian is poor... That will only change by removing all these people. ]