US media and politicians endlessly repeat cliche, slogans and disinformation about Putin. The propagandists ignore the horrific economic depression of the 1990’s when Russia’s GDP fell by 40%, inflation was as high as 2000%, the stock market collapsed, the economy was dependent on paltry loans from the IMF and the US, one-third of Russians lived in extreme poverty, the Russian military was devastated, and the country’s future seemed totally hopeless.

This is the bleak situation under which Putin became the president of Russia on Dec 31, 1999; and his success should be measured by the progress in the last 17 years. Here are 7 ways in which Putin has made Russia great again:

GDP GREW 10-FOLD (1000%) FROM 1999 to 2013: Under Putin, Russian GDP grew from $200 billion in 1999 to over $2 trillion by 2013 when Russia became the 5th largest economy in the world (by PPP GDP).

TAMED HYPER-INFLATION: At the same time he brought down inflation, which was wildly out of control in the 1990s — from 2000% in the early 1990s to 120% in 1998 to 2.4% in 2018.

REDUCED THE DEBT: While the US debt-to-GDP grew from 56% to 105% between 1999 and 2017, Putin did the opposite: he reduced Russia’s debt from 100% to 18% of GDP. There are now more than 160 countries in the world that have higher debt-GDP ratios than Russia! This is a phenomenal achievement.

VASTLY INCREASED FOREIGN & GOLD RESERVES: Russia had virtually no foreign exchange reserves and very little gold reserves when Putin took office. He replenished the coffer and made the Russian economy quite immune to downturns and attacks from Wall Street shysters. Russia now has the 6th largest foreign exchange reserves as well as the 6th largest gold reserves in the world.

AN ECONOMY STRONG ENOUGH TO WITHSTAND US/EU SANCTIONS: There is no better testimony to the strength of the Russian economy than how it not only survived the US/EU sanctions and the huge drop in oil price (65% drop from 2014 to 2016) for the last four years, but came out stronger. Throughout 2014, 2015 and even 2016, western pundits kept assuring us that Russia would collapse any moment.

* Putin Watches Russian Economy Collapse! (Time Magazine, 2014)

* Putin Meets Economic Collapse with Purges and Broken Promises (Newsweek, 2015)

* For Russia, Oil Collapse has Soviet Echoes (Wall Street Journal, 2016)

* Lights Out for the Putin Regime (Foreign Affairs, 2016)

* Russia is Seriously Running Out of Cash (CNN, 2016)

Alas, all their gloom and doom predictions failed to materialize. In 2017, Russian economy grew 1.4%; its inflation is less than 3%; and, in 2018, it will actually have a budget surplus (while the US will have close to $1 trillion of deficit). Putin’s prudent and conservative financial values have made Russia strong and stable.

When the US stopped Exxon from working on the Arctic project, Putin partnered with China (for money) and France (for technology) and completed the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Yamal. And he also completed in Moscow a new skyscraper, which will be one of the tallest in Europe.

Under Putin, Russia has set records in grain production and has become #1 in export of wheat, which again is quite an accomplishment considering where Russia was in 2000 (see picture below). Putin has smartly rejected GMO and wants to make Russia the premier exporter of organic food.

PUTIN MADE RUSSIA A GLOBAL/GEOPOLITICAL POWER: According to the US media, Putin is a thug, a tyrant, a killer, a Hitler and every other sensational adjective the media normally uses for the enemies of the Empire. However, if Russia is so poor and Putin is so evil, how come all the global leaders schmooze with him and visit Moscow on a regular basis?

— The Japanese leader, Shinzo Abe, has met with Putin 20 times;

— when Macron became the new leader of France in 2017, the first foreign leader to visit France was Putin; Macron also visited Russia twice in 2018

— Germany’s President visited Putin in 2017 and spoke out against the sanctions; Italy’s new Prime Minister in 2018 has said that anti-Russia sanctions must go away asap.

— Israel’s Netanyahu, India’s Modi and Germany’s Merkel have all visited Putin in 2018;

— long-time geopolitical enemy Saudi Arabia made peace and its king visited Russia for the first time in 2017;

— even Russophobic UK sent its foreign minister, Boris Johnson, to Russia in late 2017 for the first time in four years. Below is a slideshow of foreign leaders meeting visiting Putin:

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From the Middle East to Central Asia, Putin has amassed vast prestige and power for Russia. He defeated the US in Syria and has secured a permanent base. He not only spoiled America’s plan to turn Turkey against Russia, but turned the table around — now Turkey is in Russia-Iran camp and the Turkey-US relationship is teetering. Putin’s smart partnership with China has benefited both, since they complement one another. Putin brings people and nations together, unlike the West which is focused on “divide and rule.”

PUTIN MADE RUSSIAN MILITARY MIGHTY: In the 1990’s, the Russian military was decimated and the soldiers weren’t even getting paid regularly. The Russians were so demoralized that they lost the First Chechnya War to Islamic terrorists.

Putin revived the military, turbo-charged Russia’s technological prowess, and restored national pride. The new military jets (introduced since 2011) — Su-30, Su-35 etc. — are even better than the American counterparts. Russia’s new tank T-14 Armata, which is now under production, is one of the best tanks in the world. In Syria, Putin surprised the west with Russia’s new precision missiles that could be launched from ships. Russia’s missile defense systems — S300 and S400 — built under Putin, are one of the most coveted in the world.

Russia is now the second largest arms exporter in the world and had 53 countries as happy customers in 2017. Most of all, Putin achieved all this while spending a fraction of what the US does ($50 billion versus $700 billion per year).

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PUTIN EMBRACES CHRISTIANITY & TRADITIONALISM: While the West has become anti-religion, anti-spirituality and anti-traditionalism, Putin has rejected Cultural Marxism. Putin has built over 10,000 churches and monasteries in the last decade! Russians will no doubt benefit from this in the long run. (Slideshow below)

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Of course, Russia still faces a lot of challenges, especially from the international bankers and globalists who constantly wage hybrid wars on the country. Whether it’s sanctions or blocking Russia’s pipelines to Europe or turning Ukraine against Russia or stopping Russian athletes from going to the Olympics … the globalists will constantly seek to undermine, weaken and subjugate Russia. Read my article on why the globalists hate Russia so much.

Author: Chris Kanthan Check out Deconstructing the Syrian War, my new e-book on the Syrian war, the most consequential war of recent times