Can You Find Russia in The Graphic Below?

(Click to enlarge)



The share of Russia’s population participating in the civilian workforce continues to diminish: in 2005 it was 65 percent and last year it was 52 percent. In part, this is due to the fact that by law the country’s retirement age is comparatively low. And if that disincentive to remain in the workforce isn’t strong enough, average wages in real terms have been falling in Russia since 2002. __ Harry Broadman, Russophile

The Russian Federation is the world’s largest single nation, by area. But in terms of economy, innovation, population of young healthy Russians, currency reserves etc., Russia is shrinking in alarming fashion. Much of this is because of an overall national ageing.

Russia’s population is growing older. A severe dropoff of young women of child-bearing age and young men of military age is sneaking up on the nation.



As much as 80% of Russia’s economy has been transplanted overseas to hide the identity of company and asset owners from the government’s prying eyes — threatening the country’s very financial future. __ http://www.emergingmarkets.org/Article/3495503/The-true-state-of-Russias-weak-economy-Most-of-it-is-overseas.html

It is more and more difficult to find Russia’s economy, because most of it no longer resides within Russia’s national borders!

Russia’s economy continues to contract, with reduced investment, and large numbers of workers not being paid their wages.

The economy is expected to contract by a whopping 3.5 to 4 percent in 2015 against bad, but not overly serious inflation of 15 percent. What’s more, experts from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, investment banks, government agencies, the Finance Ministry, Economic Development Ministry and the Central Bank — all predict the same thing: another year of moderate economic decline followed by a slight recovery and then stagnation for the foreseeable future.

__ http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/no-good-news-for-russia-s-economy/538862.html

The contrast between the grandiosity of Putin’s military invasions and the sad reality of a shrinking Russia, is stark and sobering.

Now, the repercussions are becoming apparent. Without the support of high oil prices and hampered by Western sanctions, Russia is headed into a recession deeper than the U.S. experienced in 2009. Though the official unemployment rate remains low, other indicators suggest that hidden joblessness — including people going to work and not getting paid — is on the rise. Wage arrears were up 29 percent in September from a year earlier, according to the Federal Statistics Service. __ http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-12/it-s-the-economy-putin

Everything Putin has done over the past year and a half, has made Russia’s predicament worse. The most recent invasion — the quasi-invasion of a Syria in the middle of civil war — is a menage a trois involving Iran as the third partner. Russian soldiers are rebelling against being sent to Syria, and the Russian people cannot comprehend what in hell Putin is up to.

Russia no longer has the entrepreneurs and the innovators capable of making and growing substitutes for prohibited western imports. The once-booming Russian private sector has either emigrated, become nationalised (looted by Putin’s inner circle) or shriveled to almost nothing.





The Russian economy is now smaller than that of Canada or Australia — and much smaller than that of California! Even violent, corrupt, and dysfunctional Mexico has a GDP to rival Russia’s.

Putin’s wars costing $100 billion a year, draining reserves at warp speed.

And that isn’t counting Putin’s coming war against Belarus

Russia is losing its naval fleet

Russian “spearhead stormtroopers” moved from Ukraine to Syria to do the dirty work on the ground. They are being replaced in Donbass with Russia-trained terror cadres — presumably made up of Russian orphans and street children. These young Russian hooligans-with-terror-training are unlikely to become endeared to civilians inside Donbass. Blowback to Russia herself is likely to be severe, as the violent young ones return home with their weapons, to a nation in deepening recession.

Russian homicide rates are 3X those in the US overall. Russian rates should eventually fall, due to the ageing of the Russian population. But over the next 5-10 years, we may well see a significant up-surge of deadly violence inside Russia, before the inevitable decline due to senescence and population fade-away.

Try to Find Russia in the Image Below

Russia is becoming harder to find, except when ranked by dysfunction. The modern decline started in 2003, and shows no signs of abating . . . .

More:

https://alfinnextlevel.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/incredible-shrinking-russia/

https://alfinnextlevel.wordpress.com/2015/08/01/russia-haunted-by-spectre-of-disintegration/

https://alfinnextlevel.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/not-enough-of-russia-left-for-a-dog-to-gnaw-on/

https://alfinnextlevel.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/few-good-men-left-in-dying-russia/

Russia’s population may drop to half of present level by 2050