And how does it get the gas there? With milk cans? Russias entire infrastructure is centered to Germany. Once it stops, all this infrastructure can be written off, since Russia would lose its entire market there. To build pipelines to China and India in same capacity will take 5-10 years.
In other words, Russia is financial dead.
Btw the sanctions are not illegal and fully comply with EU law. I would not call it sanctions either, we call it special economic operation.
What's more important than the nation being financially-dead, is it being brain-dead.
Without a class of educated comprador capitalists left for Kremlin to use, there will be nobody for them to do basic government administration, but more importantly to manage their wast treasury.
Remember, you never appoint a broke man to run a treasury — and that's even more important in totalitarian states. Even in NorKo, with them having firing squad for every economic offence, theft of state money, and resources is still rampant.
If you read book, you will know that Putin himself started his "career" by stealing humanitarian aid, and such, and so will do others of his brand of people.
It will requires progressively draconian repressions to keep them in line.
The reasons totalitarians need all these Oxford educated scholars on payroll, is exactly because they can't entrust money to anybody else. Anybody else will just grab the money, raise an army, and start a powergrab on their own. That's why they need somebody smart, but docile enough not to grab the gun when you turn your back to them.
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This is why I tell that American scholars are so dumb when they think that CYL, and CPC elites are in "opposition." CPC elites are freaking afraid of CYL just leaving the regime. And that's why Xi not simply tolerates Li going around, but really, really wants him to stay.
Of course reds will never give CYL "a rifle," and they are a junior partner in the givernment, but the people with the rifle absolutely cannot do without them.
