Russia is Freezing — Thousands Left Without Heating While Putin’s Eyes on Ukraine

Who would have guessed that a military economy of 30–40% of Russia’s annual budget would not be disastrous in the long term, especially for a country with outdated Soviet infrastructure?

Russia boasts a massive energy infrastructure but the problem is that it needs to invest more in upkeep. As a result, recent temperature drops to -27 and -34 Celsius have resulted in serious problems for many — even in Moscow, Russia’s capital, and Moscow Oblast. Hundreds have protested to voice their clear dissatisfaction with the grievous situation.

At the outset, I should say that I do not think that this is detrimental to Putin. Frankly, the scale of the recent protests against Putin is not nearly enough to threaten his grip on power.

Nonetheless, looking at what is happening in Russia and the misused funds can reveal a fundamental issue with kleptocracies and dictatorships more broadly. Yes, they might be more “efficient” than democracies, who often struggle to pass legislation. On the other hand, citizens in dictatorships and kleptocracies are not the priority of the regime. That ultimately will be Putin’s eventual downfall.

As was the case in communist Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and elsewhere, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the people eventually could not excuse the behaviors of the regime. And, without a military threat to dissidence, that opposition replaced authoritarianism with…