October 15th, 2018 4:33 PM
Regarding Russia, my point is not what you think. It’s that Putin flinched over Ukraine and ruined all he had put in play. Had he worked harder at his own anti-corruption, ‘fried’ the oligarchs in Ukraine instead of the military and political structure, and rescued the banks, the Russian sphere would be closer to 200M. Not enough to be a world power, but enough to balance France and Germany. Putin blew his window, and Russian demographics did the rest. And we need a strong Russia. And for a conservative, that was a tragedy.