David Brooks says in the NYTimes today regarding the collapse of Russia:
"This is what we're seeing in Russia. It's probably what we would be seeing in Iraq even if the insurgency were under control. And most frighteningly, it could be what we will be seeing in China for decades to come."
If the decline in Russia were only demographic that would be solvable.
But what Putin was really commenting on was the "tribalization" of the Euroasian continent.
Clearly, the Age of the Great Powers is over...and the Age of Nationalism and Tribalism is back.
Back, alas, because we have been here before...in the 1930's!
The rise of racism and clanism is rampant in many parts of the world since the end of the cold war. In Africa. In Latin America....the rise of leftist nationalism is obvious.
In the near east and in the old USSR "stans" "orange revolutions" are a two edged sword....
In the Balkans...the first wave of regional chaos is still unresolved.
Indeed, Kosovo may yet be Europes Chechnya?
Now in Iraq we see clanism and nationalism combining in a toxic brew...
What Putin was referring to is the rise of the ultra-right since the collapse of the bi-polar world. The economic collapse is merely a symptom of this larger disease....
And Putin may be right about the coming Chaos....we see it everyday.
