Growth in Russia has been driven basically by the melting of the sovereign fund. The money hasn't been spread evenly among all Russians, but at least, it was not given exclusively to the oligarchs. This allowed the money to be more spread among the population than before, when the oligarchs got the bulk of the profits.
Russia has become a "two speed" society: Those returning from the war in Ukraine becoming relatively rich (relatively in comparison to where they came from). They are able to by a small house or an apartment, a good car or spend as they want.
Those working in the defence industry have seen their salary increased and it compensates for inflation. They are not richer or poorer.
Then you have all the others for whom life became more difficult. They are the one who experience real inflation. It's not misery, because there is a slight increase in their salary too, life is more difficult than before the start of the full scale war.
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The Victory Parade is often described as a victory for Vladimir Putin. It's partly true. However, I would rather say that it was the victory of China. Putin sat next to Xi. Not the other way. Officially, they celebrated the 80th anniversary of the victory against Nazi Germany, but none of the countries who attended had ever been affected by the Nazi, except for two notable exceptions: Slovakia and Serbia.
The truth is that they celebrated the 3rd Anniversary of the Eternal Friendship between China and Russia. Or, as I would put it, the return of the Golden Horde dominion over Russia undoing more then 500 years of history. This is not a joke.
Vladimir Putin himself believes that the Mongol rule was better than Western influence. In recent years Putin has drawn Russia further away from the West and closer and closer to China. The influence of China over Russia has never been so great, historically. This dependency on China is voluntary because China helps Putin to continue the war on Ukraine and keep the economy and the military afloat.
While not technically "Mongol" as in the modern definition of the term, the zone of influence of the Eternal Friendship covers the area of the former Mongol Empire at its height (except for north Siberia and Carelia which were largely uninhabited). We can see on this map that all the participants at the May 9 Parade originated from the area covered by the ancient Mongol Empire. (Except of course those from Africa and South America, and Laos and Vietnam which don't make a big difference). And vice versa: All the countries which were under Mongol rule 700 years ago gathered again at the Parade in 2025.
It was also the Victory of the Losers. Except for the big master China, and Serbia and Slovakia, and Brasil
all the countries present are failed states. They gathered around the Chinese leader and also around the Russian leader who still has some prestige in parts of the world, to get some visibility, an imitation of unity and a feeling of strength. The goal of the parade was to convince themselves that they are strong.
India only dispatched their defence minister after scaling down the level of the dignitary several times.
Surprisingly Hungary was not represented. This is explained by
historical reasons. Nevertheless Orban could have made an exception this time. What a shame...
The presence of the Ambassador of Israel can be explained by the fact that it was still, officially, the celebration of the victory over Nazism. It was sort of an obligation to attend for her. Maybe she was the only person on the tribune who thought about the tragedy of WW2.
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