JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s Showcase Economic Forum Is Now a Charade” – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

“The excessive optimism of Putin and his ministers smacks of an attempt to convince not even mythical investors so much as themselves that business as usual is possible — and even compatible with their threats to unleash nuclear war.”

“… Investors and foreign media used to see … Putin’s keynote address as an economic road map and indication of [Putin’s] mood. This year, neither Western media nor investors were in attendance, and as the Ukrainian counteroffensive gets under way amid the shelling of Russia’s border regions, what matters most is not what Putin said, but what he didn’t. … This year, even some Russian CEOs quietly skipped the forum. Delegations were small, and … representation of foreign countries and companies — including from the Global South … — was below ministerial. … Soon bored by economic routing, Putin … eagerly indulged in his usual talk about neo-Nazis running the Ukrainian state and thinly veiled nuclear threats to the West. … [W]hat went unspoken amid … [the] bravado. … [included] that the main driver of economic growth in Russia this year is … [defense] spending … that the military-industrial complex has been leading industrial growth for many months, towing the entire manufacturing industry behind it. …”

Click here for: “Russia’s Showcase Economic Forum Is Now a Charade” – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace/ Alexandra Prokopenko