Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Could Russia Become a Failed State?" video.

Not sure about Russia falling apart over the next 10 years but it becomes harder to keep a country together when too much power is centralized which is what the Putin government has been doing and Russia being a big country, it makes it difficult to keep it together as information is easier to access, unless you deliver the goods on the economy to the average Russians to keep them quiet. Personally, I think over the next 10 years, Russia as a power will become much weaker and more isolated unless the country changes direction, the west is very likely going to continue to keep the heat on Russia and isolate them, there is a big push to alternative energy sources which considering how much the Russian economy depends on outside revenue, it doesn't look favourable for Russia. From the west point of view, I highly doubt they care what happens to Russia, but they've seen Russia under Putin as a threat over the last decade with meddling in western democracies that the west main intention here is to weaken and isolate Russia and I don't think that policy will change much until Putin and much of his government is out of power, basically, Russia invaded Ukraine was the last straw but Russia have been playing games for well over a decade and because of that, it's unlikely the west is going to go easy on Russia until there is a major shift in the governmental system and until then, the west will continue to weaken Russia so they are less of a threat, now it's just a matter of how long it takes the Russian people to wake up to that reality because it's them that will pay the highest price, not Putin which doesn't care about the Russian people and only cares about protecting his position of power, just like any dictator. Also, lets be blunt on this, the real damage of sanctions are usually long term, at first, sanctions look quite mild but over many years, they do a lot of damage and if the west continues to sanctions and isolate Russia over the long term, that will do the Russian economy a lot of damage which could destabilize the country, throw in the factor that a lot more countries are fast tracking to alternative energy sources and Russia not really trusted any more, the damage that is being done to Russia is longer term, not short term and we should also remember that Russia is being cushioned by that reserve fund that Putin created, something that's likely going to run dry later this year and with that, it becomes harder to shield the Russian people from the damage this war is doing on the Russian economy, so basically, Putin doesn't need to worry just yet, even thought he will with how bad the war is going, he really needs to worry about the next few years. As for the school of thought thing, on the one hand, it would be nice if they can keep it all together for world security reasons but on the other hand, Russia comes across as a failed state and its history shows too much aggression, whether that be during the Soviet Union days or the last 2 decades with Putin, they always like to meddle aggressively with others and maybe the break-up of Russia would be a good thing for the people in those regions and I think the real problem is that Russia and the Russian people still like to think of themselves as a major power in the world, they are not and what we are seeing in Ukraine is proving that, the truth is, there are only 3 major powers in the world, the EU, US and China, as for Russia, they don't have the economy, the population to match them and now a lot of the talent is fleeing Russia, it doesn't bold well for the future of Russia.
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