Comments by "Tim Trewyn" (@timtrewyn453) on "Konstantin Samoilov: These Are Putin's Biggest Insecurities" video.

  1. Kotkin says Russia is now a vassal of China. The whole Russian inner circle has to be chafing on that. They need to grab more people and productive land to offset China. Ergo Ukraine, probably the juiciest looking fruit on the tree. As long as Putin's cunning and energy looks as good as anybody else's in that circle, then he's the guy. He could be at the helm for another 10 to 15 years.
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  2. That's where things can change, outside of Russia where they can no longer maintain their influence. Venezuela is an opportunity, but it is largely for Venezuelan expatriates to organize a counterforce to Russia's Maduro.
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  3. I guess the more India can buy at a low price, the less Russia will have to sell at a high price.
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  4. A lot of Europe is eager to get back on cheaper Russian oil and gas. That's Russia's path back to prosperity. They need to act like China and go into "friendly" mode for awhile. They'll be back. The world is too addicted to oil.
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  5. Putin has the FSB. The FSB didn't have Wagner because they didn't need to until recently. That all got re-organized so that does not happen again. Disloyalty among the strongest under Putin is an opportunity for an assassin to climb the ladder. I imagine a loyal "concern" within the FSB developing as Putin ages. We will not like the successor. It's entirely possible the world might see Putin's term as a preferable time. But the Russian military and economy has been weakened. Putin and the new leader will always be looking to turn that around through the sale of commodities and influencing the price of those commodities. Ergo Venezuela, that used to produce 3 million bbl of oil per day. Under Russian influence, that nation produces about 1 million bbl per day.
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