In the U.S., the newly elected but not young and painfully familiar President Joseph Biden has finally taken over the presidency. What is likely to happen not only in the U.S. but also in Russia in the coming year? Political expert Anatoly Wasserman shared his opinion on possible events in an interview with wek.ru.
(To be continued)
Just Don't Remove Sanctions!
“How can you describe the situation in Russia?”
“We can only hope that next year the US sanctions will not cease. Moreover, since the possible shocking situations that I mentioned have started, the sanctions are even likely intensify. They are aimed at preventing us and those who cooperate with us not from getting access to the US financial system and market. So if that market weakens, the situation will be equivalent to that of more sanctions. However, as you know, these sanctions have been good for us for many years because they have noticeably strengthened both our economy and our political consciousness. So, it is highly likely that next year, almost nothing will change for the worse in Russia but quite a lot will change for the better.”
“I assume these shifts will be related to the situation with COVID-19.”
“Take notice that, at the beginning of last year, no one made a prediction about an impending pandemic. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a serious disease. Only in the middle of the year doctors managed to figure out how the virus worked and that it was much more dangerous than it was supposed to be. It doesn’t hit the lungs, it hits the walls of capillaries that supply blood to the organs. This has consequences for the organs with high blood consumption such as the lungs, brain and heart. Once that was found out, it became easier to combat the infection.
“I believe that by the middle of this year, it will be possible to completely raise quarantines in the Russian regions that are of particular importance to production and science. In this way, it will be possible to significantly increase production in Russia, especially the output of high-tech products that require extensive cooperation between companies. If the current rate of vaccine production growth remains the same, by the end of the year, quarantines might be lifted in all regions of the country. Moreover, if several countries that are our partners increase their own production of the Russian vaccine, it will also be possible to remove quarantines imposed by them. In doing so, a new effective economic system will be built. So for our country, I expect changes mostly for the better.
"Partners" are on Alert
“There must be a fly in the ointment in this favorable picture.”
“The only thing is that there might be attempts to organize a "color-coded" revolution in connection with the results of the upcoming election to the State Duma. However, there have already been enough attempts of this kind in our country. Moreover, not only the state but also people themselves know how to deal with this. By the way, we have several public organizations in the country that were created to solve the issue of preventing a color revolution and to suppress attempts to start one.”
“Yet, is a breakthrough in the economy possible?”
“Increasing domestic production is the main breakthrough in the economy. It is no secret that it was the sanctions that forced Russia to start imports phase-out in a variety of sectors. The financial sector is the only sector without it. After all, we are guided by the theory that money should be secured not by the amount of goods and services that can be bought for it but by the stock of other countries' finances. The dollar is secured in this way. This leads to the situation where the output of money is based on a tiny difference between exports and imports. In turn, exports and imports are only a small part of total output. Basically, this entire situation means that we are forced to limit the financing of our own economy. When we deal with this problem, that is, with how to issue money in circulation in accordance with the amount of real goods and services that we produce, then we will have a breakthrough in all sectors of the economy. However, we won’t have to do it excessively because too much money is not better than too little money. As for any specific positive events that are expected to happen in Russia in the new year, I’d better not predict anything because I'm afraid to make a mistake.”