The Roman Empire Reveals How Russia Will Collapse
Paul J. Warburg
18 min
The better that Russia looks like Rome, it actually shows that they are accelerating the path towards their own collapse. Putin is keeping this war going, even though it's bad for Russia, because for him personally, it is key to his survival.
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Vladimir Putin
Chapters
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0:00
The Rejected Empire
Studying the fall of the rejected Empire reveals parallels to modern day situations, where artificial prosperity masks inevitable collapse. Rome created an artificial sense of prosperity through free goods and entertainment to distract citizens from crumbling conditions.
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3:29
Russia's Current Situation
Similar to Rome, Russia is experiencing artificial prosperity while engaging in a costly war and facing heavy sanctions.
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6:05
Russia's War Chest
Russia built a massive sovereign wealth fund over years to inject money into the economy during the war.
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11:28
The Labor Shortage
A labor shortage in Russia is driven by the military-industrial complex and high death benefits, not just battlefield losses.
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14:07
The Inevitable Collapse
Russia's economy faces collapse as it spends its savings, leading to inflation and the failure of private businesses.
Key points
- 0:00
The rejected Empire serves as a famous example of failed empires with modern parallels.
- 0:00
Rome created artificial prosperity through free goods and entertainment to distract citizens from collapse.
- 0:00
Power concentration in too few hands caused civil wars and eventual Roman collapse.
- 3:29
Russian citizens feel the economy is going well despite a costly war and heavy sanctions.
- 6:05
Russia spent years on a savings diet to build a sovereign wealth fund for the war.
- 6:05
The fund, known as Putin's War Chest, equals approximately 640 billion US dollars.
- 8:45
Skyrocketing inflation indicates Russia has drawn down its entire war chest and is living on borrowed time.
- 12:02
The military-industrial complex drives up wages, causing private sector employers to go out of business.
- 12:43
High death benefits create labor shortages as families spend money instead of working.
- 14:53
Russia's future looks bad as it moves toward an economic collapse similar to the Soviet Union.
Who and where
People · 1
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Vladimir Putin 4
President of the Russian Federation
Photo 1
1. Photo: Пресс-служба Президента России, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Wikidata · redrawn in our house style (Vladimir Putin)
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