It took two decades to get the engines going but now it's time to shut them down again. The remnants will stick around for a generation or so, but the speed with which fashion and trends enter and exit the popular culture will ensure Russia crystallizes this moment in time in a similar way to the nations trapped behind the iron curtain in the middle of last century. It won't be quite the same however because this time things are different.

This time it's the west that's degrading toward the worst elements of the USSR faster than Russia. Every horrible thing they tell us about Putin and Russia exists in the west and ten-fold in some cases. Political prisoners held without trial. Censorship. Pravda media. Kangaroo committees. Secret police for internal coups. Shutting down protests of one political nature while allowing others. Unequal protection under the law. Oligarchies posing as democracies. Fascism posing as liberalism. Things are certainly trending backward toward tyranny to say nothing of coerced bioweapons injections and democidal agendas. How about surrounding Russia with secret bio labs for twenty years and doing experiments on Ukrainian soldiers?1