Russia

The Liberal movement in Russia is undergoing a serious crisis. There are three reasons for this. First, the Kremlin domestic policies under Putin’s 3rd term in power are designed in such a way that liberals are labelled foreign agents, called enemies of the state, and are being under constant pressure.

Putin’s Russia is the first country that has deliberately made the carnival a cornerstone of its domestic and foreign policies – in fact, of its entire post-Soviet political architecture. The first country to have established, one decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a full-fledged TV-run postmodern dictatorship – a so-called “managed democracy”.

One could rather poetically suggest that it has been all quiet on the cryptoccurency front since the Bitcoin hysteria we experienced 2-3 weeks ago. Its price has been mostly dormant, stagnating around the value of EUR 850. And yet, the crypto-world kept its ball of development rolling.

Year 2016 in Ukraine became a year of starting on the economic recovery path. Real GDP growth in 2016 is estimated at 1.4%. It was supported by higher domestic demand. In particular, real private final consumption increased due to higher disposable income primarily attributed to increase in wage income.

Many people may believe that there is no point in being in a hurry since we cannot predict what President Trump will actually do – maybe after all he is not a madman and his actions so far were just a means of conducting a successful campaign. But what if it wasn\'t and what if he actualy does implement everything he promised?

Syrian civil war is ongoing since 2011, but the end of this bloodshed seems to be still far-fetched. On the contrary, the indirect confrontation between Russia and the U.S. on this field seems to grow in tensions in a way that could sometimes remind us of the cold-war period.

The past two weeks were chiefly engulfed by news concerning banks and regulations in relation to cryptocurrencies. Providing some balance on the other side of the spectre were positive pieces introducing Bitcoin´s newfound capacity to cover electricity bill payments in Japan or coffee-breaks in Russia.

The past two weeks were characterized predominantly by discussions over the hacking of Bitcoin exchange BitFinex. Other noteworthy news streamed mainly from Zimbabwe, the U.S., Isle of Man, China, and customarily from Russia.

The experience of dealing with Russia over the past 200 years has taught us that the only thing Russia respects is power; and we will only have power if we stay close to our friends. However, soon thereafter any such pragmatism was once again forgotten and we now continue living with our illusions as if nothing has happened.

During the past few weeks nothing really new occurred in cryptocurrency’s world. The last two weeks, however, have already brought a change. The discussion related to Mike Hearns’s exit about the future of Bitcoin lead by important developers from the community is contributing to this change.