Putin dumps Rogozin
In a reshuffle of cabinet positions, Putin has replaced Dmitri Rogozin, putting a new man in charge of the Russian defense and space industry.
The new guy, Yuri Borisov, appears to have the title of Vice Prime Minister. I suspect Putin had grown tired of the continuing corruption and loss of market share under Rogozin’s watch during the past decade. I also suspect that Borisov will have little ability to change things. The problem isn’t the person in charge. The problem is Russia’s centralized top-down method of operations. It discourages competition and cost control, while providing no incentives for innovation and quality control.
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Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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In a reshuffle of cabinet positions, Putin has replaced Dmitri Rogozin, putting a new man in charge of the Russian defense and space industry.
The new guy, Yuri Borisov, appears to have the title of Vice Prime Minister. I suspect Putin had grown tired of the continuing corruption and loss of market share under Rogozin’s watch during the past decade. I also suspect that Borisov will have little ability to change things. The problem isn’t the person in charge. The problem is Russia’s centralized top-down method of operations. It discourages competition and cost control, while providing no incentives for innovation and quality control.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
With every passing day, Russia dies a little more. Sometime in the next century there will be no more Russia. Few will miss it once it’s gone.
@Dick Eagleson
“Few will miss it once it’s gone.”
Well, we who know Russia would miss it! Russia was a major contributor to Western culture and science during the 18th and 19th centuries, which were really very important times for discoveries of all kinds of things. Euler chose to go there, just to name one of the most prominent scientists who enjoyed the world leading Russian academies. St. Petersburg was for centuries up there among London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna when it came to attracting scientists and entrepreneurs and artists. Come on, yankees, you won the cold war. Have you still not heard that news? It’s over. And Russia isn’t Soviet. It is not your enemy. Russians are essential to our civilization. How else would for example Americans go to space today?
Localfluff asked: “How else would for example Americans go to space today?”
We wouldn’t have cancelled the Space Shuttle program until later, which is why it lasted long enough to finish building ISS, and we would have been more serious about its replacements, Constellation and Commercial Crew.
Bob, you wrote: “I suspect Putin had grown tired of the continuing corruption and loss of market share under Rogozin’s watch during the past decade.”
That is one perspective. There is another which is related to Putin’s own corruption. Any big deal in Russia does not happen without big money going to Putin’s account. Hence the collusion between him and the Clintons.
Localfluff,
You make my point for me. Russia’s best days are well behind it. It’s current population is well below half what that of the Soviet Union was. And, once the troublemakers among the few million ethnic Russians still living in the “near abroad” are expelled back to their Motherland, Russia’s population will resume its post-Soviet norm of declining by roughly a million per annum.
Unfortunately, Russia is our enemy. This wasn’t true during the Yeltsin years, but, under Putin, Russia has restored its long-standing sociopathic political culture and returned to its historic pattern of aggression. Russians are not essential to anyone’s civilization.