Damon Hayhow
Billionaire, philanthropist, playboy, international man of mystery. I was on track to this childhood career goal until I made one tragic mistake: I joined a gym. Now I rant a lot about food, weight training and body recomposition, at damonhayhow.com.
Russia, we are told, is a brutal, undemocratic dictatorship, ruled with an iron fist by an evil, murderous madman named Putin.
In 2022, Russia launched an “unprovoked”, “illegal” and “full-scale” war against Ukraine, solely because Putin is a madman. Apparently, the Russian military is so weak that they invaded Ukraine using World War I muskets and shovels, had to pilfer microprocessors from washing machines for their computerised equipment, lost half their military in the first year of the war, and have been on the brink of running out of ammunition every week for the past 2.5 years.
Despite this we all need to “stand with Ukraine” or else Putin’s weak, incompetent, broke, decimated and unarmed military will somehow fumble its way through NATO’s invincible armies and take over all of Western Europe. Apparently it is an existential threat, while simultaneously being utterly pathetic.
The trouble that I have with this narrative, aside from it being irrational nonsense, is that the authorities telling me these things are the same authorities who lied to me relentlessly for three years about Covid. That was after they lied to me for three years about Russian “collusion” and “hacking” of the 2016 US presidential election. Then they lied that Hunter Biden’s laptop, full of evidence of Biden family criminality, was Russian disinformation, to sneak Joe Biden into the US presidency.
Do need to formally acknowledge Russian values: Christianity; marriage is between a man and a woman; there are only two genders.
In fairness, Putin almost does seem like a madman when comparing his management of Russia to the way Western governments are managing their countries. His government runs a fiscally responsible, balanced budget; national debt is low; the tax rate is a business-friendly 15 per cent; the borders are secure, and men do not play in women’s sport. It’s madness.
In 2024, the Russian economy rose to fourth largest in the world (according to the World Bank, in terms of purchasing power parity). Her people are enjoying high employment, rising wages and increased standard of living. The economy has diversified to the point that oil and gas now only account for 15 per cent of GDP.
Not only did Western sanctions against Russia fail, her financial, military and geopolitical power has been turbocharged. Far from facing collapse, the major concern of the Russian central bank is preventing the economy from overheating.
Last month I wrote about the dire state of the US economy and the monumental threat faced by every country whose economy is intertwined with the US: like Australia and all of Europe. Russia is one of the only viable economies on earth that has been fundamentally decoupled from the failing economies of the US and Europe. The sanctions were intended to be a crippling attack against Russia, but they have backfired spectacularly in Russia’s favour. When combined with the relationships and agreements Putin has formed within the growing BRICS community, Russia is likely to be one of the few positively performing economies during the coming Western/global recession.
None of this means that Russia is a bastion of freedom and libertarianism, of course. It is not. But which of the woke, broke, corrupt and de-industrialised Western liberal democracies could be described as bastions of freedom currently?
The basis of libertarianism is the freedom to choose which compromises you are willing to accept. Every choice has an opportunity cost. Voluntary association with others inherently involves compromise.
The question, therefore, is not whether a country is politically libertarian. The question is whether you can pursue your personal dreams, goals and priorities, into the foreseeable future, without undue interference, theft or unacceptable compromise? For many, it is increasingly difficult to answer that question positively in Australia or the West.
Putin has tried warning Western audiences that their divisive, woke, equity nonsense was already tried, and failed, by the Communists when they took control of Russia a century ago. But, like Donald Trump, his warnings and statements are censored or grossly misrepresented by the Western media.
So, Russia recently rolled out a new residency visa program for Westerners looking to escape the tyranny of Western wokeness and economic collapse. Perhaps the original idea was simply to ‘troll’ woke Western governments. But it has become a legitimate and popular program.
The basis of libertarianism is the freedom to choose which compromises you are willing to accept.
It is the first non-sponsored Russian residency visa for which you do not need to learn the Russian language. But you do need to formally acknowledge Russian values: Christianity; marriage is between a man and a woman; there are only two genders.
The Russian government is transparent about wanting to grow the Russian population with law abiding, Christian, family oriented people who are willing to contribute and integrate into Russian society.
There are countries more libertarian than Russia, but few have the future economic potential of Russia, with such positive cultural values and such a low cost of living for such a high quality of life. With the new visa program, you are free to choose.
This article was originally published by Liberty Itch.
