Russia’s New Nuclear Missiles (II)
Written by Alfonso Elizondo
Although most war experts think Russia already has its new hypersonic missiles aimed at Washington and other Western cities – missiles like the Tsirkon that can travel up to 1000 km to strike ground targets – after his last speech at the Ministry of Defense, where a video of a submarine nuclear drone was shown, Putin said it could operate at an unprecedented depth and travel faster than all types of existing vessels and torpedoes. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the drone is immune to interception and can carry a heavy nuclear weapon to attack carrier groups and coastal areas.
At the moment, there is a scenario similar to the one in 1962, when Russia replaced the regular Cuban missiles with nuclear missiles in response to the shipment of rockets that the US made to Turkey.
In his last military speech, Putin pointed out that in the last six years the real income of Russians has fallen, and he promised that incomes would improve because Russia can concentrate its huge financial resources on the country’s development.
Putin has largely lost the patriotic fervor generated by the annexation of Crimea five years ago, and this, coupled with Western sanctions and the economic crisis, has had a remarkable effect on the pockets of Russian citizens. And soon there will be presidential elections.
However, Putin did not clarify how the State can pay for all his social promises, nor did he explain why the Russian economy has grown at an annual rate of only 0.7%. Apart from that issue, Putin said that one of Russia’s biggest problems was its downward demographic trend that could put the country’s growth at risk. The birth rate continues to fall; in 2017 there were 10% fewer births than in the previous year, according to the Federal Statistics Institute.
Added to this population decline, plus the decline caused by overseas migration – 60,000 Russians leave the country every year to work in other countries, 40% of which have higher education – Russia now has a life expectancy of 68 years for men and 77 for women.
Putin’s measures seem to be geared towards controlling the demographic problem and increasing the birth rate, with the promise of more help to large families and less bureaucracy in accessing social aid from the public budget so that families with children can pay their mortgages.
This entire project of Russian reconstruction is supported by its incredible nuclear war power with which it can destroy the whole Western world in a few hours.
Addendum: The apocalyptic part of this situation is that most of the top leaders of the world today are still thinking about their material interests, without being able to sense the great danger that the whole planet would face if a world war were to break out.