by Benjamin Sledge
"Russian demographics are in free fall. As Whitney Milam correctly pointed out and forecasted in her 2018 article, 1 in 10 Russians are over 65 and their workforce is in shambles. They cannot replace workers due to declining birthrates. Then, add in the fact that Russia has skyrocketing levels of alcohol and substance abuse, a failing healthcare sector, declining life expectancy, and astronomical rates of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and you have Russia edging toward a failed state. Most of Russia is also a frozen tundra with non-arable land.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
The reason Russia needs to expand its borders has everything to do with natural resources, port cities, mountainous borders to keep other countries from incursion, and populations that aren’t in decline. A bit of both/and, though, is the reason it’s happening at this point in history. The first bit is — as I explained — geography and demographics. The second portion is because Putin has become emboldened by the West’s response to international affairs, beginning with South Ossetia and Crimea, but culminating with recent U.S. and coalition troop withdrawals. We’ve left countries like Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen (even the Russians played around in Syria). The icing on the cake was the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan last year that became an international embarrassment and is now a human rights crisis. Why be afraid of a dog that’s all bark and no bite?"
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Benjamin Sledge
"I’ve loved stories since I was a little kid. In grade school, I even wrote a book about a mutant snowflake with Rambo like characteristics (which got me sent to the principal’s office). While I had a knack for stories, I wasn’t very good. Years later, I approached one of my best friends about the writing craft. He’s a Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author and mentored my curiosity and passion into the craft.
For several years I read stories to my cat. Somehow people took note after several years and my writing took off on Medium.
Since then, I’ve accumulated some 35,000 followers, authored several viral articles, and landed Top Writer status in the categories of Life, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Relationships, Fiction, Love, and Short Stories. My writing has also been featured in numerous publications. This eventually led to a book deal in 2020 with a major publisher and my war memoir, Where Cowards Go To Die, drops in June 2022."
"Biden blocks Russian oil imports in latest round of sanctions on Kremlin"
March 8, 2022
"President Biden announced on Tuesday that the U.S. will ban the importing of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal, broadening the economic sanctions leveled against Moscow over its war in Ukraine." Los Angeles Times