France is going wild

[Elliott]

23 minutes ago, Lyubov said:

This is so silly.

Russia is not going to break up.

Maybe caucuses like Chechnya or Dagestan may break away one day. There is literally zero push or desire for a separate nation in any of those other places and they are all firmly under Russian control. 

Russia has nukes and there government administration is very strong, even if there is a political crisis over who succeeds Putin the state will go on and they have everything they need to hold the country together. 

But yeah Russia will be rough if you’re a young person with no money.  

It would be from trade pressure, for Russia to get back into the 'first world'. Without Europe Russia will be Romania.

Things aren't going back to normal. These scenarios are modeled out extensively, with how to improve and capitalize on the flux. Times like these are when the world changes, an inflection point.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Elliott

[Lyubov]

1 hour ago, Elliott said:

It would be from trade pressure, for Russia to get back into the 'first world'. Without Europe Russia will be Romania.

Things aren't going back to normal. These scenarios are modeled out extensively, with how to improve and capitalize on the flux. Times like these are when the world changes, an inflection point.

 

I don’t doubt things are changing but no, that is one poor model if you think Russia will break apart. Russia has nukes and tons of oil and natural resources. A small area like Chechnya which has a history of fierce conflict for statehood, yeah maybe, but they have squashed that before and I doubt Chechnya would have enough resources or military to deter Russia. Their only hope would be diplomatically, they are already an autonomous region. The whole country breaking apart? No, ridiculous. China fully backs Russia in trade as well as India. What you can expect is a more dilapidation, less prosperous, an economy which doesn’t have much variety, etc. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Lyubov

[Jannes]

1 hour ago, Elliott said:

It would be from trade pressure, for Russia to get back into the 'first world'. Without Europe Russia will be Romania.

Things aren't going back to normal. These scenarios are modeled out extensively, with how to improve and capitalize on the flux. Times like these are when the world changes, an inflection point.

 

Well, Russia is pretty untouchable if it threatens with nukes. So militarily it cant be beat. 

And if Russia stopped the war, it would have a lot more resources to stabilize the economy. Also there are still asshole countries trading with russia. So I think its likely russia will pull out its spikes, lick its wounds and carry on a lot weaker then before with worse living standards but not taken over. 

Maybe in the long game you could trade nukes for trade benefits with russia. 

[Bjorn K Holmstrom]

5 hours ago, Etherial Cat said:

I agree that it's a pity that students who want to study are being prevented from doing so, but isn't that precisely the point of these protests?

If we want to address the underlying problems, we need more funding for public education and services. And that money will have to come from somewhere, which means looking at where the wealth and financial resources are actually concentrated.

Despite what is regularly said in the media, France is far from being broke. The state is heavily indebted, but private wealth is massive and continues to grow.

According to l'INSEE, French households held nearly €15 trillion in net wealth at the end of 2024, an increase of 0.7% in just one year. Meanwhile, the wealthiest 10% of households hold almost half of all household wealth (48%). For comparison, France's public debt stood at approximately €3.6 trillion in mid-2026.

So the question isn't simply whether France has wealth. It's how that wealth is taxed and distributed, then how much of it can reasonably be mobilised to finance public services as fundamental as the Education Nationale.

 

I want to point out something important. Most people still think governments operate like households, but they don't. That way of thinking is held by orthodox economists and pushed also by the neoliberal agenda. In France it’s a bit more complicated. France doesn’t have its own currency, the French state can’t do everything a country with its own currency can do. But that still doesn’t make it like a household. The limits are mainly political and institutional, which are rules we chose. The real constraints are political will, public awareness, and actual resources like teachers and materials.
Of course, this doesn't mean we don't also need to address wealth inequality, but it is made worse by falsely believing governments need to impose austerity when they should spend.