With QR Codes, Moscow has Alienated Regions and Turned Russia into ‘a Powder Keg’ Ready to Explode, El Murid Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 18 – Anatoly Nesmiyan, who blogs under the screen name “El Murid,” says that the QR code system has alienated not only the residents of the regions and governors but regional elites and thus its introduction has turned the entire country into “a powder keg” ready to explode.

            Residents of the region don’t like this latest restriction on their freedom, governors don’t like it because they don’t have the money to pay for what Moscow has ordered them to do, and regional elites don’t because governors forced to find the money somewhere are taking it away from them (publizist.ru/blogs/113683/41604/-).

            The QR code system in fact points to “the final collapse of regional economies” with the threat now on the horizon that regional economic elites will become as impoverished as the populations surrounding them. Their anger explains why “the quiet sabotage by the regions” of this program reflects a broaded consensus in them about Moscow.

            For the time being, Nesmiyan says, this resistance has taken the form of “sabotage,” but there ca”nnot be “the slightest doubt that when power in the Kremlin begins to shake, the regions will adopt one of two strategies, either supporting those at the center who promise them guarantees for their power and property or begin the process of separation.”

            What this means, the commentator says, is that “the regime has surrounded itself not just with a minefield but turned the entire country into an enormous powder keg. There is nowhere in the country where this insurmountable conflict is not now smoldering.” And it is clear to all that “this state of affairs can’t be changed within the current system of power and control.”

            “There are simply no moves available anymore, even theoretically,” Nesmiyan concludes.