Novaya Gazeta reports the Russian government is planning to cut spending on health care by 33% in 2017.

This reemergent supah powah thing is going really, really well.

But as I was told by a Russian cabbie today, all of the country’s problems, including problems with housing maintenance, actually stem from the “fact” that the current constitution (adopted in 1993) was “dictated by the Americans.”

Whenever I hear something like this, I’m reminded of Mark E. Smith endlessly repeating, “It was the fault of the government. It was the fault of the government…” in the song “Jerusalem” on the glorious album I Am Kurious Oranj (1988).

But in Russia, it’s always the fault of someone else’s government, especially, in recent decades, the US government.

This is total infantilism, and there is no excuse for it anymore, especially with  Russian bombs raining down on Aleppo like there’s no tomorrow.

But isn’t that the point? Putinism has no future. Or rather, its continued existence postpones the future indefinitely. So why not go for the gusto and slash health care for your own citizens while bombing the crap out of people (I will never tire of repeating) who have never harmed a single hair on a single Russian’s head. Maybe something will come of it. Or maybe everything will go up in smoke. Whatever the case, like a two-year-old, you could give a flying fuck.