A man was sitting across the aisle to my left on the plane. We were separated not only by passage, but also by tastes. The man is a lover of Russian detective stories and Moskovsky Komsomolets , believes only Khinshtein, believes that there is no one more beautiful in the world than “Russian girls”, although he has a purely theoretical idea about this very world. The man turned out to be from Gazprom. Somewhere out there, in Latin America, they have some plans, so they are flying to work closely on these plans.

And suddenly, unexpectedly, from this completely not “my” person, I heard what I was thinking about myself:

— The country is choking on money. It's time to change the pipes. These pipes of ours, through which we transport oil and gas, are already, consider, half a century old. Rotten. A little more and everything will fall apart for that same mother. The Stabilization Fund, you see, cannot be printed out. It's possible, if you do it smart. What does inflation have to do with it if we use this money to build roads or replace pipes?”

I also somehow remembered that if, God forbid, we touch the Stabilization Fund, then inflation will cover us. But if this money is invested in infrastructure, and not in populist election handouts to the population, then maybe nothing? In general, I have more and more economic inconsistencies with reality. But it turns out that it’s not just me. I do not reconcile the arrogance of the energy superpower that Russia is proclaimed with the energy crisis predicted for the winter. I don’t understand why “one Russian company” should invest a billion in the South African economy, and another another billion there. I would be as happy as the South Africans if the president of my country told me, without leaving the Kremlin, that “one Russian company” would invest a billion in domestic production. What, there is nowhere to invest, or what? Move a hundred kilometers from Moscow and invest in anything - the choice is one hundred percent.

Who would tell me about the roads? Or about pipes. Or about why Russian business “goes left” with the permission of the leader of the state? I want to understand about this, and not endlessly understand the complete nonsense called “sovereign democracy.” I want to understand what the state headed by this very leader is doing wrong, tracking in detail literally every barrel of oil and cubic meter of gas, that the country over the past six years has not rushed forward at the rate of growth of these same prices for our “everything.” I really want to figure this out somehow, because a successor is a continuator. So will he continue?

It's quite obvious what he shouldn't do. Firstly, he should not repeat the experience of his “teacher”, who, although named Yeltsin’s successor , did not become any kind of successor. He shouldn’t have cheated the way Mr. Putin cheated his teachers. He must remain obedient, essentially a secondary player on the team. Because unlike Yeltsin, Putin will not disappear anywhere. The one who has spent the last six years thoroughly studying barrels and cubic meters will remain paramount. In this sense, Putin will not leave, even if he formally cedes his seat in the Kremlin to a member of his team. Russia without natural resources is, alas, worth little. This little bit will go to the heir.

Poor successor. The main part of the inheritance will be controlled by the one who is already called the Russian Deng Xiaoping. For the sake of a successor, they will now begin to formally fight corruption, because it irritates voters, and for the sake of a real holder of leverage, they will create some kind of oil, gas and raw materials supergiant. The Constitution will be respected, the people will quickly figure out who is in charge in the country and will calm down in the hope that “ours” is in business and will simply wait four years to return. “Ours”, in the usual style for an intelligence officer, will not refute or confirm, neither today, nor tomorrow, nor the day after tomorrow. He will provide reliable cash flows to all team members interested in the commodity business.

In short, everything will be the same as it is now, with some external rearrangement of the figures. As Deng Xiaoping repeated: it doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white if it catches mice.

And the most remarkable thing is that without roads with worn-out equipment and in poverty, the Russian people, as if intoxicated, will reach out to the polling stations to confirm with their votes the business scheme developed by the Kremlin business corporation. And my fellow traveler from Gazprom, who understands everything about pipes and more, will most likely also catch up.

But my friend, a skeptical person, believes that the planned scheme will not work, because a person who sits in the presidential chair tends to feel like a president, and not a doll. However, in her village near Moscow, no one cares about this Kremlin and its games. They, it turns out, don’t understand at all where such a rating comes from for the one who will appoint a successor to them, if in this very village he himself has a zero rating.

Pipes are burning - Gazeta.Ru