© TASS / Ruptly
There's only one thing able to unite Russia's notoriously divided 'non-systemic' opposition: hostility to Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin. Thus, they may take his faint praise for their activities with a pinch of salt.
Speaking to TASS news agency, Putin lauded the positive contribution the activists make to the life of the country. "May God bless them," the president said. "I feel that these people are essential. After all, you do understand this is not my first day on the job. So, I believe that they are needed very much. I can tell you that they do have an impact on daily life, locally in particular, on a municipal level in major cities, and so on."
He also noted that in any country, a certain part of society will always disagree with the government of the day. However, he
advised Russian oppositionists to keep their activities within the confines of the law - otherwise, he warns, streets will burn and chaos will break out. Reiterating that "it is good that such people exist," he mentioned
there are "certain rules for everybody to adhere to, even those who like the authorities and those who do not."
Putin also expressed his belief that history shows those who foment revolution, "as a rule, do not stay in power [for long]," with the Soviet Bolsheviks perhaps being a rare exception.
Comment: England's chief medical officer is making headlines for stating that the worst case scenario for the UK could see 80% of the population infected. He clarified by stressing it's much more likely to be less than that, but bigger numbers get bigger headlines: Given that 20% of the passengers on board the quarantined Princess Diamond cruise ship got the virus, with any luck an outbreak in the population will infect a smaller percentage than that. Plus, it seems that around half of cases are asymptomatic, so even if it managed to infect 20% of the population, 10% would show symptoms. 1-2% of 10% is 0.1-0.2%, which is around the same number of people who typically die of the flu every year. But so far, there aren't signs it will come to that. Hopefully it stays that way.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to shield the U.S. economy from the coronavirus fallout. RT's Book Bust spoke with Jefferey Tucker of the American Institute for Economic Research to see what's going on with the markets:
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