From Worldometer (new COVID-19 deaths yesterday):
DAY USA WORLD Brazil India South Africa
June 9 1093 4732 1185 246 82
July 22 1205 7128 1293 1120 572
Aug 12 1504 6556 1242 835 130
Sept 9 1208 6222 1136 1168 82
Oct 21 1225 6849 571 703 85
Nov 25 2304 12025 620 518 118
Dec 30 3880 14748 1224 299 465
Jan 14 4142 15512 1151 189 712
Feb 3 4005 14265 1209 107 398
Mar 2 1989 9490 1726 110 194
April 6 906 11787 4211 631 37
May 4 853 13667 3025 3786 59
June 1 287 10637 2346 3205 95
July 7 251 8440 1595 817 411
Aug 4 656 10120 1118 532 423
Sept 22 2228 9326 839 279 124
Oct 6 2102 8255 543 315 59
Nov 3 1436 7830 186 458 23
Dec 1 1633 8475 266 477 28
Jan 7 2025 6729 148 285 140
28 2732 10,516 779 862 133
Feb 2 2990 12,012 946 991 175
24 1823 9,809 996 304 40
Mar 2 1778 7,756 335 173 28
3 1258 7654 594 201 41
9 1265 6819 652 104 31
10 1247 6847 559 255 25
11 1022 6002 465 88 28
Summary:
- As long expected, a good decline in new deaths for the USA, although we remained #1 in the world.
- #2 was Russia with 674 and #3 Brazil with 465.
- South Korea had the most new cases yesterday with 282,976, but only with 290 new deaths.
- Germany was #2 with 245,342, and had 242 new deaths.
- On a new cases/million population basis:
- Iceland 7699
- Brunei 6548
- South Korea 5516
- Austria 5480
- New Zealand 4207
- Hong Kong 3852
- Finland 3806
- Germany 2914
- Singapore 2600
- Japan 498
- USA 118
- Taiwan 3.4
- China 0.4
- Was born in 1952 in Leningrad of a decorated war veteran, who worked as a foreman in a metal factory, while his mother was a factory worker. Had two brothers, both dying young. His grandfather was a personal cook to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.
- In 1983, he married Lyudmila Shkrebneva, a former flight attendant. They divorced in 2008.
- They had two daughters, Maria or Mascha, who is a medical researcher and lives in Moscow with her Dutch husband, and Katerina, who is an accomplished acrobatic dancer. In 2013 she married Russian billionaire Kirill Shamalov. But they divorced in 2018
- Has one granddaughter from Maria.
- In 2008 Putin was supposedly engaged to Alina Kabaeva, former Russian rhythmic gymnast, and might have fathered another daughter. They divorced in 2014, but continued to have children into 2019,
- Graduated as a lawyer in 1975, then worked for the KGB for 16 years.
- When Boris Yeltsin resigned, he became acting president.
- Thus, he has been running Russia for 23 years since 1999, although there was a period in between when he inserted Dmitry Medvedev in that role.
- Russia is authoritarian, not democratic.
- Russia signed the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse emissions in 2004. However, because the Russian economy fell during this period, they were exempted from mandatory cuts. Is an environmentalist in the protection of endangered animals like polar bears and white whales.
- Attends important services of the Russian Orthodox Church, but is intolerant of missionary activities, like from Jehovah's Witnesses.
- Is popular amongst the Russian Jewish community.
- There was the first Ukraine war in 2014 where he annexed Crimea and Sevastopol. But only after they voted to join the Russian Federation.
- The Russian economy:
- Won the 2018 presidential election with 76% of the vote. This term supposedly ends in 2024, and said he would not run for another term. But then in 2020 two amendments to the Russian Constitution allowed him to run for two additional terms. He also signed a bill giving lifetime prosecutorial immunity to Russian ex-presidents. Donald Trump must be jealous.
- Is actively attempting to increase territorial claims in the Arctic.
- Strengthened the military and now mostly has a professional army with draft service of one year.
- At the end of last year a poll found that 50% of Russians believed the U.S. and NATO are to blame for the Russia-Ukraine crisis, 16% blamed Ukraine and 4% blamed Russia.
- Abominable human rights record.
- Controls the media.
- Is an imperialist of the old Soviet school.
- While not the vaunted Soviet Union anymore, here are the current Post-Soviet states, and Putin considers Ukraine to be among them:
Post-Soviet states in English alphabetical order:
- 1 Armenia. 2
- Azerbaijan. 3
- Belarus. 4
- Estonia. 5
- Georgia. 6
- Kazakhstan. 7
- Kyrgyzstan. 8
- Latvia. 9
- Lithuania. 10
- Moldova. 11
- Russia. 12
- Tajikistan. 13
- Turkmenistan. 14
- Ukraine. 15
- Uzbekistan.
- Is #2 to the U.S. in exporting war items. However, the U.S. value is 3 times higher.
- What exactly was the blackmail material Putin had over Trump?
- Putin's approval rating
- 2007 81%
- dropped to 62% in the 2011-2013 period
- 2014 83%
- later in 2014 87%
- 2015 89%
- 2016 81%
- 2018 63%
- 2020 68% or 59%, depending on how the survey was taken
- Putin's trustworthiness level
- 2017 59%
- 2018 39%
- 2019 32%
- 2021 53%
- Putin's support among Russians aged 18-24 was 20%.
- Was Time Person of the year in 2007.
- Forbes had him as the most powerful individual from 2013-6.
- Personal worth
- Reports of an income around $270,000 annually, but wears watches six times that value.
- Purportedly possesses a multi-billion fortune through stakes in companies.
- Is said to be worth anywhere from $40 billion to $160 billion.
- Owns 20 villas and palaces. At least one mansion is valued at $1 billion. His rival Alexei Navalny has said that one Putin estate is 39 times the size of Monaco and cost $1.35 billion to construct.
- Watches soccer and has an interest in ice hockey.
- Drinks some beer, but not much vodka. Through his policies, Russian imbibition has dropped by 30%. They are not in the top 10 anymore. #1 is Czechia.
- Has been practicing judo since the age of 11, but switched to sambo, where he was awarded an eighth dan black belt in 2012. Also practices karate. Has written a judo book.
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