re: #735 Desert Dog

I’d say Russia has slid a little towards the 3rd now….in the tinpot dictator category. Take away that oil money and they are a larger version of Bulgaria.

Only if you take away all that oil money. Which is silly; it’s their oil, the world is hungry for it, and they’re going continue selling it and enjoying superlative growth rates for the foreseeable future. Russia may have been sliding toward Third World economic status during the end years of Communism, but they are now aggressively capitalistic and are happily cashing in on their resources.