Quote Originally Posted by drillerpie View Post

So yeah the dictator argument is a seductive one but I think if you look at the facts, the biggest advances in a lot of the countries we mentioned (Italy, Germany, Japan post WW2, China 1970, Russia hasn't really happened yet but may do in the future) came when they got rid of their Fuhrer/Emperor/Duce and integrated into the western system, accepted their borders were not going to change, and stopped posing a threat to their neighbours.
Disagree with that bit, there was a period after the fall of the USSR where Russia was very forward looking and prosperous. In remember when I first started meeting Russians on my travels after they had been freed from the communist yolk. There were even murmurs during the turn of the 21st century, that Russia, may look to join the EU. Then came Putin, whose popularity plummets with the death of every, septuagenarian who is dewy eyed for the old days when Russia was feared, yet they seem to forget the bread queues when a piece of meat would cost a weeks wages.

There is no reason why Russia could not be a superpower like China, it could be virtually, self sustaining if run properly.