What's the future of Russia?

Question

Might be quite a broad question but I ask anyway:
what's the future of Russia economically and socially? As far as I've understood, the country is experiencing economic growth but when are we going to see it reaching, say, western European standards? I mean, St. Petersburg and Moscow are modern cities but are the chances the other cities and towns throughout the entire country will develop? I think Russian culture is one of the most exciting in the world and it's a pity that there are still some major problems there to be solved... Thanks for any replies! -Russian fan :)

Answer 1

Russia's future is bleak and terrible. They have not become free enterprise capitalists, they have become a kleptocracy, a society dominated by criminals, starting with Czar Putin.

You can start a business there, but when you do you'll have a whole train of thugs showing up at your door, some from organized crime and some from the government, demanding their protection kick-backs. So you have to figure out who's most likely to kill you, and take your chances with the others. Decide wrong, and you'll likely be dead soon.

The country is rapidly depopulating, which is what guarantees it is screwed. A demographic death spiral is coming. Life sucks, so no one wants to have children. Aborting every pregnancy is the norm, and actually having kids is somewhat unusual. The only vital demographic group in Russia is the radical Muslims.

It made news recently that Japan hit the tipping point where the number of deaths exceeded the number of births. Russia hit this milestone in 1992 and by now it has 50% more deaths than births. The death:birth ratio is about 1.5 to 1. THAT my friends is demographic suicide. (In the US there are nearly twice as many births as deaths.)

How these things work is, it only gets worse. There is a large mass of middle aged Russians, while the pipeline of growing children is very narrow. So in the near future when that bulk of middle aged people start dying off, there'll be very few young Russian adults who can oppose that trend by having kids. So that death:birth ratio will explode, and the population will implode. And that very dire situation will moreover only further discourage young couples from having kids.

This century Russia will lose Siberia to China (voluntarily or otherwise), and so lose many of its natural resources.

At the moment high oil prices have brought in money to juice up their economy, but that won't last. You're looking at a dead country.

Answer 2

"You become what you fear" (unknown)

In the 1950's the USA feared Communism and the USSR feared Capitalism. Ironic that Russia is now the most Capitalistic society and the USA is boarder line Communist (politically & economically).

PBS did a special on Russia recently. They covered a TV program that mimic's the USA's "Sex and the City". I learned that there are more women than men since the 1950's and this is forcing women to work in a capitalistic enviroment. Beyond that, Russia's future looks very promising providing that we (USA & Russia) maintain friendly relations striving for Free Trade.