Perceptions of countries change over time. In the nineties, Russia was referred to as Nigeria with nukes, or Upper Volta with nukes, or choose whatever unfortunate West African country to compare Russia to. These days however, Russia has an economy the size of Italy. Note that Russia managed to get to the level of Italy, and it makes you wonder why Italy doesn’t have the best economy in the World?
Italy is a member of the EU, of G7, and has doors open all across the collective West. Yet guys, I often spend time in Southern Italy, and that place is grim when it comes to economic life. On the other hand, the West treats Russia like Zimbabwe, and it managed to build an economy the size of Italy? Wait several years, and Russia will be compared to Germany, as Germany declines and Russia strides on. Another cliché description of Russia is the saying that it no longer is the Soviet Union. I have been hearing that since the nineties.
I am glad that it isn’t the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation is actually better, and I will demonstrate this on few examples. The late USSR was a net importer of grain and other food products, people still jokingly remember Bush’s chicken legs imported into Russia in the early nineties. Well, guess what, in 2016, Russia became a net exporter of food. The USSR had a really bad agricultural sector, that was not able to provide the large country with the food it needed.
My mother told me a story how they would spend summer in Ukraine, at my great-grandmothers. My great-grandmother hated the Soviet government, she said the Bolsheviks never did anything good beyond installing electricity in her village. She would encourage the kids to pick cherries in the kolkhoz orchard. She said that the cherries would rot, and nobody would pick them, and if the children bring her some, she would at least make jam. I would not be surprised if the orchard wasn’t planted by my kin, and wasn’t part of their farm before collectivisation.
Time for another story. Southern Sakhalin was a Japanese territory until the Second World War. My grandfather, the son of the aforementioned great-grandmother was a military man, he was posted to the Far East in the 1950s and 1960s. His task was rebuilding airstrips abandoned by the Japanese. Recently, I read in the news, Russian news, that a new railway was built in Southern Sakhalin. The Japanese rails are of a different standard to the Russian one, and requires different trains. When the Soviets seized Southern Sakhalin, they did not bother with laying a new railway according to a Russian standard. The Sovoks bought trains in Japan for rails in Southern Sakhalin. For like 6 decades…
Russia pursues two policies, one involves the build up of infrastructure, especially ports, and the other is about import substitution. Putin has managed to resurrect the nuclear industry, among others. Aviation industry is one of the others. A new plane Russia designed, the MS-21 was sanctioned by the jealous Washington. More specifically, the composite materials out of which the wings are made that were imported from Japan. Russia used its restored nuclear giant Rosatom to create these composite materials. So not only did the Japanese lose business as a result of American sanctions, the Russians also acquired a production capability. Recently, Washington threatened to ban the import of iPhones to Russia. LMAO, they are welcome to try…
Russia also builds infrastructure to bypass Russophobic countries in Eastern Europe, the infamous Baltic and Black Sea pipelines, which Washington also tried to stop. Also a Baltic port in Ust’ Luga, which is cutting out other Baltic ports, such as Riga. The Baltic states are losing fuck you money. The Baltic states would rather start a trade war with China to please their master in Washington, it is all very comical. Recently, the European Commission complained to the WTO that it is losing billions over Russian import substitution. It must only mean, Russia is doing something all…
PS: I find the story of Russia very motivational…
Insomniac Resurrected 
I think that besides the ability to self-sustain on important factors such as food, another thing that Russian Federation does really well that China can learn from, is that Putin has ensured that most Russians feel like they’re in a family. This sense of belonging is very important and cannot be forced. I think the concept of faith and the way how Russian families are structured plays a huge role here. People feel more likely to trust what Russia provides rather than to go on oversea adventure to fulfill their vanity, and the rigid hierarchy based on income, career and age are not as obvious. Putin understands the importance of the essence of the people and the very basic concept of “this is a country, not a company nor a classroom”. Perhaps Russia’s 90’s has taught Russians a painful lesson that they cannot rely on some kind of foreign role models and their brains worth more than any lecturing from US and EU. China on the other hand, looked at the former Asian Tigers as role models and it has caused all sorts of social problems AND on top of that, all those former Asian Tigers still have superiority complex towards China and/or buy into that “China is an aggressive expansionist” bullshit. All in all, Putin’s strategy has created a way better foundation to build a strong, self-reliant and robust Russian economy for the future, without having to worry about any sort of societal backlash. Gotta learn to crawl before one can learn to walk, gotta learn to walk before one can learn to run; Putin understands that and it’s something China has failed to realize, and it has resulted in a not-so-happy society.
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