So, how’s their economy doing? Are they building good stuff?
>>>>So, how’s their economy doing? Are they building good stuff?<<<<
Not that bad. They are the major grain exporters along with the Ukraine right now. Both nations were simply starving importing wheat from US since 1960s into earlier 1990s under communist regimes.
And Russia is still an industrialized nation and not that much of petrocracy.
If you are to check their economy index, it’s extraction industries makes no more than 10% of total economy and manufacturing has higher share comparing to US.
There are really little Russian products on US market but it doesn’t mean there aren’t elsewhere. For example Chevy cars and SUVs sold in Central Asia and Eastern Europe are Russian built. Russian arms sales are strong in the world. Can you at least name a US domestic HDTV maker? And Russia has a number of companies who builds consumer electronics. They are actually making pretty everything. Ford , Toyota, Nissan, VW, Mercedes-Benz and others are building there. Local Russian brands are selling a million vehicles annually. Their large heavy-duty trucks are rated best over any other maker in remote places of Asia.