[riri]

He sees it from a completely different perspective,now, I would guess. I would imagine he can now look in hindsight and see what has brought our destruction and also what, at one time, built our successes. I have to wonder if he believes he can rebuild learning from watching our destruction. As noted, he is not an ideologue.

I have to say, if you are Russian you are probably feeling a bit more optimistic about the future than any American who knows what is happening around them.

[Zhang Fei]

I have to say, if you are Russian you are probably feeling a bit more optimistic about the future than any American who knows what is happening around them.

Any country coming up from a low base is gonna have people who feel good about the future. Russia is doing well because China's rapid growth has taken commodity prices through the roof. Russia contains more raw materials than Brazil, the US and Saudi Arabia combined. For instance, in the early 90's, Chinese motor vehicle sales were 2m. In 2012, they were 20m. Putin was as lucky as Yeltsin was not.