“Yet, it is only 11th in GDP, and a pathetic 57th in GDP per capita, behind such economic powerhouses as Greece and Kazakhstan. How is that even possible given all those natural resources?”
Maybe because they’re measuring wrong.
Who supplies stuff?
Who makes stuff?
Who grows stuff?
Versus:
Who has the largest entertainment industry?
Who has the largest insurance industry?
Who has the largest banking industry?
Who has the most lawyers?
There’s a reason that, despite throwing virtually everything that we had at Russia, that crappy little country, USING ONLY THEIR PINKY, is beating the crap out of a country we spent 8 years arming and training...while the West is watching their economies get DESTROYED right in front of their faces, while that crappy little country has its strongest currency in 4 years.
Time the West to re-write their Economics Books, it seems.
That's simply wrong. We did train them and provide limited defensive munitions, which explains why they've managed to hold out against what was supposedly the greatest land power in the world for nearly four months. But we have never provided aircraft, which was their single biggest need. Nor did we ever provided artillery or armor in any real quantity. That means the Russians have held a massive superiority in supporting arms. As a former artillery officer myself, that's an almost handicap to overcome, especially in the steppe areas of southern Ukraine.
Despite that, the attempted Russian mobile/tank advances have all failed. What has succeeded is the slog provided by simple weight of massive ordnance - their massive advantage in artillery and Air support, and grinding infantry asvance. But it is a rather pathetic commentary on their overall military effectiveness that it has taken them this long to accomplish even the limited gains they have.
If you want to go with the entire West being more dependent on Russia's economy than vice-versa...I guess we'll just have to wait this one out and see. But I'm guessing that six months from now, we're going to be hearing an awful lot of calls from those siding with Russia that we.much lift sanctions because it is so "unfair".