[Arkinsaw]

For the Russian collapse to be a sham they sure have done a great job of it. They are excellent actors. Letting their navy deteriorate into rust is a pretty good ruse, pretending not to be able to pay soldiers for months also. Letting Poland join NATO and pretending they couldn't stop it was a masterstroke.

While not yet trusting them to watch my back, I don't mind them taking point. Sometimes healthy skepticism can deteriorate into paranoia.

[Restorer]

I also enjoy the great Russian acting. A 50% decline in GDP also takes great skill to pull off.

BTW, what's this with not paying the soldiers? Always sounded like a really poor idea to me.

[Stavka2]

Hehehe, silly Amerikan fool, we are master chess players...you will die and we will take yur women....vell, maybe the 20% that will fit in our cars....hehehehe

[DallasDeb]

Letting their navy deteriorate into rust is a pretty good ruse, pretending not to be able to pay soldiers for months also.

I don't believe the collapse was a deliberate subterfuge, but I do believe there are too many communists still in power and they have allowed democracy to fail by allowing the mafia to take over the country. I wouldn't be surprised to know that the mafia is composed of all those communist politburo types. They only understand force. Russia has taken huge amounts of money from the IMF and, what they haven't stolen, they have used to develop and build advanced weapons that they are selling on the world market.