By this logic religious leftist governments in Central and South America that often included Jesuit priests in government would have enjoyed great success. None did.
Believe it or not, there are many very religious leftists - especially in central and south America. We used to have a breed like this in the United States, they were a lot of the southern Democrats in fact.
Also, Putin is a authoritarian leader who slowly but surely deprives average Russians of any voice in the governing of their lives. He arrests or has killed opposition to his rule, he will sell arms to anyone willing to buy, he has partnered himself with some of the worst regimes in the world. I'd hardly call much of this particularly Christian behavior.
And as far as Russia's blessings are concerned. Their economy is retracting, the rate of alcoholism is sky high, they have the second highest abortion rate in the world behind China (which has 5-6 times the population), etc, etc. I'm not seeing the blessings here, are you?
Curbed speech, waiting in lines, lack of individualism, and lack of entrepreneurial spirit (Russians admire it in Westerners but frown on it in other Russians), and decades of beat down in the long, sad wake of the Red Revolution, and the alcoholism and other despairs that come with that makes for a sad past 100 years indeed.
They are no utopia certainly, and Putin is in no wise a perfect leader, but they are a great nation with a long and storied history that is coming out of this hole, emerging. America is entering that same hole, for we collectively have yet to experience this long, sad lesson. I do not mean you or me or those on Free Republic, but rather the millennials and those who cheered Obama's election both times and have yet to put it all together.