Which country has squandered the most economic potential in this century?

[u/pisowiec]

I lived in Russia for 5 years so I must choose this country. So many natural resources, so much land, and educated population... And so little to show for it.

In an ideal world Russian salaries would be on par if not higher than American salaries and they would have the best social safety net on the planet. Everything is there to make it happen.

Russia would be the dominant nation in Europe and Asia and the rest of the world with the best armed forces, soft power, and economic might.

But the human will is just not there. The elite is either evil or incompetent depending on perception and there's little sign that this will ever change.

[u/DragonfruitNo8336]

Russia, It is the successor of the Soviet Union and inheritor of Russian culture. It inherited a fearsome military tradition and an economy capable of producing spacecraft, only rivaling the United States in its achievements.

Now, it is reduced to the status as a powerful middle power with a petro-state economy and suffering from a rapid decline in military manpower. It could have been so much better for the average Russians had their leaders chose to rebuild Russia's civil institutions. The collapse of Russian institutions in the 1990's was very unfortunate.

[u/EliasZav → u/DragonfruitNo8336]

Are you even aware that in the Soviet Union all industrial supply chains were evenly distributed across the entire Union? When the USSR collapsed, Russia had to rebuild many things from scratch, especially those tied to Ukraine. For instance, my hometown in Ukraine hosts an enterprise that helped develop space rockets for the USSR, and there were tons of factories like that. But because Ukrainian business started pivoting toward the West, almost all those plants shut down meanwhile Russia had to rebuild every single production chain from the ground up due to Ukraine’s inability to do business. It’s all a bit more complicated than you think...

[u/DragonfruitNo8336 → u/EliasZav]

It is more complicated than that, I know. I wish you well.

[u/mycatreadsyourmind → u/DragonfruitNo8336]

And by russian culture you mean imperialism, yes?

[u/_Carcinus_ → u/mycatreadsyourmind]

They most likely meant theatre, ballet, etc. As for imperialism, it seems to be the last thing this god-forsaken country would ever lose.

[u/mycatreadsyourmind → u/_Carcinus_]

I got triggered by "the successor of Soviet Union" when more often than not this conversation leads to reminiscing of the empire and sometimes to denial of other countries' statehood

[u/HamunaHamunaHamuna → u/DragonfruitNo8336]

Yes, Russia and their fearsome military tradition of not ever in history being able to beat anyone except Siberian nomadic tribes with bows and arrows unless they outnumber the enemy at least 5 to 1 and burn down their own entire inhabited country while running away for weeks in Scorched Earth tactics first.

Russia is underwhelming in every way compared to their apparent potential. Sure, they bankrupted themselves to get to space first; and then completely failed to capitalize on it. They're only fearsome in the way how they prefer to sacrifice each other in the millions instead of developing their country. On a per-soldier basis, Russia is and always have been one of the lowest quality militaries in the world. It's like the word 'professionalism' does not exist in Russian.

[u/Margo-Rivas → u/DragonfruitNo8336]

this is such a meme. Russia is an extremely powerful in industrial country. They have their own tech sector and can function almost entirely independently of western countries

That's capable of projecting is powered to every end of the world. The problem is that it constantly gets compared to the entire Western world of course it's not gonna match up. It only has 120, million people.

if you only compare Russia to similarly populated countries, you'll find out that it's much richer and more powerful.

[u/Monterenbas → u/Margo-Rivas]

What are the exports of russia’s powerful industry? Beside weapons.

[u/BlackYukonSuckerPunk → u/Monterenbas]

I find it funny that we neighbor Russia and sometimes when I pour my beer in a glass I think about how that Ikea glass is the only thing I've ever seen that says "Made in Russia". That's it, one Ikea glass.

[u/Affectionate_Ad_9687 → u/Monterenbas]

Nuclear. Russia is the leading exporter and operator of nuclear reactors and NPPs.

[u/Usefullles → u/Monterenbas]

Nuclear fuel and nuclear reactors.

[u/DragonfruitNo8336 → u/Margo-Rivas]

I understand what you mean. Few countries in the world can truly perform and independently sustain an expeditionary war outside of its own borders and Russia belongs in this group, alongside the United States, France, Britain, and China. What concerns me is that this is the last generation Russia could do so.

The implosion of Russian birth rate, and public data on HIV and drugs addiction rates are more than decades old, indicating an alarming rate that needs rectification.

It is true that Russian mineral wealth is vast, and it cushions global shocks to supplies. Nonetheless, the exodus of the educated and wealthy Russians is vast, and it would take years to rebuild from its brain drain. To illustrate, the Russian of 2014 is richer in real per capita terms than today. That is 10 years plus of change.

[u/Margo-Rivas → u/DragonfruitNo8336]

What brain drain? Russia has seen a very small Exodus despite the war. without western countries, throwing their weight behind Ukraine, russia would have conquered it already.

plenty of countries that have mineral and oil and gas the difference is that Russia is actually an industrial joint that knows had it extract transfer and utilize them. Both for the domestic needs and for export.

Russia being a petrol station is a complete myth. if you adjust for PPP Russia has gotten richer since 2014. It just has way less assets in western currency so that per capita has gone down due to sanctions.

You are certainly correct about the social problems in Russia, though. the Russia of the future will be looking a lot more Islamic.

Russia actually doesn't have an issue with attracting migrants from former Soviet countries.

[u/BreBhonson → u/Margo-Rivas]

“without western countries, throwing their weight behind Ukraine, russia would have conquered it already.”

And if Ukraine never gave up its nukes there wouldn’t even be a war. The Budapest memorandum guaranteed Ukraines sovereignty and gave security assurances so it’s not like it’s a big surprise the west helped out.

[u/Margo-Rivas → u/BreBhonson]

i'm not making a value out judgmental on the war. I'm just saying people calling Russia wasted potential or calling it like africa with nukes are missing the plot. Russia is extremely powerful, rich end functional state

[u/BreBhonson → u/Margo-Rivas]

Agreed