With all the money going into the Ukraine war and other ventures since Putin came to power, I imagine there’s a lot of stuff he could’ve done to make the world a better place and Russia a formidable world power.
With all the money going into the Ukraine war and other ventures since Putin came to power, I imagine there’s a lot of stuff he could’ve done to make the world a better place and Russia a formidable world power.
OK, but mostly it’s the imperialism.
Sweden and Finland, to take just two nearby examples, are roughly as wealthy as the Netherlands. Neither had an empire. Portugal, the world’s first superpower, with colonies on three continents, is far poorer than any of those three countries.
Russia is currently trying to re-establish its empire, and impoverishing itself in the process.
Imperialism is a red herring.