russia aint poor

Originally posted by WarHeRo:

russia aint poor

Russians are poor. I forgot Putin and his cronies hoard all the money

It's not really China that keeps Russia poor and weak relative to its size. The oligarchs play a role, but most importantly, the Russian empire is smaller now than in has been in centuries. Historically, they've almost always been the de facto or de jure sovereign of most Eastern European states.

They no longer have a demographic advantage over the rest of Europe, their long history of authoritarianism has atrophied their artistic and scientific muscle, and even their military strength has been decimated (not to mention humiliated) in Ukraine.

China benefits from this, of course, but they're not directly responsible. It's just decades of bad management decisions taking their toll.