Quote Originally Posted by HopAlongBunny View Post
Little doubt that Russia can finance all its wishes and dreams one way or another; it may come at the cost of crippling its' future options.
An economically wounded Russia plays well in most Western nations, but the loss of value that Russia could bring to the world economy is problematic.
Apart from very good anti-virus systems that don't have NSA backdoors... what does Russia supply that another nation (China, Germany, Saudi Arabia) cannot supply at a better value point?

They have the same main problem as Australia in being for their size a primary producer for export dollars.