Quote Originally Posted by Fenring View Post

On the economic side, Russia's economy grew so much because it was in shambles to begin with and oil prices enabled them to earn a lot of money. Nothing to do with Putin. Maybe he is capable of steering Russia through this crisis, there's just no reason to assume he is.
Which is why Zimbabwe, Burma (and indeed most of Africa, half of Asia and South America) are now rich developed economies. Nothing to do with Putin...