Will Russia ever...

We discussed this in my World History class before. It is a very plausible idea because they have the resources and man power. Their only problem is the political climate - they need strong leadership, but also far, uncorrupted leadership, to guide them. Unfortunately, they do not have it at this point. Russia is a place that I am very interested in and intend to visit someday.

A very interesting question!! My Sweetheart just got back from Russia, where, he told me, he could feed a household of five people in aproximately $4 USD a day. I'll pass this discussion on to him, and see what he says.

Well Russia has certainly recovered from the dreadful time of Yeltsin, when I understand that the economy collapsed, and people were unpaid and had to resort to barter. Putin certainly deserves credit fro turning things around. However in the long run, the thing holding Russia back is the low birth rate. I understand that this has fallen so much that Russia will have 40 million less people in 40 years time. GDP is a function of labour. In absolute terms, if your population shrinks, your GDP does too. As a result Russia will find it hard to keep up with the USA, EU, India and China. India and China are a billion people each. The EU is 450 million and the USA is 300 million. Russia is now only 140 million, and this looks like falling. If the Russian birth continues to fall, the Russian fate is like Japan's, - Japan started to stagnate once the population started to age and then fall. But if Russia increases the birth rate, then they have a good chance of keeping up with everyone else.

well one of the things with Russia, is they make mostly hard currency from arms deals. they have a declining population, they was so powerful during the cold war because of all the nations they had under their influence and absorbed into their country. and its been less then twenty years since the USSR fell and Russia rose, sure you may say its enough time. but its not enough time when they dont have enough people able to contribute.

I think that Russia will become really strong when it decides to become a Member State of the European Union. I know that this issue is not in the political agenda of that country, but I bet that in less than 50 years they will become part of the EU. They have many natural resources that are boosting their economy, but I think that they can't face the biggest economies in the world such as the U.S.A., the European Union and emerging economies like China, Brazil and India. They already have strong relations with the EU and I think that just being in a open free market society like the one present in the 27 member states of the EU, could let them become a really big and stable powerful economy.