Russia"s Backward Technology Base Is Crippling The Empire's Ambitious Future

One of the many reasons for the collapse of the USSR was the inability of the creaking Soviet empire to keep up with both the military and the civilian technologies of the western world. So, you would expect Vladimir Putin to do everything in his power to strengthen and diversify domestic investment in a broad range of Russian scientific and technological research, nicht wahr? Particularly if Putin was planning to present a belligerent face to the world, as in the recent invasion and occupation of Georgia.

But instead, Putin has alienated foreign investors -- including the foreign companies he needs to help maintain the rich Russian oil and gas fields -- and neglected domestic educational and research facilities. Russia's universities and large industries have been allowed to decline, and much of Russia's wealth as been dismantled and shipped to financial havens out of the country. And Russia's military? Russia's military is a rusting shell barely covering a core of corruption, disrepair, and demoralised incompetence.

...“the record to date of money being loaned by the state central budget to defense industry is not a happy one. Examples of some of all of this money being diverted into peoples’ pockets are well-known, so it is questionable if even half of this $56 billion will end up where it is supposed to.”

“Additionally, it is impossible to deny that some parts of Russian industry are no longer capable of producing a full-up weapon system and never will be able to again. Sooner or later Russia will end up importing weapons–instead of making them as they have done for decades. It is already easier all the time to import foreign components that are incorporated into Russian weapon platforms for the simple reason that there are no longer any Russian analogues to these components in production. Moving from this situation to importing whole, final-production weapon systems to Russia is not such a small step anymore.

When Chemezov created ROT and acquired control of almost every Russian industrial enterprise worth owning he looked as though his corporate behemoth had also acquired that “too big to fail” label that we are hearing so much about in the United States during the current world financial meltdown. But, just wishing does not make it so. No one can undo the almost 20 years of neglect and zero investment that Russian industry has suffered. No matter how much is done now failure in the defense sector seems about the only option and drinking the night away in Abu Dhabi instead of tending to business is only going to accelerate that decline. _WeeklyStandard_via_LaRussophobe

Russia is losing between 400,000 and 700,000 ethnic Russians a year -- via low birth rates and high death rates. Within a matter of mere decades there will not be enough ethnic Russians to defend most of Russia from being taken over by its neighbors -- including China (or whatever fragments of China are still functioning at that time). China is not allowing Russia to bluff it any longer. Unfortunately, Obama and his clowns are eminently bluffable. Unless the clowns are sent to the old clown's home soon, China would appear to be the winner of this three man Mexican standoff. Until China itself crumbles.

Then things begin to get very interesting, in a rather Idiocratic way of things.