Why are you playing games with me? You know what I mean! If your per capita GDP is 1,000 and it will grow to 3,000 and if in other more developed countries it was 40,000 and is growing to 60,000, the absolute grow in developed countries is MUCH bigger than in poor countries, while the relative grow in poor countries is much higher. from 40,000 to 60,000 is 20,000! from 1,000 to 3,000 is 2,000. 2,000 is TEN times less than 20,000. While at the same time the grow from 1,000 to 3,000 is 300% (3 times more), while grow from 40,000 to 60,000 is 50% (1/2 times more).
So relative grow (in percentage) can be very misleading especially in very poor countries!
We are talking about Easter Europe and particularly Poland. Poland grew from 7k per capita to 21 thousand in 25 years (not easy as from 1,000 to 3,000), Ukraine didn't move at all, being stuck in old socialistic ways. Poland now is at half of German GDP per capita. Same with many Eastern European countries. You called them poor and never able to get to Western Europe level. Do you still think so? Did you had more time to analyze the numbers?
Mind you that you used therms "Never" and "Poor", that's why this discussion started.
What if new so called 'puppet' leaders (with private interests like hunger for money) of formal Russia allied countries are corrupt and egocentric those who deceive (and use) their own people and work for the West (the US, Germany) only to harm Russia and not to make their own nation more wealthy?
Why you are so concerned with a hypothetical scenario. Do you have anything substantial in mind?
I'm not sure if you didn't noticed that since cold war ended nobody in the west is competing with Russia in any way. Russia became second tier player with it's 2-3 trillion economy. China and Brazil became more important to the world with bigger economies than Russia. EU and US are 16 trillion economies each, together 32 trillion! Russia is now like a spoiled child looking for world attention, cutting off gas or attacking it's neighbors. "We used to be a big power, the world shakers, now nobody gives a damn. Our pride is hurt. Common, we are Russians, pay attention to us!"
These are typical maneuvers of dictatorships (Putin), to create external enemies and blame them for every problem Russia is facing. Did even one Russian (Ukrainian citizen of Russian ethnicity) died to justify invasion on Ukraine? I'm sure Putin used it to show Russians that he is the big leader.
There is not much gain from invading Crimea. Putin could spend another 50 billion (winter Olympic budget) and move military base to Russian shores. Probably for much less. A small price to pay to avoid a war and have a good friendly neighbor.
In short, nobody wants to hurt Russia. West doesn't want any economical disturbances. It is not good for business. All West wants from Russia is not to do any crazy moves. Russia knows about this, probably wants oil prices to go up (because of conflict). Putin shows Russians that he is a savior of the nation and will make a profit on oil and gas.
Tell me why Russia doesn't care for good neighbors? Except Belarus, they are all almost "enemies", all the way from Finland to Japan.
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