The Russian Federation might have better prospects than the USA. Because Russian Civilization has been in an Age of Conflict since 1900, this means that it hasn't had an instrument of expansion since 1900. Soviet imperialism and Soviet political domination of Russian Civilization brought growth and successes for several decades, but the Soviet Union began to go into decline in 1965 and it collapsed after 1985. One of the states that emerged from this collapse is the Russian Federation. It's by far the largest state on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Since the Russian Federation has no instrument of expansion, it has experienced serious economic and social difficulties from the beginning. The Russian Federation can still have serious economic growth, but, in order for this to happen, it has to engage in imperialism and become an empire. In the 1990s, under the oligarchical dictator Boris Yeltsin, the Russian Federation was a client state of the USA. Things began to change when Vladimir Putin came to power. It seems that, under Putin, Russia wants to at least be a regional power. Of course, the biggest obstacle to Russian ambitions in the region at this time is the USA, which has surrounded Russia with military bases and with unfriendly states after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In this situation, it's hard to say if Russia will be successful in its aspiration of becoming an empire. A new empire that will control the territory of Russian Civilization, like the Soviet Union did, will of course emerge in the future, but the question lies in whether or not this empire will be created by the regime that appeared in the Russian Federation in the 1990s. If the current Russian regime manages to outlast the USA, and the decline of American power, it will have opportunities to engage in some real imperialism and to conquer the small states that surround it. However, the recession of American imperialism might also bring new challenges because, instead of dealing with one very powerful empire in decline, Russia will possibly have to deal with several hostile, aggressive, surrounding states. Such a situation will bring new challenges and not only new opportunities. Therefore, if the regime in Russia perseveres, if it doesn't get overthrown, and if it does engage in some real imperialism, it will have a future. But these are big ifs. The standard of living in Russia is, of course, considerably lower than in the USA and in other Western states. By Western standards, most people in Russia are very poor and miserable. Incredibly, life in some other post-Soviet states, like Ukraine, is even worse than in Russia. The Russians had the highest standard of living in their history when the Soviet Union existed. For example, there appears to be a reason why Nikita Khrushchev said, "We will bury you" to the Americans. When he said this, the economy of the Soviet Union was growing by about 8% a year. This growth rate wasn't as impressive as the growth rate that existed during the rule of Joseph Stalin, but it was still impressive. The Soviet economy was growing faster than the American economy when Khrushchev was in power, and I suppose that this fact explains why Khrushchev had so much confidence. If this growth had continued, the Soviet Union would have indeed buried the USA. But the Soviet Union began to go into decline after Leonid Brezhnev came to power. Naturally, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and after Russia became an economic colony of the West, the standard of living in Russia fell dramatically. The economic crisis that began in the West in 2008 and the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia by the West after what happened in Ukraine in 2014 have taken a toll. Life in Russia has become even more difficult. Naturally, Putin, as a capable politician, has tried to distance himself from Yeltsin because Yeltsin is very unpopular among the Russian masses, but this doesn't change the fact that he has simply become the head of the oligarchical regime that Yeltsin established. In recent years, the policies and the propaganda of the Russian establishment have become even more reactionary than before. In this way, when it comes to policy, the current Russia reminds me of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. The Russian Empire was a right-wing state that was reacting to what was happening in the West. In the West, the Russian Empire was seen as a backward and oppressive state. The Russian Federation is also a right-wing state that's reacting to what is happening in the West, and it's being described as backward and oppressive by people in the West. In order to distract the Russian masses from the problems and the poverty in the country, Russian propaganda aims to show that things are getting worse in the West and that they have been getting worse for quite some time. This is true. Things have been getting worse in the West. But this doesn't change the fact that life in Russia is still much worse than life in the West. In my opinion, at this time, Russian propaganda can be divided in three big parts. It's anti-Western, it's pro-Western, and it's also anti-Soviet. It's anti-Western because Western countries are, for the most part, enemies of Russia and because the West is still seen by some opposition figures in Russia as an example of "liberalism" that can be followed. The Russian establishment does, however, want to have normal relations with some European states because of Russia's significant trade relations with these states. Most of these trade relations got established when the Soviet Union existed. For example, Germany buys a lot of the natural gas that is sold by Russia. This is why the Russian establishment goes along with the anti-Soviet lies, such as the Katyn massacre, that get fabricated in the European Union. Russian propaganda is pro-Western because Russia is an economic colony of the West and because it's an oligarchical state that's incapable of doing much on its own. Except for nationalism and the Orthodox faith, the regime in Russia has nothing to offer to the Russian masses at this time. In culture and in the economy, the regime and the oligarchy are simply trying to copy what exists in the West, especially what exists in Europe. In such a depressive atmosphere, it's not surprising that there's much corruption, discontent, debauchery, and treachery. The situation in Russia can be compared to the situation in China before the Mongols conquered China or to the situation in India before the Mughals conquered India. And, of course, Russian propaganda is also anti-Soviet because Russia has an oligarchical, right-wing regime with no successes of its own and because life in the Soviet Union was considerably better, even when the Soviet Union was in decline. Still, even with all of these problems, the regime in Russia might have a future if it holds out and doesn't get overthrown. The Russian establishment is betting on the most reactionary and the most right-wing elements in the political establishment of the USA. This is happening not only because Russia itself is a reactionary, right-wing state but also because members of the Democratic Party are openly hostile toward Russia. Some members of the Republican Party, which has other oligarchical backers, relate to Russia much better. Naturally, relations with Russia improved somewhat after Donald Trump became president, but it appears that Trump got kicked out of the White House by the opposition in a kind of coup d'etat at the beginning of 2021. Andrei Fursov, for example, said that Trump won the 2020 United States presidential election and that the vote results were falsified in favor of Joe Biden. I don't know if this is true or not, but I think that it's very much possible. The oligarchical backers behind Biden are skilled at conducting coups and propaganda. Another interesting thing that Fursov said recently is that the Soviet leadership went along with the American moon landing hoax because the Soviets got certain financial gains in the West in exchange for their compliance. In addition, Fursov said that the Americans had to retreat from Vietnam in 1975 because of the Soviet Union, that it was the Soviet Union that defeated the USA in Vietnam. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, and without support from the Soviet Union, Vietnam fell before the feet of the Americans without a struggle.
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