I hate to give you the money by reading and replying, but what-the-hell. You're so wrong about your thesis, it is scary.

Let's start with one thing: Russia has ALREADY COLLAPSED. And it has reverted back to a standalone version of the Warsaw Pact. Remember our good friend Yeltsin? Putin just took over from there, raised living standards and now has brought them back to almost Soviet times.

Russia is ranked 77th of 167 on the Legatum Prosperity Index. In the last decade, Russia's budget spending priorities have also shifted, with a rising focus on defence spending that will culminate in almost a third of all budget expenditure going to the military in 2024.

Spending on other areas, such as healthcare and education, has barely increased in real terms in over a decade. And prisoners and immigrants are being used for cannon-fodder.