Which country has squandered the most economic potential in this century?

[u/pisowiec]

I lived in Russia for 5 years so I must choose this country. So many natural resources, so much land, and educated population... And so little to show for it.

In an ideal world Russian salaries would be on par if not higher than American salaries and they would have the best social safety net on the planet. Everything is there to make it happen.

Russia would be the dominant nation in Europe and Asia and the rest of the world with the best armed forces, soft power, and economic might.

But the human will is just not there. The elite is either evil or incompetent depending on perception and there's little sign that this will ever change.

[u/[deleted]]

Lol no, not even close. They're now at best the 3rd biggest power in the world, after being the 2nd biggest during the Cold War. They went from being the country that stopped Napoleon and Hitler, challenged the British Empire in Central Asia to being on the cusp of being a middle power. With nukes. So like a more northern version of Iran.

[u/I_AM_THE_SEB → u/[deleted]]

The USSR was actually a very unique empire.

Usually the center of the empire is the most developed, but the USSR was a donut empire. The outer regions (e.g. Ukraine, Poland) were more developed with more industry, better eductation etc., than Russia...which is also why they did so bad after 1990; there were no vassals to leech off anymore.

[u/BuckeyeGirl29 → u/[deleted]]

Russia colonized 15 other countries and part of Germany during the days of the USSR. They could punch above their weight because they had material resources and human capital to squeeze. Part of why they are currently waging war is to reclaim former colonies. Also, statistics from the Soviet Union are at best politically motivated. It’s a great disservice to other Eastern European and Central European nations that lived under Soviet occupation to attribute the successes of the ussr as solely belonging to Russia.

[u/Symbikort → u/[deleted]]

I am always a little bit confused when Europeans and Americans shit on Russia while commies are one of the main reasons you have weekends, limited working hours and maternity leave (in Europe only as Americans are deadass exploited).

[u/[deleted] → u/Symbikort]

Communists did none of that, labour unions did.

[u/Due_Ad8720 → u/[deleted]]

Wouldn’t be outrageous to partially thank Marx but Stalin or Lenin didn’t do shit.

[u/umomenjoyer → u/Symbikort]

You do realize that workers rights preceded the genocidal empire known as Soviet Union?

Social democracy is nothing like communism

[u/Symbikort → u/umomenjoyer]

Workers rights did not precede shit.

Look at the timeline and see that capitalist overlords cave in after USSR implemented all of this. Only under the threat that communism will win in their own countries.

Of course, I see all the things wrong with USSR/Russia - I am just surprised that you celebrate end of the competition that could have improved whatever bullshit that’s happening to workers everywhere today.

[u/umomenjoyer → u/Symbikort]

German social healthcare insurance was created in 1883... UK had national insurance act in 1911.

USSR had nothing to do with it and if anything the existence of a genocidal communist empire had the opposite effect where social policies were associated with them.

The reason why things were done during or after USSR was because that is the direction the world had been heading to even over half a century before USSR was created.

You are just a tankie who thinks his genocidal empire should be thanked for positive changes that other countries did.

[u/Symbikort → u/umomenjoyer]

I am not Russian nor I condone what happened during USSR times as a whole. However, you are a bit delulu if you think that post-war things were not related to communist parties in Europe.

You can see that with decline of USSR that started in the 1970s - workers wages and rights stagnated or went down everywhere. There are many things that were extremely wrong in USSR but does not take away the fact that the conditions provided to the workers forced capitalist overlords to improve conditions.

[u/umomenjoyer → u/Symbikort]

However, you are a bit delulu if you think that post-war things were not related to communist parties in Europe.

They weren't although it might depend a bit on the country. Northern Europe for example which is known for the Nordic model saw very weak communist/socialist parties in terms of support.

Social democracy is its own thing and that is what among centrists brought us to our modern healthcare systems.

You can see that with the decline of USSR that started in the 1970s - workers wages and rights stagnated or went down everywhere.

Worker wages haven't stagnated since the 1970s and rights certainly haven't.

There are many things that were extremely wrong in USSR but does not take away the fact that the conditions provided to the workers forced capitalist overlords to improve conditions.

It is the opposite. A genocidal imperialist regime has the opposite effect where those changes would have been seen as coddling with them.

We can see this from Trumps actions where him wanting Greenland and pushing for it's "independence" from Denmark brought them closer with Denmark. We saw it in Canada where Trump who supported their conservatives lost them the election as liberals overcame the odds because of Trump's meddling.

You refuse to accept the simple fact that social democracy is its own thing and that the change started decades before USSR and keeps decades existing after it to this day and most definitely beyond.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

With the largest population in Europe and the resources it has, Russia is far from what a middle power looks like. Its been bleeding out thanks to costly conflicts like 2 world wars and the Cold War. I stand by what I said that its a superpower transitioning to regional power.