Russia isn’t a “bear”, it is an old dog. Toothless and arthritic.

But it’s a brilliant old dog. Russia’s strange mix of capability and dysfunction make it an unstable place. It’s good enough to build many of NASA’s rockets, but lousy enough that too many Russians die of preventable diseases. Now it may be argued that this duality constitutes the originality in Russian character. But still, it would be nice if Russia could become prosperous based on its human capital and enterprise, instead of reliant on pumping gas out of the ground. In that way of thinking, ultimate stability occurs when Russia learns to “fix” itself and live peacefully with its neighbors. Great Russian patriotism will take no offense if everybody is having too good a time and making too much money to complain. What would Joe Ivan care about Georgia and the glory of Russia if he was too busy picking out a new car from the lot? But that’s not the way it is, yet.