Russia defeated Napoleon in 1812 because it hadn’t yet become a nation-state and didn’t look for legitimacy in the vastness of its territory.
Today, Russia is stuck in the outdated attachment to territorial vastness as the only legitimating factor and any development is out of the question because of this antiquated model.
Russia does tend to be tragically behind everybody else all of the time and resenting the hell out of the rest of the world for it.
Clarissa's Blog 