He still doesn't get it.
Russia is Mexico with Nukes
My only disaggreement with you on this is that Russia has a fast negative population trend and Mexico has a fast postive population growth.
Russia will do fine in the future, if they can lick corruption and petty bureaucracy. Putin got it right with the flat tax, now they just need to have a good legal framework and Russia can take off.
Another statistic that makes one scratch his head is the fact that according to our own CIA, some 25% of Russians live below the poverty line, as compared to some 40% of Mexicans.
I've visited both countries several times, and Mexico seemed much poorer... although I have not been through many of the poorest parts of Russia.