I wouldn't say Putin is an asset to any country, but you can't blame it all on him either. With people like Lenin, Stalin and Jeltsin as your predecessors you don't really start off good.
I agree, but I'm not asking for superhero rulers either. Even Medvedev with his limited powers has done tangible good to the country (I can see it most clearly from small business perspective). If Putin gets back to full power in 2012, Russia is pretty much doomed.
With such high oil prices Russia could survive for a long time, slowly rotting away just like Italy is described in the article. Although, since Russia has already much lower quality of life, and since bringing the president or even a member of parliament to court is completely unthinkable here, we would rot down much faster.
Is Jeltsin the same as Yeltsin? Was he in the same league as the other two? He seemed OK from the news I read, not much worse than, say, Reagan, in terms of leadership and mental stability.
