Russia: the old bear

I have been doing a lot of reading about Russia lately courtesy of Paul Johnson's "Modern Times" but so far the bulk of my study has been limited to the early days of Soviet Russia.   In an effort to know a little about an appropriate policy to pursue in regards to Russia, I have been doing some study on the internet.   Most of the stuff I have found isn't worth relaying, but I found this particular article to be very insightful.  It confirmed some things I have already been thinking about and offered an opinion not very commonly propagated.  
 
Basically, when evaluating a true communist or socialist country you have to keep in mind that both communism and socialism are self-destructive.  Eventually they will eat themselves from the inside out, but before they come to that point they are usually an extremely formidable opponent because all their efforts are very focused and nationalized.   When the Soviet Union collapsed, America didn't have as much to do with it as we like to think.   Mostly our policies helped to hasten their demise, it didn't bring it about.
 
Today, Russia is somewhat rejuvenated but still a far cry from what they used to be.   When formulating Russian policy we can't underestimate their strength or course, but nor can we over-estimate it and that seems to be what we are doing.  Russia may still be a bear, but it is a very old bear and its strength is greatly diminished.  Unless they make some serious changes that I highly doubt they will make, Russia will continue to fade.  The article in question lays out reasons for why Russia isn't the bear we are used to thinking of it as.
 
 
Enjoy and Veritas Supra Omnis!
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100301976.html