The decay in their institutions started much earlier than 2 years ago. At my most generous, it started immediately after the fall of the USSR. But the truth is that a culture of grift has existed in Russian culture for centuries. The Soviets were just as guilty of it as the Czars were and the current oligarchy is now.
Decay is always lumpy. In general you are correct, but this topic isn’t the general state of Russia, but the state of their nuclear program. By all reports that program has done much better than the typical program.
The decay in their institutions started much earlier than 2 years ago. At my most generous, it started immediately after the fall of the USSR. But the truth is that a culture of grift has existed in Russian culture for centuries. The Soviets were just as guilty of it as the Czars were and the current oligarchy is now.
Decay is always lumpy. In general you are correct, but this topic isn’t the general state of Russia, but the state of their nuclear program. By all reports that program has done much better than the typical program.