Interesting link Amos, but I'm not sure that tells the whole story.

I'm sure per capita spending power will be higher in the US than it is in the Russia for a while, perhaps forever, perhaps not. But what we are talking about is the Russian State playing the captialist west at it's own game. It has no expensive wars to drain its economy, and has massive energy reserves that it can use to great effect in almost as an instrument of foreign policy - especially in it's own local vicinity. And this is bad news - we all know our societies can't control themselves when it comes to curbing our capitalist urges, even in the face of massive climate upheavel nobody does sod all because we all love our cheap air travel and SUV's so much. This makes us ripe for exploitation by any shrewd entrepeneur - individual or state.

Whilst the US has been stomping around trying to make everyone see it's point of view from the end of barrel of a gun, Russia and China are emerging as world trading nations, and soon we're going to be playing by their rules - and these are not pretty (ask the Chechnyans and Tibetans).

It's a shame monkey-boy and the poodle can't see beyond the end of their own stubby noses and see the real threat to their own twisted versions of democracy.

I'm afraid your Commander in Chief doesn't have the wit to recognise his own considerable shortcomings, let alone to manage the Iraq situation, and if at this stage anyone is stupid enough to follow him then they get what they deserve. Their inability to understand the consequences of their actions with regards to the lives of the people on the ground at best makes them cretins, at worst complicit in the deaths of thousands of people, and therefore below contempt.