Are the Russians better off under Putin then they were under the Soviet Union?

[Neil]

The Russians aren't building new warships.  Very sad.  At least the Soviets would build something interesting now and again.

[Iormlund]

It's definitely tough to live there.  Whenever I see home videos from there, people are getting into car accidents and/or fights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGEiA80ZL08

[Siege]

It's definitely tough to live there.  Whenever I see home videos from there, people are getting into car accidents and/or fights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGEiA80ZL08

Fake.

[CountDeMoney]

The Russians aren't building new warships.  Very sad.  At least the Soviets would build something interesting now and again.

They're going in a different direction.  Not so much a blue water philosophy anymore as it is a concentration on very territorial-specific aims much closer to Russian territorial shores--where the natural resources are.

Their entire shipbuilding industry has only finally started to settle down; Putin's only beginning to get warmed up and they're concentrating on what they want to accomplish the most:  their nuclear deterrent with a new nuclear SSBN sub class, a new attack boat to replace the Akula so they can dance with the Virginia class, and their close-shore capabilities with a new corvette platform.

No, they're not interested in power projection past the GIUK gap anymore, and they're certainly not worried about carrier development, but they have some nifty albeit slowly-developing surface combat designs coming along.  The Admiral Gorshkov–class frigate looks like it could be a right nasty bastard to fuck with.  A very Russian design in typical "destroygate" hybridity:  SSM-heavy, with a concentration on ASW.

[Siege]

No Anna Chapman pictures?