Dylan- don't you think that the Russian govt (or old USSR govt) was more rational and stable than Russia is now under Putin? Back then, once past Stalin and even Kruschev, even though there was a head of govt (Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev) those leaders were more functionaries than idols of cult status and governedd because of the support of the politburo. It was more of a committee operation. Now, it's a one man dictatorship with effectively no oversight