>>18260716But Russia is a leading military power. Second only to the US. You don't need a holistically strong economy to wage war, necessarily, you just need a sufficient one, and good industry. Russia proved that in WW2.
The Russians really need to buddy up to a European power. Unlikely for UK, but it could happen for Germany. In fact, some analysts have considered pivoting toward friendship with Germany to be a critical strategy, even returning some old Prussian lands (the Kaliningrad Oblast). Germany is an economic powerhouse. It's military is doctrinally good, too, it's main problem being it's emaciated and budget drained from the effete state, even though its soldiers have a pretty good record in modern combat in the likes of Afghanistan.
>The sheer amount of minds will basically guarantee that they'll be the future hotspot of technological development.That's not necessarily the case. China has always been high in manpower. But did the scientific revolution happen there? Did electricity, industry, or physics? There's diminishing returns on people. One little island nation managed to conquer 1/4 of the world. One peripheral steppe people managed to conquer China and many other nations.
I wouldn't over estimate their intelligence, either. There's much embedded in their culture that prohibits technological development in the dramatic fashion that's happened in the West. And their true reliance has been on both imported designs and thievery. Look at their equipment. For most of China's modern history, it's been using imported designs on their kit but with inferior Chinese manufacturing (see the Hanyang 88 rifle, the AK, and the myriad of hatchet job designs they have today). Their infrastructure is also terrible. The fact that so many escalators have eaten people demonstrates such. They simply can't compete to the proportional level a Euro country can.
