Here's another man who screwed up a country: Russia's Putin. In power since 2000, insane amount of fraud, perpetuating corruption, no free speech, no rule of law, police state and pretty much any other state-level deficiency you can think of, and at a much bigger scale than you can imagine. As a result Russia's state is much closer to Nigeria than pretty much any EU country (no, I'm not pointing at Nigeria randomly, it's true) and the brightest people are fleeing the country as if it's a sinking ship (and, well, it is).
Let us make a quick comparative analysis of the post-soviet countries. Most of the characteristics of failed state you listed can be said about Ukraine, Belarus, Caucasian or Central Asian countries as well.
This natural experiment shows us that we cannot simplify what is happening in Russia by attributing it to a single person's fault. It must be a systematic phenomenon of complex nature.
The Baltic republics aren't doing bad, but they weren't conquered by the Soviet Union until WWII. I wonder if the parts of the former Soviet Union that it grabbed from Poland in WWII are doing better than the other parts of their respective countries now?
I wouldn't say Putin is an asset to any country, but you can't blame it all on him either. With people like Lenin, Stalin and Jeltsin as your predecessors you don't really start off good.
I agree, but I'm not asking for superhero rulers either. Even Medvedev with his limited powers has done tangible good to the country (I can see it most clearly from small business perspective). If Putin gets back to full power in 2012, Russia is pretty much doomed.
With such high oil prices Russia could survive for a long time, slowly rotting away just like Italy is described in the article. Although, since Russia has already much lower quality of life, and since bringing the president or even a member of parliament to court is completely unthinkable here, we would rot down much faster.
Is Jeltsin the same as Yeltsin? Was he in the same league as the other two? He seemed OK from the news I read, not much worse than, say, Reagan, in terms of leadership and mental stability.
