>Russia's been growing like mad since 1998;
Thanks in large part to high oil prices, no?
> > What's Russia got besides oil, rocks, and trees?
>>
>
>If by "rocks" you mean diamonds and natural gas --
>ALROSA is the second-largest diamond company in the
>world, Norilsk Nickel is the largest palladium-metals
>company in the world (if I remember aright), this new
>Gazprom-Yukos thing is the world's largest energy
>company...
Yeah, but natural resource endowments are often a "curse," as they say. They don't generate real industrial or social development; instead, they often create a corrupt, parasitical elite that leaves the lucky country polluted and poor.
Doug