Russia and its Economic woes

From La Russophobe - The Kremlin Panics

It’s hard to imagine a single act the Kremlin could take that would more conclusively demonstrate its total failure of economic policy, and its abject panic as a result, than to announce it is considering becoming a member of OPEC — which is exactly what the Kremlin did last week. Medvedev sounded like the Nazi hordes were at the barricades and it was Moscow’s 11th hour.
And maybe it was.
Openly admitting that Russia is fighting for its life, that its ability to sustain itself depends totally on the price of a commodity set by international markets, “President” Medvedev indicated he had no choice but to undercut Russian sovereignty still further by ceding the decision as to how much oil Russian can sell and when to the Arab petrostates.
By doing so, Russia would not only give up a massive amount of control over its own economic policy, it would burn its bridges with Europe and the United States, becoming a formal part of an organization which, subsequently, would be viewed no differently than the Warsaw Pact was during the cold war with the USSR.
And make no mistake: There is no “solution” in OPEC membership for Russia, only a desperate bid to delay collapse. Russia cannot afford to simply stop selling oil for long periods in order to bid up the price, as the OPEC nations can. Russia is not like them. It has a huge population that is desperately impoverished, and it is trying to wage cold war with the West through an arms race. Read the whole article from the La Russophobe Blog