Russia has too much delicious raw materials - oil, gas and minerals. Now, for a country that does not export anything the world economy requires, it is simple t

Russia has too much delicious raw materials - oil, gas and minerals. Now, for a country that does not export anything the world economy requires, it is simple to close it off, like Cuba. If Cuba produced oil and minerals it would not be so isolated. Nobody wants to stop trading with Russia. So there is the global economic game, and then there is the global political game. All we ever talk about in media is the political game since it's easy to digest in sound bites, but the economics are running the real decision process as much as the politics.