Russia never embraced globalization. Right from the start in 1991, it tried to use energy deliveries and punitive trade tariffs as tools to manipulate former US

Russia never embraced globalization. Right from the start in 1991, it tried to use energy deliveries and punitive trade tariffs as tools to manipulate former USSR countries into submission or punish them in revenge, regularly causing crises as Russian dignitaries made statements in the style of "you'll crawl back to use once your 'independence' fails". This continued throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Needless to say, this strategy spectacularly failed because it severed economic ties, alienated everyone from Russia, and made the EU a more attractive partner due to its reliability and political stability, ultimately leading to most of Eastern Europe joining the EU. The war in Ukraine is a chapter in that story. A pathetic attempt by Russia to stop one of the last countries in Europe from joining the EU, out of delusion that with a population and GDP of Mexico, it deserves an empire and global influence, and has a right to bully neighbors - resulting in total isolation, with only international pariahs like Iran and North Korea left as allies. The mistake that Russia made was not embracing globalization, but embracing a sad little dictator from the depths of KGB, who has failed to use the system of global trade to ensure prosperity for its citizens and an equal say in global affairs because he is too dumb for that. If you do not own a superyacht, then you're just another dummy who has fallen under his spell and given away everything for nothing in return. You can't even go out and complain, because his cronies will rape you in a police van. How did it all go so wrong?