You are totally correct imho, but miss the point. Read about the resource curse on Wikipedia. It is too lucrative for the junta in an oil country to steal the

You are totally correct imho, but miss the point. Read about the resource curse on Wikipedia. It is too lucrative for the junta in an oil country to steal the elections, get external enemies -- and send the oil money to Schweiz. Putin needed to get isolated from the West, so he can condemn all criticism as Western conspiracies. :-(