Tsar wrote:A country needs an authoritarian leader to prosper. Democracy and Republicanism are two forms of government that are failures. Whenever a democratic or republic form of government rules a country, the country enters a death spiral. It is no coincidence that the democratic ideals (although those ideals are just an illusion the masses believe. Voting is inherently meaningless) of the West spawned the current state of immorality and corruption that now plagues the world. Democratic ideals always creates an evil society, it may not in the beginning, but over time every country that accepted a democratic or republic form of government turned into a Sodom and Gomorrah of a country. Harlots, whores, thieves, murderers, masculine women, thugs, brutes, and self-serving psychopathic plutocrats compose the large majority of the masses. Homosexuality, fornication, and adultery becomes widespread. Add in the "bread and circuses" as a means of appeasement, which today is the popular entertainment, celebrity gossip, the very rare incidence of a poor or middle class person being risen from poverty and paraded as an example for everyone to see, the one-sided bias media of the West that portrays our nation and our side does no wrong, the popular American sports games, and the increasing violence on television. Instead of solving problems, they try to create more problems as distractions and to profit off the decay.
Your hero Putin, the KGB thug, has looted Russia from one end to the other, and is arguably the richest man in the world as a result. It was only as China become less authoritarian that their economy bloomed, and their per capita output is still not as high as democratic Taiwan.
In South America, authoritarian Argentina languishes in default after default and its economy is always in the tank, while they have some of the highest inflation in the world. Democratic Chile, even under a socialist president, still espouses democratic vote, rule of law and property rights. It has by far, the healthiest economy in Latin America and it is by far the least corrupt country in Latin America.
Argentina of course, is just the opposite- hopelessly corrupt.
I think you idealize Russia. Their are a lot of Russians who are pretty amazing. Unfortunately, they are still ruled by thugs. The smartest, most inventive Russians will want to leave as a result, as they know that Putin and Co. can steal all they have anytime they want.
You will not be able to name one dictatorship that now Rivals modern Germany in terms of productivity.