Evidently, he thinks Russia will respond to U.S. defenses by multiplying its ICBMs. But even if Russia could afford to, which it cannot, Russia is not an enemy. If Russia's high mortality rate and low fertility rate continue, by mid-century its population, currently 146 million, will have declined by 30 percent, and will be smaller than the populations of Iran or Vietnam. Russia is becoming a Third World country with a hunter-gatherer economy. Russia's economy, which is now about the size of the Netherlands', is negligibly based on manufacturing products competitive in world markets.
Oil alone provides one-third of state revenues.
The military is impoverished, with officers' salaries, adjusted for inflation, having fallen 50 percent in five years. News Jobs AP Shopping Archives Entertain.