According to a story that is often told in West Africa, after God created the Earth, He began to fill the lands of the different continents with resources. One observant angel is said to have asked God why He was giving so much to Africa—minerals such as gold and diamonds, fertile land, and amazing wildlife. The angel thought God was being unfair to the other continents. Smiling, God said to the angel: “Just wait until you see the leaders that were put there to manage it.”

To Africans, this story is a form of comic relief. In spite of the abundant resources that the continent is blessed with, life there has never been comfortable. Most Africans struggle to find the most basic of necessities. Good quality education, healthcare, stable electricity supply and clean water are all luxuries that the average African can only dream about. The dire living conditions are the result of a combination of resource mismanagement, bad governance (the poor leadership that God supposedly alluded to), and extreme levels of corruption.

That West African tale has come to mind a lot lately because of what I have been reading about Russia. With a land area of 6.3 million square miles spanning 11 time zones, Russia is by far the largest country in the world. It is 80 percent larger than the U.S., which has a land area of 3.5 million square miles covering four time zones. Like the continent of Africa, Russia has all the natural resources one can think of. And yet, as is the case in Africa, it doesn’t seem capable of doing much with what God gave to it.

There is absolutely no reason Russia shouldn’t be as wealthy as the U.S., if not more, given its vast land, human and other natural resources. But the numbers tell a rather depressing story. IMF data show that at current prices, U.S. GDP is $30.5 trillion. Russia’s GDP is only $2.1 trillion.

When Boris Yeltsin handed over the presidency to Vladimir Putin in 2000, he asked Putin to “take care of Russia.” Instead of focusing his attention on what his predecessor asked him to do, Putin has taken Russia from one misadventure to another during his quarter-century rule. The most disastrous is of course Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Over the last three years, Russian forces have bombed Ukrainian cities to rubble and killed hundreds of thousands of people there, including large numbers of civilians. Ukrainians, obviously, are the ones we should sympathize with in this war. Average Russians have not been forced to evacuate from their homes and cities, or run into bomb shelters every few minutes as Ukrainians have had to. But while ordinary Russians may not seem like people who deserve anyone’s compassion under the current circumstances, their silent suffering throughout this conflict cannot be ignored.

Based on reports that I have read and accounts I have heard, there are significant numbers of Russians who are against the war but cannot speak out against it for fear of imprisonment or other punitive treatment. Their leaders, apart from wasting enormous amounts of precious money and resources on a senseless war, have turned Russia into a pariah state. The country’s citizens are unwelcome in much of the world today.

This recent article in The Economist illustrates the sheer scale of the militarization of Russia’s economy. Russian factories are expected to produce 1,500 tanks this year versus only 135 by the U.S., 3,000 armored vehicles as opposed to none by the U.S. Russia’s production of 250,000 artillery shells per month will result in a stockpile that is three times the combined output of the U.S. and Europe. Putin has essentially chosen to pit Russia’s $2 trillion dollar economy against not only that of NATO’s $50 trillion, but also those of NATO allies such as Japan, South Korea and Australia.

Because of the sanctions that much of the developed world has imposed on it because of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost access to many of the premium markets that used to be primary destinations for its oil, gas, and other exports. It now has to take so many evasive steps and jump through all kinds of hoops just to get its products to other markets, where they are sold at discounted prices. Such a situation would worry the leaders and citizens of most countries. Not in Russia. Speaking of Putin recently, President Trump was quoted as saying: “I don’t know that sanctions bother him.” That was quite a damning statement. The implication is that the Russian president doesn’t care one bit about the damage that isolation is doing to the long-term health of his nation’s economy. He would rather take the country down with him if that is what it takes to sustain his misadventures.

To get a clearer sense of the extent to which Russia is egregiously wasting its enormous potential, it is useful to look at the story of Norway. At only 118,000 square miles, Norway’s land area is less than 2 percent that of Russia. For added perspective, Norway is slightly smaller in size than the U.S. state of New Mexico. But what that Scandinavian country has accomplished with its tiny real estate is simply stunning.

Because Norway is a peaceful country that minds its own business, it has managed to accumulate assets of a little over $1.9 trillion in its sovereign wealth fund. That is a colossal amount of money saved for the nation’s approximately 5.6 million people. In stark contrast, Russia’s national wealth fund currently has just under $160 billionin it for a population of 146 million.

The reality is that the world will always be a dangerous place and so in addition to making butter, nations have to manufacture guns. Unfortunately, in Russia, it is all guns and no butter. The extent of the waste is brutally shocking. Russia is said to be spending at least $300 million each day on the Ukraine war, which currently accounts for 40 percent of government expenditures or around 8 percent of GDP. That is pure suicide. Russia’s central bank chief said at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum two months ago that the nation’s economic resources are “practically exhausted.” Those who keep saying that Russia’s economy has been resilient throughout this war may want to look a bit more closely.

As a young boy, I was taught in church that God is a just being. I seriously doubt that He could have placed such a curse on any country. Something else has gone badly wrong in Russia and its citizens are paying dearly for it.

I had many Russian friends when I studied in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. They were extremely kind to me, and although I have lost contact with them, I still remember them fondly and they will forever remain in my thoughts. Some of my best friends in America today are Russian. I met some of them in graduate school, while others are either work colleagues or neighbors. Through these relationships that I formed over several decades, I have learned that average Russians are decent human beings who care about their families and friends in the same ways that all people do. It saddens me greatly to see them become such global outcasts.

The picture in Russia looks quite grim now. But I sincerely hope that in the not-too-distant future, enlightened leadership will emerge to guide that nation onto a prosperous path. I would like to see my old friends who still live in Russia have the same comforts that Norwegians enjoy.