It destroyed the Russian economy, but freed many nations that were behind its Iron Curtain. But thanks to Vladimir Putin, the Russian economy is doing better than it has been in many years. Oh, it also "ended" the Cold War.
The African countries can easily be described and generalized, in the sense of the whole continent, as the economies are predominantly dependent on one or two products.
That dependence on one or two products is making very big problems, and it is also a very big mistake of the governments. When there's a slight variation in the prices on the certain product, the economies are heavily influenced, often in a bed manner.
It is weird though that the African countries have orientated their economies in this way, especially because the continent is very rich in lots of natural resources.
