#279 my wife is Russian and we talk quite a bit about Russia's plight. If regrets could be harvested, Russia would be the richest nation on the earth. In fact Russia could be economically up to par if not more with the US but unfortunately your leaders, namely the Bolsheviks set back your country a century with the revolution and Stalin pretty much drove a stake into the heart of Russia by killing millions of his own ppl, driving out the intelligencia in the process.
The reason you may have so many rich people in Russia has more to do with the fact that the mafia runs the government and organized crime in control of a country that large is going to be very rich. In fact the Russian mafia has taken over the top spot of dangerous crime organizations.
As far as your generalizations about the last names of people in Silicon Valley, I would daresay that many of them have Indian, Pakistani, German and a large variety of last names. The US is a country built on immigrants, and it is still our strength today.
Unfortunately Russia has a long way to go and I wish her well. I love my wife dearly and if she is representative of most Russians, then I know you are a worthy and great people. But until you prove your resolve to the rest of the world, Russia will be considered a third-world nation by many.