Demographers are predicting the Chinese will absorb most of the Far East and parts of Siberia. Russia's lack of economic vitality and shrinking population are creating a vacuum that the Chinese are in a position to fill. Rather than building a gambling center Putin should strive to open up the Far East to trade with the Pacific Rim. Protections from the Russian mafia would be necessary. But I'm not sure the Russian government has the muscle to do that.