Russia has advanced from “upper middle” to “high” category on the strength of its economic growth.
This economic growth happened even after the US and its allies levied thousands of sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict, openly stating that their goal was to destroy the Russian economy and provoke regime change in Moscow.
So what does this actually entail? I looked at the world bank site, and it lists both USA and Australia as "high income countries". I'm sure a trip through any "food desert" will show how meaningless this label is
Yeah, I agree it doesn't change much materially. My take is being that this is a line goes up metric for western countries, it does show a widening fracture between the US policy narrative (esp. sanctions) and the emergent multipolar reality.
Exposing false narrative? I can dig that