It hasn't made any positive difference leaving the present brains in Russia - look where we're at. Those brains that ideologically align with the liberal West are presently trapped inside of a Russia they are likely to fundamentally disagree with, we should bring them over to our side if we can.

What will be left? The same power structure and malevolent culture that already exists, minus some of the brains.

I believe the last few rounds of brain drain out of Russia have helped to leave their scientific, aerospace and military programs in the relatively dire condition they are at present vs the Soviet past (emphasis on helped, there are other factors such as eg Ukraine no longer being part of the USSR, with Ukraine being an important contributor to various Soviet accomplishments). It has net weakened Russia considerably in my opinion, that's a good thing, until or unless their culture changes.

The flight is happening anyway, the issue is where they land.

Not for Russia, no. But that's not whose program this is, now is it?

The ideal situation for the American ruling class is to simply import highly skilled workers from other countries, rather than produce them at home. This alleviates the domestic burden of paying for a truly world class education system.

Russia has a very long history of importing foreign tech and know-how, largely to support their natural resource export economy. Foreign expertise will be imported for pay when sanctions drop, someday.

If you’re targeted towards high end scientists, then that’s not all of intelligencia. That said, you want enough smart people that there’s some opposition, but it hasn’t seem to do too much in recent years.

> Is it really a good idea to take all the brains out of Russia? What would be left? Criminals and nuclear weapons? Is this a good outcome?

For the past decades, it already felt that the main exports from Russia were a) fossil fuels, b) organized crime. What else does Russia provide the world?