Sad, broken country.... its delusions about being a great power are grotesque and pitiable....
Spot on.
XX century was sh*it for Poles but good for Poland. XX century was sh*it for both Russia and Russians. Also a major difference is things have improved and look to improve more for Poland while Russia is again heading towards disaster.
The 20th century was quite positive for Poles compared to Russians.
The Poles gained a large independent state from scratch, even though 19th century looked hopeless as Poland was divided between strong empires. Lost some ethnic territories (Lviv), but gained way more in the west (Stettin, Breslau, Danzig, etc.) Now Poles have a homogenous large country. There had been tons of Jews, now it is almost judenrein. It is also quite successful. For example, Poland has a homicide rate of 0.7 to Russia's 7.3, as well as longer life expectancy and higher per capita GDP despite having fewer resources. No one is replacing the Poles in Polish cities as the Central Asians replace the Russians. There's no large ethnic mafia as in Russia. It is also diplomatically in a better position, not engaged in a losing war but instead getting money from its neighbours.
Meanwhile, Russia's territory drastically contracted to about 70% of the Russian empire, even less if you count populated areas. Russia did not make any gains at all throughout the century. The Russians did colonise Siberia and assimilate Ukrainians in the south, but that doesn't really pertain to the country. Russians expanded a bit in the Baltics, but that is also not country expansion. Russians had the same WW2 crisis as the Poles, but on top of it they had the equally violent Civil War, and the 90s were much more destructive there. You could say Moscow had gains in the 20th century, but Russia itself got screwed. Things were looking up in 2000-2014 and especially 2000-2007, but it seems the leadership decided to continue the downward spiral.