Because Russia is no longer a communist country. Under communism everyone was poor. When Russia converted to capitalism some of the smart Russians purchased assets from the state, and became billionaires as those assets were made available to the global capitalist world.
The same with China. Capitalism enabled people to get rich.
There is no country in the world that has only one system of government. It is always has a mixed system of government. In the case of Russia, sure some properties belong to the state, but there are loop holes that allow individuals to own property not controlled by the state.
In china, sure you might own a property but the government still controls the overall use of that property. An example is an house, it takes about seventy years for such an individual to properly own the house, and before that it is subject to the government's scrutiny. Hope this helps.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.