Well, I have a lot of respect for MIG and the products they put out. It's not like Northrop, or Boeing, or Lockheed are never late, or overweight, or WAY over projected costs. Can you Imagine what it must have been like to maintain an aircraft company during and after the breakup of the Soviet Union? When Sukhoi was stealing the spotlight with excellent designs? I feel that the -29 was as far ahead of its' time as the f-16 was. Avionics excluded. But ingenious solutions to the problems faced because of less effective systems were successful. Remember the Mig-29 has an absolute altitude record above that of the SR-71, (I'm sure it was a zoom climb, and not sustained level flight) The MIG-25/31 prototype also has the highest altitude record of any air-breathing aircraft, in 1977, the YE-155 flew to 123,524 ft!! (again, I'm sure that was a zoom climb, but hey, it beats the F104s record, and the F104 used an auxillary rocket motor)
Russia is now just starting to recover from the turmoil of the breakup, oil revenues are being developed, and they have a customer base that has been for the most part satisfied with the products vs the price paid. MIG just needs a new design, and some respect for their legacy, and, of course, some foreign sales, and they'll do just fine.
Shawn A