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Topic: New Balance of Power - the Rise of Russia
| Author | Message |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 6/10/2007 11:59:03 AM | show profile As U.S. global influence is on the decline, Russian influence is rising. In no small part because of their increased wealth as an oil exporting nation and their vast natural gas reserves. Those who are looking are noticing all the strategic global alliances being formed, often around energy security, notably lacking is our influence in all of this. Here's Putin laying it all out... **** Putin Calls for West to Accept 'New Balance of Power' Russian President Vladimir Putin assailed the dominance of the global economy by a small group of developed countries and called on them to recognize a "new balance of power" in the world. ...Russia intends to become an alternative global financial center and to make the ruble a reserve currency for central banks, he said. ...Russia is enjoying its ninth-year of growth under Putin's leadership. The country's new assertiveness on the global stage has led to tensions with the U.S. and European Union, who say that Russia's resurgence has been accompanied by a rollback of democratic freedoms. 'World Is Changing' "The world is changing before our eyes," Putin said at the forum, held in his hometown and attended by executives from more than 200 companies. The economic and financial system established by western countries after World War II "doesn't reflect the new balance of power." ... Bloomberg |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 6/10/2007 2:48:50 PM | show profile For example... *** ...Not since the days of communist rule has such a chill struck East-West relations. The cold snap started when Putin accused the United States two weeks ago of "imperialism" and threatened to target Russian nuclear weapons at Europe if the "star wars" system went ahead. ...Putin became president in 2000 and responded to the chaos by centralising power, both economic and political. High commodity prices, especially for oil and gas, rebuilt the shattered finances of the state, if not those of the people. Under Putin, Russia has gone from economic basket-case to energy powerbroker. Economic growth has averaged 6.7% a year and foreign reserves have surged from $12 billion in 1999 to $315 billion at the end of 2006. In a world of $70-a-barrel oil, Russia?s vast reserves give it international clout: Putin temporarily cut off supplies of oil and gas to former Soviet satellites until they agreed to pay market prices. He is now rewriting oil deals with western giants such as Shell and BP. This posturing has revived national pride. "In Soviet times things were far from perfect but the rest of the world respected and feared us," said Galina Saliyeva, 51, a nurse. ?Then when everything collapsed after perestroika, we became the butt of jokes ? things which had been our pride and joy like the space programme, the army, our scientists, our nuclear arsenal. "Now, once again we can be proud of ourselves and frankly we are getting fed up listening to the West?s constant criticism and preaching." UK Times |
| TVchick | Posted – 6/11/2007 12:00:56 PM | show profile mmmm...let's not get ahead of ourselves here Yes many people got rich from high commodity prices. But here's the caveat. Fifteen years after the collapse, Russia's economy, outside of high gas prices, is still quite poor. They don't produce anything the way say Chinese or Japanese do. Their economy is dangerously tired to these commodity prices. The minute these prices come down (and they will) see if Putin will be this assertive. My guess is--he won't. Second. Russia's very charismatic foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has managed to fuck up relations with everybody!!! Who does Russia get along with now outside the Serbs? Ah, nobody! It's like being a bully and being unpopular. In order to have any influence in the world, you have to at least be liked first and foremost. The West isn't too keen on Russia and guess what, Russia isn't too keen on the west. Third. Russian army is in a dismal shape. DISMAL shape. Not much for world domination. ... Fourth. Average Russian citizen, outside of St. Petersburg, Moscow and maybe one or two other cities is still very very poor. Except for they don't have the governmental healthcare/education that's of any type of quality, so life expectancy has severely gone down. I could really go on and on... |
| Desu | Posted – 6/11/2007 3:59:47 PM | show profile I agree with TVChick on this one. Russia is simply full of holes. The conventional wisdom that China is ascendant is, though conventional, still wisdom. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 6/11/2007 10:03:07 PM | show profile Russia of course still has problems, but the key issue is that Russia, China, the Middle East are on the rise. We, on the other hand, are on the decline. This is the new World Order. |
| Printingman | Posted – 6/12/2007 9:15:23 AM | show profile | email poster Ugo, we're at least 50 years from seeing a Russian superpower again, if there ever was one. The Russian rich are getting richer and the middle class is painfully slow to develop. I applaud Putin for what he's done especially to criminal enterprises but at whose expense? Great place vacation though especially SP Moscow and the Central Asian Republics......and I should know right? |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 6/12/2007 9:43:40 AM | show profile Pman, yes you should know. Even if it is 50 years, that's a heartbeat in historical terms. But they'd better get cracking since they certainly don't have 50 years worth of oil (due to peak in oil production within 10 years), and natural gas won't last forever either. |
| TVchick | Posted – 6/15/2007 9:35:01 AM | show profile oh yeah there's alcohol. This is hysterical, but I believe it. I am Russian afterall! http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/06/15/russia.alcohol.ap/index.html |
