The new Russian empire

The new Russian empire

Although only 16 years ago the Soviet Union (part of which was Russia) collapsed and new countries appeared, nowadays Russia seems to regain it’s old power. Many people (actually almost everyone who is informed about what is going on in Russia) wonder whether there is going to be a new cold war, or how long time is going to pass before a new crisis in Russia. Another question is what will happen after the election of 2008 in Russia? Will the new president be able to obtain what Putin achieved and make Russia even stronger?

Specialists who have attended the progress of Russia claim that Russia has been taught from the mistakes made in the past and is not going to “fall” as in the past. Provided that this “prophesy” will come true, then we have to get used to the fact that Russia will now be the new great power for many years and the exclusivity of America as this will cease. This may be a positive step for most of the nations provided that there is not going to be a new cold war, which will make the rest countries to spend even more money for weapons and have the results the previous cold war had on the world.

In addition, specialists believe that Russia has great potential and has not reached the power it used to have in the past. This is rational, because as mentioned above it is only the last two or three years that Russia became able again to “fight” for their interests. For instance, before ten or twelve years Russia wouldn’t be able to refuse to NATO to install their rockets into the east Europe, something that will harm Russian interest in the area and will be able to spy Russia. However, nowadays Russia has caused great trouble in the U.S. government and NATO, of course, trying to find a way to persuade Russia to let them install their rockets where they want. It is obvious that Russia under the command of the president Putin has again become a considerable power.

Though what cannot be ignored, is the new also considerable countries that have much power. These are no other than China and India. They are very unpredictable because of their great population (China has 1,3 billion citizens while India has 1 billion) and because not many analysts seem take them seriously (or at least they do not publish these results) and thus we cannot tell their role in the future.

On the other hand, Russia is not the new paradise of the world. Even though it seems invulnerable in the foreign policy, Russia faces great problems in the interior of the country. Numerous people are above the limit of poverty and as some NGO present there is a lack of democracy with the secret services (especially the agents of the old KGB) controlling the whole country. It is characteristic that the president Putin himself and almost every partner of his are former secret agents of KGB. Also, lately media from all over the world have focused on the “strange” deaths of reporters who opposed the government of Russia. What is more, some “lucky” people became billionaires in a very small period of time. Some of them are now exiles in Europe and they are accused for crimes back in Russia.

The question of great importance is what is going to happen in the elections of 2008 and after them. Will the new president follow Putin’s orders? With other words, will Putin preserve his power? In my opinion Putin will have great influence on the new president for some years after the elections but unless something subversive takes place, he will gradually lose his power.

To sum up, I believe that even though Russia faces many interior problems, it still remains a powerful country and is an amounting country. The rest will come in their time…