When you mix an ex KGB agent with a President, chances are, things are going to get messy. Nowhere is this seen more than with the Russian administration, involving Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. Combine these two with a corrupt mayor from Russia’s largest city and we suddenly see the emergence of an era that some considered long gone.
In 1991, the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Despite the fact the Soviet Union crashed and the socialistic government disappeared did not mean that all the ideas of those days were lost for good.
Recently, there have been quite a few situations that I’ve noticed suggesting that there are ideas of creating a second power not unlike that of the Former Soviet Union, save of course, for the whole socialism part. But, all of that aside, all of these actions are interlinked, and we see one very specific thing appearing: Russia is expanding.
I look at the war in South Ossetia first. Russia recognized, in its own way, that South Ossetia and Abkhazia were their own states. Ironically enough, these two states were directly connected to Russia. Their land was to the direct south of the mainland of Russia and was once part of the Soviet Union. So, by Russia recognizing that they were their own independent states, we see a slight expansion of territory by the Russians.
Is it an expansion, though?
Yes. We look at the way that Russia works and we can see that they’ve made it clear that these two states are free and that if they’re meddled with, Russia will attack again. Georgia can’t fight the might of Russia and America won’t get involved; therefore, Russia just expanded her empire. This leads me to my second point.
The Mayor of Moscow has agreed to send $100 million to build houses in South Ossetia for the separatists. What is the Mayor of Moscow doing sending money to South Ossetia? “Serve Russia and you get a house!” This is them giving money to people to try and gain influence. Gain influence and you’ve got people who are willing to join you. The same can be said about the Crimean peninsula in the Ukraine. There are a lot of Russians there and the Mayor also has sent money there.
Money is power. By giving money to these small territories, Russia is showing that they are looking to expand. In today’s day and age, expansion is not sending armies into other countries and conquering them. Influence is the new expansion and because of this, Russia is demonstrating expansion. Will the Ukraine give up that territory? Chances are they won’t. But, what happens if the citizens in the Crimean separate? Will Russia help there as well?
I don’t think they can…Yet. If the modernization of their military goes according to plan, they’ll have the capacity to say to small countries, “We’ve got the weapons, don’t mess with us, we’ll do what we like.” This spread of influence is the exact same way that the Soviet Union was able to spread. How can a small country, such as Latvia, defend against a strong, Russian military? It can’t. The might of the Russian military could sweep over many countries if they so chose and that brings about a final concern: who would stop them?
Looking at these series of events, one question comes to mind: Is Russia trying to create an empire again? An empire might be an ambitious goal; however, they do seem to be gearing themselves up to make that empire. Because of this, the country should take precaution and keep a careful eye on them. Are they trying to become like the Former Soviet Union? Not yet. But, if given enough time to develop their military, Russia could easily become a very formidable adversary to the United States dominated world.