Posted by
American Conservative on Friday, August 22, 2008 12:53:00 PM
The USSR is back! As ominous and crazy as this statement might sound it could very well be on the front page of major newspapers some time soon. Now that oil prices are through the roof Russian has invested billions into it's military and other infrastructure over the last few years. They along with China are buying up resources from the Artic, to Africa, to off the coast of Florida. Russia has a natural gas reserve of 47.57 trillion cubic meters which is almost double the number two country of Iran. They also boast a proven oil reserve of 60 billion barrels which is good enough for 8th in the world. Europe ever seeking access to resources have consented to the building of oil and natural gas pipeline linking Russia with most of Europe. Russia now quite literally has their finger on the button, or in this case the tab to the lifeblood of Europe. Don't believe me, go ask Ukraine. President Reagen, ever the visionary warned that this would be potentially suicidal to have Europe so reliant on Russia for their energy.
Since the fall of the USSR many would say that Russia has made great progress toward democratization. That was true until ex KGB Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000. Little by little Putin and his cronies have increased government control of almost everything. One way which Putin has increased his power is over the media. Now if a country just takes over the media in one night that would be very suspicious but Putin has taken control in a more subtle way. "According to CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists] research, Russia is the third deadliest country in the world for journalists over the past 15 years, behind only the conflict-ridden countries of Iraq and Algeria," the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a June 2007 statement. "A total of 47 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992, with the vast majority of killings unsolved." Awfully suspicious if you ask me. That's not even counting the poisoning of a former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko with a microscopic amount of polonium-210 because he was critical of the Russia government.
In mid August of last year Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would return to the Cold War strategy of constant long-range strategic nuclear bomber flights. Shortly after starting these flights Russian bombers violated the airspace of Norway, Great Britain, and the United States. I can see accidentally violating some one's airspace once, maybe twice, but any more than that and it's either incompetence or an act of aggression; either way it's dangerous. I placed a link to a story talking about how many times NATO fighters had to escort the Russian bombers out of Allied air space.
If this was all that Russia had been up to it would be enough to be suspicious but there is more. They sold over $3 billion worth of arms to Venezuela, signed a $1 billion nuclear cooperation deal with China, and are selling high tech weapons to Iran. Russia is currently at war with Georgia, a country they once ruled. You can argue whether the Russians had a good reason to become involved in an internal Georgian conflict between them and South Ossetia. What I take away from this conflict is the fact that Russia once again is looking for ways to expand their influence over it's neighbors through force.
The USSR might have collapsed but the people that were in power then didn't go away; they just went into the shadows. Now they have regained control not through gulags and intimidation, though as mentioned previously there has been some of that; but through less than reputable and despotic business practices. The infamous KGB never went away they just changed uniforms.