There was never much chance that the Russians would sit quietly and allow all of their former fiefdoms run their own affairs. The break up of the Soviet Union had absolutely nothing to do with a lack of desire for hegemony and everything to do with the failure of Communism as a viable form of government. Now the heirs of that crash have reorganized and no longer bear the burden of socialism, as a matter of fact they are now running one of the most efficient forms of government available, the state criminal conspiracy. There was a lot of power and resource-grabbing as the assets of the Soviet system were sold off or stolen. The natural resources were always a vast and enduring source of wealth. Now they have been re-consolidated and the new oligarchs are sitting on amazing wealth, but if they step too far out of line they could lose it in an instant. Just ask former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who now languishes in prison. He built one of the world's largest fortunes during the privatization period, but once he an afoul of Vladimir Putin, he was through. The resurgence of Russian domination of their former satellites began in earnest when they took the opportunity presented by insurgents in the Ossetia regions of Georgia to flex some military muscle and remind everybody who holds the real power. They invaded in strength, smacked the Georgians around and even captured some US equipment of our military trainers who had been there. Now their heavy hands are all over the recent coup in Kyrgyzstan. Like most of the small countries in the area, Kyrgyzstan relies heavily on the Russians for fuel and other necessities. They have been feeling pressure from the Russians to shut down the US air base there for a while now and the Russians thought they had a deal to do just that. But then we decided we could triple the rent we were paying and so they took the money from us, which angered Moscow. They began putting pressure on the government by running critical news stories about it and then culminating in cutting fuel shipments to the country. The result was a swift take over by the opposition party and a reminder that you don't cross the bear. Now the Russians have begun constructing a pipeline direct to Germany. Why would they do this rather than build an overland one which would be simpler and cheaper? Well because that wouldn't allow them to blackmail Eastern Europe with cutoffs of their oil while still selling to Western Europe. This type of power playing is only going to increase and no amount of smiling treaty signing between our President and Putin's stand in Mevedev is going to make anyone in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus any safer. Russia is on the march and the sooner we realize that and act accordingly the better.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/oZHwkJcJf4k/return-of-the-russian-bear.html
Posted
Apr 12 2010, 01:46 AM
by
BLACKFIVE