Russia and the Return of Geopolitics

Abstract

Russia is again the subject of serious concern in the West. After a steady decline in its fortunes in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, Russia is aggressively flexing its economic and political muscles. Its economy is on the upswing, largely due to the steadily rising prices of oil and natural gas. Russia's military is still a shadow of its Soviet predecessor; however, the current military weaknesses will not last forever. Sooner, rather than later, Russia will restore its military might. Moscow is already trying to restore its power and influence in much of Eurasia. It has moved ever closer to China and to some major European powers to counter what it sees as the 'hegemony' of the United States. Resurgent Russia will probably be neither the friend nor the enemy of the West, but a largely independent and highly unpredictable factor in international politics.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA520412

Entities

People

  • Milan N. Vego

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Central Asia
  • Cis
  • Flight Training
  • Geopolitics
  • Governments
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • International Law
  • International Relations
  • Law
  • National Security
  • Navy
  • Nuclear Warheads
  • United States
  • Ussr
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Strategic Security Studies