The following is excerpted from Chapter 1 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity:
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What About Russia?
Founded in the 12th century, it was conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century and did not really emerge until after the 15th century. By the 17th century, the Romanov Dynasty expanded the country to Siberia and the Pacific, then, under Peter I, to the Baltic Sea, for the first time naming the country the Russian Empire.
The communists led by Vladimir Lenin gained control in 1917, calling it the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. Under a quarter century of rule by Josef Stalin until 1953, the USSR became a serious challenger to the United States.
Founded in the 12th century, it was conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century and did not really emerge until after the 15th century. By the 17th century, the Romanov Dynasty expanded the country to Siberia and the Pacific, then, under Peter I, to the Baltic Sea, for the first time naming the country the Russian Empire.
The communists led by Vladimir Lenin gained control in 1917, calling it the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. Under a quarter century of rule by Josef Stalin until 1953, the USSR became a serious challenger to the United States.
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Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary from 1985 to 1991, introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) to modernize the country, leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and ending the Cold War, breaking apart the union into 15 countries. On his 75th birthday, Gorbachev was quoted to say that “despite the great opportunity that the end of the cold war presented to the U.S. to build a safer and more stable world, it only strengthened America’s arrogance and unilateralism.” Current Russian President Vladimir Putin also blames the U.S. for militarism and global instability, while he clamps down on internal dissent and takes over fossil fuel operations. Putin wants his country to become the next Saudi Arabia, at least for natural gas.
A comparative U.S.-Russian tally shows the following:
A comparative U.S.-Russian tally shows the following:
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........................................................Russia..........................United States
Age.............................................Almost 1000 years.....About 200 years
Age.............................................Almost 1000 years.....About 200 years
Size.............................................17 million sq km.........10 million sq km
Population......................................141 million..................302 million
GDP.............................................$1,746 billion.............$13,000 billion
GDP/Capita....................................$12,200.....................$44,000
Military Expenditures......................Not Available..............$528 billion
Military Expenditures
as %GDP......................................Not Available.................4.1%
Thus, Russia has less than half the population of the U.S., but is almost twice as large in area. Our Gross Domestic Product is seven and a half times larger than that of Russia.
The clue to world peace forever could well have been influenced by one crucial series of understandings between the Soviet Union and the U.S. When Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to disarmament, humanity overcame our greatest threshold of madness: mutually assured destruction.
Russia today plays the field, and, you might say, is enterprising. An Israeli satellite launched by Russia in 2006 now allows the gathering of data, with 27.5 inch resolution, on Iran’s military assemblage. Russia happens to be building Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant at a cost of $800 million. Also, too, Russia is more and more keeping bad company, Iran and North Korea being prime examples. With China, the growling Bear has more and more again tended to confront the U.S. on international politics.
Perhaps most worrisome, Putin’s recent moves have reasserted dominance of the Kremlin, while limiting media and judiciary independence. In September of 2007, Putin flew close to NATO airspace his antique Tu-95 strategic bombers, which where escorted back by British and Norwegian fighter planes. He also announced a $200 billion rearmament plan to modernize his military. The U.K. has called to task Russia’s violations of human and democratic rights. Yet, it’s gratifying to note that on being awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics, Dmitry Chernyshenko called the victory a “key moment in Russian history…The games will help Russia’s transition as a young democracy.”
The next war for resources could well be Russia versus Canada and Denmark, with the U.S. serving as an associate to the new enemy coalition. On August 3, 2007, a Russian scientific crew planted a flag (actually, dropped a titanium capsule containing the flag) on the ocean floor under the North Pole, leading President Putin to claim the rights to the half million square mile seabed for oil and gas. Canada, in an earlier response ordered several billion dollars worth of military equipment and facilities to assert their claim on the same territory, and Denmark, teaming with Canada, contends that the North Pole is merely an extension of Greenland, which they own. The United Nations, actually, in 2001, had already rejected Moscow’s claim to that seabed. For the record, the U.S., Canada and Norway already have claims on that space, too.
Why the ruckus? There is speculation that the bottom of the ocean over the North Pole has as much untapped oil and gas as Saudi Arabia. For the record, too, Vladimir Gruzdev and Artur Chilingarov saw yellowish gravel, but no creatures of the deep, at the bottom. The Antarctic is a continent. The Arctic just floats over water.
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Thus, Russia has less than half the population of the U.S., but is almost twice as large in area. Our Gross Domestic Product is seven and a half times larger than that of Russia.
The clue to world peace forever could well have been influenced by one crucial series of understandings between the Soviet Union and the U.S. When Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to disarmament, humanity overcame our greatest threshold of madness: mutually assured destruction.
Russia today plays the field, and, you might say, is enterprising. An Israeli satellite launched by Russia in 2006 now allows the gathering of data, with 27.5 inch resolution, on Iran’s military assemblage. Russia happens to be building Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant at a cost of $800 million. Also, too, Russia is more and more keeping bad company, Iran and North Korea being prime examples. With China, the growling Bear has more and more again tended to confront the U.S. on international politics.
Perhaps most worrisome, Putin’s recent moves have reasserted dominance of the Kremlin, while limiting media and judiciary independence. In September of 2007, Putin flew close to NATO airspace his antique Tu-95 strategic bombers, which where escorted back by British and Norwegian fighter planes. He also announced a $200 billion rearmament plan to modernize his military. The U.K. has called to task Russia’s violations of human and democratic rights. Yet, it’s gratifying to note that on being awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics, Dmitry Chernyshenko called the victory a “key moment in Russian history…The games will help Russia’s transition as a young democracy.”
The next war for resources could well be Russia versus Canada and Denmark, with the U.S. serving as an associate to the new enemy coalition. On August 3, 2007, a Russian scientific crew planted a flag (actually, dropped a titanium capsule containing the flag) on the ocean floor under the North Pole, leading President Putin to claim the rights to the half million square mile seabed for oil and gas. Canada, in an earlier response ordered several billion dollars worth of military equipment and facilities to assert their claim on the same territory, and Denmark, teaming with Canada, contends that the North Pole is merely an extension of Greenland, which they own. The United Nations, actually, in 2001, had already rejected Moscow’s claim to that seabed. For the record, the U.S., Canada and Norway already have claims on that space, too.
Why the ruckus? There is speculation that the bottom of the ocean over the North Pole has as much untapped oil and gas as Saudi Arabia. For the record, too, Vladimir Gruzdev and Artur Chilingarov saw yellowish gravel, but no creatures of the deep, at the bottom. The Antarctic is a continent. The Arctic just floats over water.
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The U.S. Senate passed the $410 billion spending bill, Madoff plead guilty to 11 counts and the Dow Jones Industrials shot up 379 to 6926. What a day! World markets also all jumped, with many countries up about the same as the U.S. (+5.8%). Crude oil stayed relatively steady at $45.80/barrel. Gold dropped $24/toz to below $900, ending at $897. You might recall that it was only last week when prices beyond $1000/toz were being predicted in the near future. Is it conceivable that March 10 will be considered to be the day that ended the Great Recession?
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All Indian Ocean cyclones have largely dissipated.
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