There’s growing concern among Senate Republicans in Washington that Vladimir Putin in seeking greater economic and political cooperation with former Soviet states is actually seeking to recreate the former Soviet Union.
I can’t speak to reality on the ground in Moscow, but I do know that the second coming of the Soviet Union won’t be quite like the first. The world has become a far more global place economically and socially. It isn’t so easy to just divide East-West and keep information out. I talked a little bit about this in Asia’s Censor Problem available in the archives. Russia needs the West as a trading partner for its’ oil and natural gas, so isolation as promoted in Lenin and Stalinist times, isn’t exactly an option.
I keep hearing about how Russia is going to be rich as the West crumbles. Not necessarily, yes Russia has a large supply of oil and natural gas, but there going to have years of digging to get to the stuff. Furthermore, they’ve failed to diversify their economy so its’ not as fuel based. Until such action occurs, they’ll always be hostage to the commodities market.
If anything, Russia may accomplish Soviet Union-lite.
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