By MOHAMED HAMALUDIN
Nothing can justify the loss of lives, injuries and destruction of property and infrastructure which Russia is inflicting on Ukraine. It is difficult to grasp the fact that this mighty army can be wreaking such havoc and forcing millions to flee to neighboring countries just because it can. And there is not much other nations can do to retaliate in support of Ukraine, apart from imposing economic sanctions against the aggressor, because Russia is already rattling its nuclear saber.
Russia’s autocratic leader Vladimir Putin does not care about world opinion and the toll which the sanctions are taking on his country’s economy. He is obviously driven by geopolitics, the primary determinant for relations among nations going back to at least the invasion and occupation of small states by powerful ones sometimes thousands of miles away during the days of “colonialism.”
Russia’s Strategy – commentary
Russia’s Strategy – commentary
April 24, 2012 – By George Friedman – Stratfor – Geopolitical Weekly
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 reversed a process that had been under way since the Russian Empire’s emergence in the 17th century. It was ultimately to incorporate four general elements: Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Siberia. The St. Petersburg-Moscow axis was its core, and Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine were its center of gravity. The borders were always dynamic, mostly expanding but periodically contracting as the international situation warranted. At its farthest extent, from 1945 to 1989, it reached central Germany, dominating the lands it seized in World War II. The Russian Empire was never at peace. As with many empires, there were always parts of it putting up (sometimes violent) resistance and parts that bordering powers coveted — as well as parts of other nations that Russia coveted.
The Russian Empire subverted the assumption that political and military power requires a strong economy: It was never prosperous, but it was frequently powerful. The Russians defeated Napoleon and Hitler and confronted the far wealthier Americans for more than four decades in the Cold War, in spite of having a less developed or less advanced economy. Continue reading →
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