The Russian Federation

Russia certainly has its problems lately. They have made a tremendous comeback from their collapse as the Soviet Union. The petrol dollars were really feeding their economy, after all one thing that Russia has is all the riches that are in and under it. Now that oil is falling in price their profits are sinking however. Oil is down to about a third of what it was selling for at its high point. That means that a barrel of the stuff that used to cost about $147 or so, now costs about $60 at the writing of this article. In a recent article it was stated that the Russian economy had been growing by 7% a year. The economy of Russia has risen to 1.3 trillion dollars a year and this is a near miracle for a country that was almost bankrupt. But the economy is not their only problem, they have been experiencing problems in a lot of other areas.

One of the areas where Russia is hurting is in the way it is governed. While Russia is a lot freer than anyone would have ever suspected it would be when it was the old Soviet Union, it is still not what the west would call a capitalist country. When President Putin was the leader it still smacked of the old regime and some people that had become businessmen were worried that Russia was not free enough. Putin is no longer the president but his hand picked successor is and many believe that Putin is pulling the strings from behind the stage. One businessman stated that he prefers freedom to fear and corruption and when asked about true freedom he replied, “The only things that will stop me are a bullet or a prison cell.” While the US has lost a lot of freedoms, Russia has indeed gained some, but not enough. We have a new president that many believe will head the country back toward more democratic ways, but many Russians feel that what they have now is the most that they will ever have.

Another area where Russia unfortunately excels is in crime. Russia has some of the smartest criminals in the world. When a policeman in the US was asked about the difference between the Mafia and the Russian mob, he replied that when the people in the Mafia want relaxation they play boccie (a sport played with balls and similar to shuffle board) while the Russians played chess. It is hard to realize the scope of the Russian mob. Recently the police were able to break up a scheme where the Russian mob was making billions of dollars, yes billions. They made a deal with a US distiller. He was putting grain alcohol into barrels and dying it blue and they were labeling it as windshield washer fluid. When it got to Russia they put in a chemical that got rid of the blue color and then they bottled it as Vodka and sold it. Each drum was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were able to beat the taxes on alcohol this way. Thousands of drums were found in a warehouse ready for shipment. Legitimate businesses in Russia are being infiltrated by their mob, thus undermining the status of the country in the eyes of the world.

Delta IV Russian Submarine

The Russian military is still not in very good shape. It is true that they have nukes and this is very dangerous for the world since it is believed that some may have been sold by people in the military who were looking for a quick buck. One report that I read recently, claims that 20 suitcase sized nukes were sold to terrorists. While I can not confirm any of this, it has been found that some nuclear material seems to be missing. Some of the military hardware was sold and it is believed that the aircraft can no longer compete with the US. This idea comes from the fact that many believe that we now have space planes and as of this writing we are the only ones. This can not be proved, as it is all hush, hush, but it is probably true. The Russian navy is much smaller than it used to be as many ships and boats were left to rot for lack of funds. The Russians are trying to keep up with some of their submarines, but as many of us know, there have been a lot of accidents with them over the years. Just the other day 20 sailors died when a fire extinguishing system went on and sealed them in a forward compartment, causing them to lose their oxygen as it pumped in deadly fire fighting chemicals. They even had to sell a half finished aircraft carrier for lack of funds.

All sorts of problems exist on the diplomatic front for the Russians. Many of the former Iron Curtain countries are now NATO members. They include Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. They are not fans of Russia and Poland gladly accepted the George Bush offer to put missiles near the Russian Boarder, which is driving the Russians crazy and has made them state that they are going to put up their own missiles near them. Problems with former Soviet states have plagued the Russians. There are problems with Chechnya that never seem to go away and the recent problems with Georgia have caused outrage in some quarters. When Russia fought Chechnya in 1994, the Russian people were outraged, they wanted the war to stop. On top of this Chechnya, while completely outnumbered by Russian forces, was able to fight a gorilla war and demoralized much of the Russian force and the war was ended in 1996. Chechens claim that they lost 3,000 fighters while some say the Russians could have lost as many as 14,000, but the true numbers will never be known since the Russians claim that they killed 15,000 Chechens and only lost 5,500.

There are all sorts of environmental problems in Russia, some so terrible that they are hard to contemplate. Look at Chernobyl. I am sure that many of us remember that. A reactor blew and irradiated the countryside and the cloud traveled around the world giving us all a present of radioactive debris. Some day archaeologists will be able to pinpoint our era by the amount of radiation in a particular strata of the earth. A 19 miles area around the reactor has become an exclusion zone that no one is allowed to enter. The abandoned buildings there, stand as a grim reminder of the terrible power of the atom when it is mishandled. One of the major problems is that when an environmental disaster happens there the response is painfully slow. When an oil pipe burst it received no public notice. Sometimes nothing is done to remedy a disaster. In the 1990s the government declared that about 40% of all Russian territory was under high or moderately high ecological stress. Russia is a big place and this amount of territory is equal to about 3/4ths of the US. The three major environmental problems in the Old Soviet Union were Chernobyl, desiccation of the Aral Sea and irradiation of northern Kazakstan by the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site.

While Russia has a long way to go to clear up its problems, the average Russian is a good, hard working person and given enough time I believe that they can do it. They are leaders in space propulsion systems and make the best rocket engines, which are used by almost every country that has a space program including us. I know that they want what all other civilized people want, a good home for their children and a peaceful life and I hope they get it. I hope that we also see things improve here and that many of our economic and social problems get solved. Who knows, there may come a time when Russian interests and our own merge and we just might find ourselves with new friends.