Russia and Realism - Assignment Example

Question Yes, I agree with the fact that Russia is likely to become more influential in global politics. First, Russia recently changed its foreign policy which would see the state of Russia apply what is called soft power on other nation. According to the report by the RT Russian Politics, Russian President Vladimir Putin explained that changes in foreign policy will also take into considerations some global changes. The changes mentioned by the President include the middle and North Africa conflicts, world financial crisis and the restructuring of balance of forces in global affairs. Russian government will see that current conflicts in some parts of the world such as the Middle East are dealt with in a manner that will not harm the players of the conflict. In the regard, the Russian President pointed out that they will apply soft power in such hot spots. According to the article, soft power brings all conflicting parties together; this will avoid a situation where a powerful state like the U.S. using military option in solving conflicts. The changes made by Russia with regard to foreign policy will see its government move on playing a major role in international affairs. This would happen despite the huge disagreement that has been there for many decades between the U.S. and the Russian state. Just recently, the U.S. and Russia have not been in good terms because of Syrian conflicts. The United States was accusing Russian government for backing Bashar Al Assad regime. On the other hand, Russia has been opposing the U.S. government’s plans to set up a missile defense system in Europe. Despite their disagreements in many terms, both powerful states have one goal, solving the increasing financial crisis globally. Some people however might argue that Russian is less powerful in terms of military, economy and foreign influence. Let’s compare Russia with the U.S. both are deemed the most countries in the world. Russia is less powerful economically and militarily than the United States. Studies show that the U.S. GDP is five times that of Russian. The U.S. spends a lot of money in its military than Russian. The United States spends close to $682 Billion while Russian spends less than $500 Billion. On the other hand, Russian government is seen as unfriendly nation making it have less number of friends as compared to the United States. All those issues make Russia less influential than the United States. However, things are changing, first, as mentioned above the change of foreign policy by the state of Russian will see more states working with Russia. Additionally, Russian economy is growing at a faster rate than that of the United States. The tax inflation is at 13%, this is much less than that the United States. Russian states also have huge untapped natural and minerals across the countries. Just like any other developed country, they have invested largely on their education system bringing forth highly educated people. It is clear that the future of Russia is good like their counterparts, the U.S. and China. There is also another issue that showed how powerful Russian state is in Europe. Ukraine and the European members are supplied natural gas by the Russian state. However, due to unfriendliness that rose between Ukraine and Russia, the supply of gas to Ukraine was stopped by Russian major supplier, Gazprom. The supplier of gas to Ukraine argued that Ukraine had large unpaid debt and wanted also to lower the price per 1000 cubic meters despite other European countries buying it at higher price (Lamy 77). According to Lamy (77), Gazprom was supplying Ukraine with natural at a price of $250 per 1000 cubic meters. Some European countries were obtaining it a higher price more than $500 per 1000 cubic meters. Because of large debt accumulated by Ukrainian government and request to obtain Russian gas at lower price, the company decided to shut gas supplier to Ukraine. However, the issue might not be the accumulation of debt by Ukrainian state neither it was the demand to be supplied at lower price. Analysts argue that Russian government applied what is known as realism. They acted in respond to the fall of Soviet Union. Russia is a sovereign state and it can make its decision. Impacts of Russian economy after the fall of Brent benchmark per barrel The Russian economy is under a huge threat after the risen fall of Brent benchmark per barrel. They already have more problems after the sanctions imposed on them by the U.S. and the European Union. Putin’s government was sanctioned because they are believed to be sponsoring the escalating conflict in Ukraine. According to Bowler, Russian government is among the largest producer and supplier of crude oil. Additionally, Russia depends mostly on energy revenues meaning that the fall in cost of oil prices will affect its economy. It is estimated that close to 70% of the Russian exports are oil and gas. Bowler also noted that Russian economy will not recovery soon if oil prices remain at where it is now. Questions 2 Things are not easy for European Union in response to Russia involvement in war waged in Ukraine. Here are some facts that have made it difficult to deal with Putin’s government. As noted earlier on this paper, Russia is the largest supplier of Natural gas in Europe. Additionally, Russia is among the top suppliers of crude oil globally. In addition, Russia is the biggest business partner for most European countries. According to Gross, the EU is the largest foreign investor in Russia with large Foreign Direct Investments Russia. Europeans import large amount of goods from Russia. For example, studies shows that EU imported close to 206.5 Billion worth of goods from Russia. France one of the greatest EU members is planning to sell military ships to Russia (Zachmann). All those facts explain how significant Russia is to the EU. As a leader of European Union dealing with Russia is not easy, sanctions cannot work because European members will be affected similarly as Russia state. However, as a leader one way one of making things right is a talk with Russian government. Some might argue that talks will not work at all calling for sanctions as recently imposed by the U.S. The United States agrees that suctioning Russian states will end its involvement in Crimea. However, The United states enough resources and it does not need to import some in Russia just like some European members. On the other hand, imposing sanctions on Russia means that some of the most important goods such as oil and gas will be halted. The EU will not be on the save side as the United States because it is not possible to obtain gas elsewhere apart from Russia. Question 3 Three countries claim to own resources in the North Pole, Russia, Denmark and Canada claim ownership of the North Pole. According to Astill (143), Russians argued that North Pole has been theirs and no other state should claim it. Canada, on the other hand with its continental shelf extending to the North Pole has laid claim that they have a right to drill crude oil, natural gas and other available minerals in the area. The report by Marshall shows that Canada presented an application to the United Nation that brought fresh claims for arctic. This came after what the scientist predicted that Arctic in the future be an ice-free land. It will be possible to drill some minerals in the area. As Astill (143) shows that the previous arctic conflicts that had been settled will likely to arise because of climate change. There are quite a number of things that are likely to happen if resources in the Lomonosov ridge are exploited. First, the countries quarreling over the North Pole will likely to work together in exploiting minerals in the North Pole. It is because natural resources will enrich the parties claiming the North Pole. So instead of arguing over who owns which part of North Pole, they will rather exploit the resources. The cost of operating in the North Pole in search of resources will also make the conflicting parties to work together. This has happen in some regions; some rival firms in the North Pole are currently working together. Works Cited “Putin: Russias influence in the world to grow.” RT Russian Politics. 15 February 2013. Web. . 12 Jan. 2015. Astill, James. “Too Much to Fight over.” In Global Environmental Issues, 29.7 (n.d.): 143-144. Print. Bowler, Tim. “Falling oil prices: Who are the winners and losers?” BBC News Business 7 January 2015. Web. 12 Jan. 2015. Gross, Daniel. “Russia Is Europe’s Gas Station.” The Slate Group. 24 July 2014. Web. 12 Jan. 2015. Lamy, Steven L. Introduction to Global Politics. UK: Oxford University Press. 2014. Print. Marshall, Christa. “Fight heats up over future control of the North Pole.” E& E Publishing. 10 December 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2015. Zachmann, Georg. ‘The cost of escalating sanctions on Russia over Ukraine and Crimea.” Bruegel. 18th March 2014. Web. 12 Jan. 2015. Read More