Russia can no longer afford to pay for its nominal allies with tax-payer money. Libya, Algeria, Syria, and Egypt all owed money to the Soviet Union, but what did we receive in return? And what do we expect to receive from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko? Russia has finally stopped lending large sums of money to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which is only natural because the economic and political returns have been so negligible.
// Jun. 21, 2011 - 06:53 GMT
Over the past twenty years, both Russia and the United States have experienced several cycles of convergence and divergence in their bilateral relations. It seems that Moscow and Washington are doomed to repeat these cycles time and again.
// Jun. 21, 2011 - 06:24 GMT
China and Russia have to coordinate their foreign policies more closely, especially when it comes to resolving crises and conflicts, such as that involving North and South Korea or in the Middle East. The Russian-Chinese strategic partnership set out in this treaty is a powerful political tool not just to resolve crises and conflicts, but also to prevent them.
// Jun. 20, 2011 - 07:27 GMT
Turning towards the East is not Russiaâ™s willful decision â“ it cherishes its European market. It is not a forceful move either but an objective reality. The East is experiencing the need for a coal substitute. Besides, there is a partial gap to fill following the loss of some of Japanâ™s nuclear energy. </p>
// Jun. 17, 2011 - 07:24 GMT
The speculation surrounding the French assault ships seems to have finally been settled. Yet the Russian expert community is still hotly debating why Russia needs the Mistral at all, and, so far, no one has a clear answer. The admirals of the Russian Navy have kept as conspicuously silent as the political leadership. But why?
// Jun. 17, 2011 - 06:38 GMT
Despite their differences, the large, diverse BRICS economies, suffering from technological underdevelopment, equally require common rules of the game that will be fundamentally different from universally imposed liberal dogmas. A growing understanding of this idea unites BRICS countries in their common development ideology counterpoising the crisis-ridden West.
// Jun. 16, 2011 - 07:34 GMT
It is true that the Russian economy is backward, and that oil plays a role in that backwardness. But oil is not the root cause. The causes of Russiaâ™s backwardness lie in its inherited production structure. The physical structure of the real economy (that is, the industries, plants, their location, work forces, equipment, products, and the production chains in which they participate) is predominantly the same as in the Soviet era. </p>
// Jun. 16, 2011 - 06:44 GMT
The speculation surrounding the French assault ships seems to have finally been settled. Yet the Russian expert community is still hotly debating why Russia needs the Mistral at all, and, so far, no one has a clear answer. The admirals of the Russian Navy have kept as conspicuously silent as the political leadership. But why?
// Jun. 15, 2011 - 06:38 GMT
Geopolitically, the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed Russia and other post-Soviet states to integrate better into the global economy, have a much greater market cooperation with countries and companies abroad, share modern management, investment, social sciences, and even the arts which were inaccessible in the past.
// Jun. 15, 2011 - 06:23 GMT
Sino-Russian relations are usually wrapped in high-sounding rhetoric, but they are essentially very pragmatic. For China, Russia is a geopolitical “safe rear” and, in economic terms, a major resource base. For Russia, China is a huge market just across the border and a valuable geopolitical partner. The fundamentals of the relationship are solid and not likely to change in the short or medium term.
// Jun. 14, 2011 - 07:33 GMT