Russia's vast natural resources are well known and accepted. None of the things you have mentioned however are likely to do the nation much good at the present time with a vast and unnecessary rearmament program underway and with the threat of worsening sanctions and trade restrictions with the wealthier nations.
Well the agricultural sector is doing quite well. Their exports are on a drastic rise, and it's not inconceivable that Russian agricultural exports will eclipse natural gas exports within the next couple of decades. Clearly that does much good.
I can tell you, that the great part of Russian elite is dreaming about getting part of Europe as close as possible, even Putin in his early was part of this elite. And this part of elite can give up many things if this union would be promised. And nothing of this wouldn't happened if somebody wouldn't start building NATO bases closer and closer to Russian borders. You just have to react on that. Russian elite believed that it had a agreement with USA, that NATO bases will go no further than Germany after USSR was gone. The agreement failed, the dream of Russian elite of becoming part of Europe like Germany and France failed, and that's where true reasons lie.
Maybe you are correct Feanor:
Firstly as I mentiond, there were and agreement that there will be no NATO expansion. (please watch this video, so i wont seem liyng - youtube watch?time_continue=5&v=dW3DWgMAwz0). This agreement was absolutly fundamentual for strategical plans of russian elite that contributed into the end of USSR and became the main power in Russia after that.
Small forces mean nothing of course. What means is missile defence systems and that the strategic idea of last 20 years of Russian elite completly failed. And of course Ukraine, Ukraine is like our own land in our culture, no matter if it is another state. Its our land, and it maybe was the last drop of patience for Putin.
Yes, in Russia we think that in every NATO state missile defence systems can be
I find the idea of the West "winning" the Cold War to be flawed from the beginning. Towards the end of Cold War one, both sides realized that there was of course no way for any side to win in a full out war, and it was critical to de-escalate tensions. By that point, Russia had grown out of Communism, and wanted to embrace Capitalism. Throughout its history, Russia had always wanted to be close to Europe, to be accepted there, and this was nothing new really for them. In order to fully de-escalate and end the Cold War, concessions had to be made by each side. After an agreement was reached, clearly the West reneged on its side of the agreement on the grounds that Russia was economically weak at the time, preferring instead to stick to the idea of "winning" the Cold War. We can see the results of these ideas now, Cold War 2. Was it all really worth it?
I am not Russian, don't get me wrong, I don't share the vast majority of their sentiments. Personally, I am glad that many good nations have joined NATO, I had welcomed these news when they came. These counties are an asset, as I had hoped Russia could have been (and not necessarily as part of NATO). From what I understand now, Russia was going to stomach the NATO expansion anyhow. The problems for them were the missile bases in Europe, as well as the armed regime change in Ukraine, the nation Russia considers theirs (their words, not mine). These were Russia's tipping points. Why it was necessary to push them, I do not understand.
Friedman (Stratfor): "Another important point-not being able to have troops everywhere, throughout the United States will maintain hostility and war, all fighting each other and not fight against the United States. And the United States will help the arms, money and advisors. Sami will intervene only as a last resort.
Except to say that of the two ideologies, the western system ('Capitalism') has been more successful compared to Russia's ('Socialism). This has been proven in many parts of the world; Venezuela being the latest example.
Interesting. This is presumably why Putin is aggressively trying to challenge those US alliances and trying to capitalise quickly. Turkey being a good example. Another is The Philippines.
It's not a question of which is the better system, and hasn't been the question since the end of the Cold War. Modern day Russia is a capitalist country, possibly in the worst sense of that word.
Yes, I bitterly admit it is oligarchy in Russia. But I dont understand why does it matter for foreign policy.
Putin is putting a lot of pressure on those Oligarchs & those under them, many of whom are ancient history now. Ukrainians are following in the footsteps of other Central Europeans who joined NATO- they made a mistake by not becoming neutral like Austria or Sweden & thus antagonized Russia, shooting themselves in the foot. It may become a self-fulfilled prophecy: by hosting NATO bases, they became potential targets- the outcome they tried to avoid! Some in Poland, Hungary & Bulgaria already realized that there is more to loose than to gain. NATO will use them as cannon fodder & importers of arms, but won't be able to protect them just because the Article 9 is on the books. Russia has been warning all of them & NATO leaders for years, like that Soviet cartoon mellow cat Leopold done with mice: "lads, let's live peacefully!" Let's remember that in the long run, the West was never able to decisively defeat Russia. Those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it!
The West has done much better so far. In order to keep it that way, it would be good for many of us to dig deeper into our own values for guidance. For example, "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18
And yet many rank and file Russians, especially the older ones, cling to ideas of Soviet-style entitlement.
I see the problem here. You think that soviet was some sort of unnatural condition of Russian culture. When actually it was natural condition or Russian culture, soviet culture was a logical extension of our culture. There are historical and cultural reasons fror that. Thats why it wont disappear even when we started to build capitalism.