Friday, January 15, 2016

Russian Imperialism

Economic impacts of russian imperialism
Austin Johnson
1/12/2016
Mr. Reuter
A1 econ

Russian Imperialism
November 12 2014 Russians have been spotted moving into Ukraine in columns. It is no surprise that russia is threatened by the existence of the European union, Russia knows they cannot stand up to the combined might of Europe. This can be seen as the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU have forced russia to reconsider the trade offs and move onto Syria. The russians under all costs did not want Ukraine to become closer to the EU as it would allow another post soviet country more success than they have experienced, as well as encircle russia and empower their enemies.
Today Many people question why russia is in the middle east and what their motives there are. To answer this question we must analyze their overarching goal which is to turn their own people away from their domestic problems and give them a sense of pride that russia is still a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. Officially Russia is aiding the Assad regime  because during the cold war Syria and russia were allies. This is also coupled with the fact that russia is just as vulnerable from terrorist attacks as France is. Unofficially from an economics perspective If Russia is able to stabilize syria they would be able to seal a lucrative energy contract worth $1.6 billion(CNBC). This can be seen as russia having an absolute advantage in military and  Syria having a comparative advantage in natural gas and crude oil. The war in Syria is also considered by Russian military advisors as a war in which they would receive no consequences, and hopefully distract the global attention off of ukraine(CNBC).
While Russia's intentions may seem noble Their involvement in the Middle East is not to help kill terrorists, but rather to to forward their own goals of Annexing Ukraine and Crimea. This whole thing is about lowering the opportunity cost of annexing Ukraine. The best scenario for russia would be to have America and the EU help Russia on a crusade to crush ISIS. This would help rebuild fractured relations with the US and Europe and make them less suspicion with what is happening in Crimea. This way russia hopes to find away around receiving another round of UN sanctions.
Russians remember well the recent sanctions imposed by the EU. These sanctions include; freezing investments and assets, refusing to buy russian oil and natural gas, refusing to trade certain foods, EU companies can no longer buy bonds issued by the russian government, an embargo on imports and exports through Crimea, refusing to sell military equipment, ect (eropa.eu). All of these sanctions caused the Supply demanded to dwindle and the Quantity demanded to increase, this made prices of many Goods to increase as well as the sales of alternative items to increase as well. Russia hopes to prove to their citizens that they are still powerful as well as prevent more of these economic sanctions. By aiding the Assad regime Russia completes all of it’s goals as well as set a trap for the West. All We need to do now is stay out of the middle east and try to see through russia’s trapps.   


"The Real Reason Russia Is 'Helping' Syria." Time. Time. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.


"What Has Russia Got Invested in Syria?" CNBC. 2015. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.

"EU Sanctions against Russia over Ukraine Crisis." EUROPA. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.


"Pakistan Today." Pakistan Today. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.

"Turkey Blames ISIL for Bomb in Istanbul’s Tourist Heart." RSS. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.

"Breaking News, U.S., World, Business, Entertainment & Video." CBSNews. CBS Interactive. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.


"KyivPost." KyivPost. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.

10 comments:

  1. I dont think that syria would be as big of a help in the production of oil and gas as russia is by itself. I would like to say that Russia has other interests in the middle east as does the USA. Both the USA and Russia are involved in the middle east and have their own goals and objectives that they want to acquire and accomplish. I think that this may be the start of another proxy war over the type of government that would be installed in syria once the war is over, as Syria is basically a law-less state.

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  2. It's interesting to see how defensive Russia can get over the Ukraine getting stronger, while there are so many other issues they could be focused on. Like you mentioned earlier, ISIS. ISIS is a global problem at this point, so there is no excuse for it not to be a global effort to put an end to their terrorist acts. I think it will be interesting to see how Russia acts toward fighting against them in the near future.

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  3. This is a very interesting topic, since at home we seem to talk about foreign relations a lot lately. It seems like we enjoy talking about how we should do something, but we never really do, whether its trade-offs or just don't have the willpower to do so. The Sanctions that have been placed on Russia very well could mess with their economy, and cause some inflation, but what is the purpose of us placing sanctions on them? Of course, its seems obvious that because they're doing something we don't like, we stop buying from them, but how does that benefit us? If we get a main supply from them, or a major product flows in from them, then neither side benefits from this.

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  4. Russia already annexed Crimea back in march of 2014, it is not a goal for them. They violated the Budapest Memorandum and were cut from the G8 (group of 8) and slapped with sanctions. Metrojet 9268 was a Russian plane that crashed in Egypt killing the 224 people on board, 219 of which were Russians. Given these events it is no surprise that Russia has declared war on ISIS, BUT the terrorist attack on Russia happened after they declared a "Holy War" on ISIS. Russia is helping out his ally, tyrant Bashar Assad, Putin does not want to lose one of his very few allies.

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  5. Russia's military actions have definitely been strategic and possibly poorly thought out moves in hopes to get resources from the Middle East in return. Because their actions have countered many westernized countries I find it unlikely that they will gain support from the United Nations in this matter, especially because they are still not formally recognizing Ukraine as a separate nation. Russia's motives are too selfish to truly gain any allies out of these military advances, but if they desperately need Middle Eastern oil, it may be economically advantageous to continue funding the Assad forces.

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  6. If anther post soviet country became more successful than Russia, Russian people would begin to become curious if their nation was doing enough for its people, this, I predict, would cause leaders to block Russian people from communication with the outside world. This move would further inhibit trade resulting in the starvation of many Russian citizens and would prevent using other nations as models to foster economic growth solely because of Russian pride. Like you said, Russia may be able to fool its people by increasing trade with middle east, but as you and I know, trade without the aid of developed western hemisphere and EU would devastate a nation.

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  7. Personally, I think that Russia could become an ally as time goes on. If they were to stop trying to take back the Ukraine and focus on their own country, perhaps they could become less of an enemy and their sanctions could be lifted which could help the economies of nations world wide (as well as let their citizens have cheese). Russia is a huge nation as it is but being more friendly towards other nations could mean a better future for everyone; as well as a better economy because of less trade barriers.

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  8. This is very interesting topic. This is relevant and needs a little more attention because we(The US) don't need Russia gaining anymore power. Putin needs to be stabilized. I agree when you said, the best scenario for Russia is to have America and the EU help to crush ISIS because no one knows what's going to happen next. I believe the Putin wouldn't do anything to help his people until multiple attacks happen and then his people start to retaliate against him. Russia is already huge Putin needs to quit with trying to get Ukraine; Ukraine has clearly proven that Putin can't have their country. Of course Putin doesn't care and would sacrifice who ever for more power and land.

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  9. While this topic is important to watch I think people tend to let their fears make a situation seem worse. In the case of Russia yes invading other countries to spread your power is wrong. However, Russia is invading countries that are rather unstable. If they were invading more developed countries it would become a problem, but this wouldn't happen as a war with a powerful nation is not something Russia can afford. I do think that their is some benefits that Russia could give to countries like Ukraine and Syria. As of right now Syria is in no way a stable nation and it appears that their is no sight of an end to the instability. So by allowing Russia to help Syria presents its self with an opportunity to remove ISIS from their nation and regain control of the areas they lost. Now Russia is not going to be doing anything for Syria just out of the good of their hearts. Due to the sanctions on Russia imposed by the EU Europe will need to find another source of energy, and by Russia taking control in Syria they remove another energy source for European nations. In the end I feel like people want to make a big deal out of this because it is Russia and they then want to ignore that Imperialism is not something that only Russia has an interest in.

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  10. This was kind of crazy to read because I didn't know any of this was going on. I can say I understand what Russia is trying to do for their own goals, but I believe that they need to start thinking about other people as well and understand that making these movements and being somewhat secretive. I also believe that EU should try and open trade with Russia. That is one way to keep them at bay and also it is a way to keep track of Russia's resources. Knowing their resources helps keep them in track and then we can analyze what resources they need/want and then go from their. Whether they have some big plan or just need to help their people and have more resources so their people don’t have to pay as much for their everyday needs.

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