Russia in Global Affairs

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RSCI Scopus

No. 4

2016 October/December

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Contents

Make Something Great Again

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

From the Past and Back?

The Inevitable, Weird World

Andrey Kortunov

Illusion as a Necessity

Boris G. Kapustin 

Missiles in Europe: Back to the Future?

Sergei A. Karaganov

Unity and Struggle

Vassily B. Kashin

Case History

Before the Change at the Helm of the UN

Aleksandr Gorelik

Law and National Interest

Aleksey Klishin

Good-Bye Familiar America?

Dmitry V. Suslov

To Keep Your Balance, Keep Moving

Tatiana A. Romanova

Heartland Anew

The Great Win-Win Game

Timofei V. Bordachev

Interconnecting Strategies

Vitaly Vorobyov

If Stakes Have Failed

Ivan A. Safranchuk

How Far Can the Islamic Threat Reach?

Alexei Malashenko, Aleksey Starostin

Energy Habits

Old Goals, New Tasks

Aleksandr Novak

Oil Back in Vogue

Slawomir Raszewski

Articles

Make Something Great Again

The future and the past can meet sometimes—when the present is at an impasse, like it is today. For a quarter of a century now, we have been tirelessly building a new world order, but suddenly time seems to have rolled back, reviving the talk of a new Cold War, an ideological conflict, arms control, and nuclear confrontation.

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

The Inevitable, Weird World

The claim about an irreversible crisis of the liberal world order is a very convenient position for those who would like to simplify not only the overall picture, but also the challenges to the Russian foreign policy. Russia should learn to see not only problems in globalization, but also new opportunities for itself.

Andrey Kortunov

Illusion as a Necessity

Like any ideology, patriotism comes along with an illusion of being part of “a big common cause.” However, illusion here is not deception, but an objective necessity, something that has to be hidden for society to continue to exist and at the same time adequately conceived at a conscious level.

Boris G. Kapustin 

Missiles in Europe: Back to the Future?

New disarmament talks are hardly necessary. With the West continuing to dominate the information space, such talks would only be used for inciting greater mistrust and militarizing mentality in Europe. But there is the need for military-to-military dialogue.

Sergei A. Karaganov

Unity and Struggle

The scope of China’s containment is broadening, while the scope of U.S.-China cooperation is gradually narrowing. Of course, it is easy not to see this if one cites high volumes of U.S.-Chinese trade or the great enthusiasm for American popular culture among the Chinese.

Vassily B. Kashin

Before the Change at the Helm of the UN

For the UN to continue to be truly indispensable, international officials and national governments, members of the academic elite and civil society leaders will have to reach consensus on the way ahead, avoiding over-ambitious plans, but also half-measures portrayed as full-fledged reforms.

Aleksandr Gorelik

Law and National Interest

Russia should reasonably assess the need for itself to participate in old, mostly European, formats of integration, and to think of new formats that would be more consistent with modern requirements. The principles of Russia’s interaction should be revised in favor of greater pragmatism and protection of national interest.

Aleksey Klishin

Good-Bye Familiar America?

U.S. foreign policy is entering an era of change—the most significant since the Truman administration. The cause of such changes lies in the discrepancy between the U.S. foreign policy consensus reached at that time and forged in the 1990s, and the current (and, most likely, future) global trends. The departure from the current consensus is inevitable. It is just a matter of time.

Dmitry V. Suslov

To Keep Your Balance, Keep Moving

Neither crises nor criticism mean that the EU will fall apart. It will maintain its stability even though it will be engaged not even in major repairs but in patching up and papering over the cracks. Brussels will focus on consolidating what has been achieved, which will require pinpoint harmonization in particular spheres.

Tatiana A. Romanova

The Great Win-Win Game

A hypothetical alliance between Russia and China is based on the assumption that it should serve as a counterweight to the U.S. hegemony. That thinking, however, overlooks the possibility that Moscow and Beijing might build closer relations for dealing with the important challenges they both face.

Timofei V. Bordachev

Interconnecting Strategies

It seems Washington wants to provoke China into muscle-flexing. If Beijing shows restraint and cold calculation in response, this may have a restrictive, if not sobering, effect on Washington. Russia is interested in preventing the South China Sea from becoming a proving ground for testing the strength of one’s nerves.

Vitaly Vorobyov

If Stakes Have Failed

Central Asian countries will have to adjust their old stakes, which have failed, and make new ones. They will largely depend on the positions external partners will take. But countries in the region want economic cooperation without a geopolitical “burden.”

Ivan A. Safranchuk

How Far Can the Islamic Threat Reach?

Despite its geographical remoteness from conflicts involving radical Islamists, the Russian Far East is not completely isolated from them. Preventing the growth of extremist threats in the Russian Far East and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole requires joint efforts of all states concerned.

Alexei Malashenko, Aleksey Starostin

Old Goals, New Tasks

In view of the accelerated development of new technologies and potentially low energy prices, the struggle for energy markets will intensify. No matter in what areas energy cooperation may develop in the future, its main task will be attracting investment, technologies and human capital into the Russian fuel/energy sector.

Aleksandr Novak

Oil Back in Vogue

The global energy market continues to be driven by the political economy of oil production and trade. Energy markets have come full circle returning to their fundamentals: oil is there to stay and play an important role in the era of slow melting of the oil surplus.

Slawomir Raszewski