ISSN 2618-9844 (Online version)
ISSN 1810-6374 (Print version)
Russia is neither doomed to have adversarial relations with the West nor destined to have friendly ones with it: it is all in the hands of policymakers who need to learn, also from their own mistakes. Anatoly Adamishin’s book provides them with a rich body of experience to work from.
How does the world in 2018 look from the Kremlin? Judging from statements and interviews of Russian leaders, the world is not a very cool place these days.
This compilation is meant as a sampling of Graham’s views. The quotes below are divided into categories similar to those in Russia Matters’ news and analysis digests, reflecting the most pertinent topic areas for U.S.-Russian relations broadly and for drivers of the two countries’ policies toward one another.
The main achievement in Russia’s foreign policy for 2017, and for several years prior to that, has been the development of a strategic concept, for the first time since 1991. The physical embodiment of this concept is the idea of the Greater Eurasian Partnership.
Everything seems to have changed in Russia over the past one hundred years. The social and economic systems were scrapped and built anew twice, and the political system was overhauled three times. Yet the answers to the main questions “Who is to blame?” and “What is to be done?” remain pretty much the same as before.
Against a background of shifting geoeconomic power from the West to the East, economic nationalism has become the development strategy that allows rising powers to reverse negative asymmetry in interdependent economic relationships.
It claws and gnashes well above its weight. It can't kill a lion or an alligator, but it won't run away from them either. The honey badger is Russia in 2017.
Most foreign policy debates since Donald Trump took over as president a year ago have been dedicated to his unpredictability, inexperience and even his presidential incompetence, or to the strengths of Congress, the establishment and even members of Trump’s administration, who allegedly possess the ability to neutralize his “non-system” impulses.
The European Union's political and economic outlook improved dramatically in 2017, following a year in which the bloc reeled from the United Kingdom's Brexit referendum and Donald Trump's election in the United States. But European leaders must not become complacent in 2018, or the EU could be thrown into crisis yet again the following year.
Setting aside the shortcomings of the Belt and Road concept, the “OBOR hype’ around the world points to a real and fundamental trend — the ascent of China as a truly global economic and military power.
Geopolitical pluralism, in all its continentally and regionally uneven permutations is the global reality in what passes for ‘no one’s world’ (Charles Kupchan) and/or a ‘world in disarray’ (Richard Haas) when in fact, there is an evolving underlying logic to a multipolar landscape in what should be considered ‘everyone’s world.’
The political and economic relationship between Russia and China has been intensifying over the past decade, particularly as Moscow has attempted to “pivot to the East.”
While the North Korea crisis hangs over regional and global peace, the world calls out to constructive and peaceful cooperation that can halt the ‘conflict spiral’. The Russian-Korean cooperation and Eurasian integration may become a remedy for the problem.
On September 13, 2017, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker delivered his annual State of the Union address before the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The address prompted significant reaction both within the EU and far beyond its borders.
The preference of some countries to isolate themselves within their borders is anachronistic and self-defeating, but it would be a serious mistake for others, fearing contagion, to respond by imposing strict isolation. Even in states that have succumbed to reductionist discourses, much of the population has not.
The 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China is an intermediate stage in the formation of China as a leader of the new world order.
On Wednesday, October 11, a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council takes place in Sochi with the participation of the presidents of Eurasian Economic Union countries.
Will Vladimir Putin ever make Russia great again?
None of the possible scenarios for solving the North Korean problem—negotiations, sanctions, and a military solution—can be considered acceptable and satisfactory. This means that the United States and the whole world will likely have to coexist with a nuclear North Korea.
American-style globalization is being replaced not with its Asian variety, but a very harsh geopolitical reaction to protectionism as an antagonist of globalization.
300 years of Russia-France diplomatic relations have been marked by a lot of events that seriously affected their development.
Iran and Economic Strain Will Make It Tough
Syria has suffered great damage after the years-long conflict. Regional and global actors’ joint efforts are required to root out terrorism, rebuild the economy and resolve a humanitarian crisis in the country.
Russia will have many futures because it has had many pasts. Three aspects in particular stand out in any discussion of Russia’s future.
Will Angela Merkel’s Germany ensure that great-power cooperation does not deteriorate beyond the point of no return in the Trump era? The answer to that question will likely determine if the international order has any order to speak of in the years ahead.
Washington and Pyongyang will eventually need to resume direct talks. With neither party ready for that yet, at first secret contacts will have to be organized in third countries. In the meantime, de-escalation is the order of the day, and Russia one of its unlikely brokers.
The speech of the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in the European Parliament on September 13 shows, that the leadership of the European Union is trying to save itself.
The ninth BRICS Summit held on September 3–5, 2017, in Xiamen and chaired by China goes under the theme «BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future».
After six years of rapid and successive developments that have engulfed Arab countries, they could not reach a safe path towards the future.
By building a network of economic alliances across continents, the BRICS may take the lead in shaping global economic integration against the backdrop of waning integration impulses in the developed world.
Russia and China’s strategic military cooperation is becoming ever closer. President Putin has announced that Russia is helping China build an early warning system to spot intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
This year’s Annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington DC revealed a growing preoccupation with the mounting signs of a slowdown in the world economy.
Catherine the Great is credited with saying that the only way to secure the borders of the Russian Empire is to expand them continuously. This logic is to some degree applicable to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which embarked on a path of geographical enlargement quite literally from the very first days of its existence.
Developing the Russian Far East and Siberia has been an important step in state-building for Russia. Although there have been debates about appropriate ideas and policies in the strategy, developing the vast frontier region and promoting relations with Asian countries has set a steadfast direction of development for Russia. Chinese-Russian cooperation in the border region during the early stages of imperial Russia’s policies in the Far East holds enlightening significance for today’s bilateral cooperation.
The main objective for the Shinzo Abe administration’s active engagement in supporting the involvement of Japanese companies in the development of the Russian Far East is to create favourable environment for resolution of the territorial issue and conclusion of a peace treaty with Russia. Japan–Russia cooperation in the Russian Far East is part of Abe’s 8-point cooperation plan with Moscow.