Russia transforms her geoeconomics

Sir Winston Churchill made this pithy statement: “Russia as never as strong as she looks nor as weak as seems”. Known for his wit, wisdom & eloquence Churchill hit the nail on the head. But Russia is transforming a lot, of late in the area of geoeconomics thanks to NATO. Here is my survey:

The Soviet legacy stays put. It is because Russia realized her dream as a super power not under the rule of Czars, but under the yolk of Stalin. He made the production base and military industrial complex that raised her to level with USA in terms of domestic economics to some extent and in the prowess of military to a great extent.

Under Putin led autocracy, Russia is blossoming into a novel geoeconomics power house: self-sufficient in every aspect of domestic life with a trading base widely spread across the nation having the largest land mass of the world, Arctic included. The alchemy is surprisingly not export led growth but domestic demand led growth.

Exports would continue to be there but the dependency over fuel & energy often belittled in the West as “gas station economy” would be a thing of the past. Opting out of supply of gas to Europe is the prime goal with a concomitant factor of pushing Europe being a dependency of America in liquefied gas and other energy sources. Put it in other way, the era of cheap gas that catapulted European industrial base would cease to exist.

Does that mean Russia is going to be ensnared in the consumer economy? Not at all. One lesson learned in the proxy war by the West in Ukraine is never to get entrapped in “consumerism” that led to the decay of democracy and the birth of a neo-liberal cabal who runs the world from Brussels & New York not to forget perennial London.

Therefore, domestic economy would not be equated to consumer economy. A holistic set-up would be built such that every Russian has the means to live a comfortable life in a triangle where food, energy and social security would occupy the three prongs.

Now comes the big blow, briefly enumerated below:

1. Cosy relationship with BRICS nation is the sine-quo-non. Putin understands that the rule based international order (RBIO) is on the way out and to be  replaced by law based international order (LBIO) where equality amongst members is sacrosanct and progress peters down to every nook & cranny of the global south.

2. Bilateral, trilateral and multilateral relationship to be forged in a step-by-step process. For example, Russia-China bilateral, Russia-China- Iran   as well as Russia-China-India trilateral co-operation would be taken forward along with BRICS initiated multi-laterals.

3. Corridor mania arises in geoeconomics.

a) A key element is the Arctic Road which is the newest corridor for ferrying passengers and carrying cargo across the northern sea.

b) Secondly, Central Asia–Western Europe corridor that covers almost the entire Eurasian land mass dubbed as “The Middle Corridor” & “Trans-Caspian International Transport Route”.

c) Thirdly, North-South corridor also called as “The International North–South Transport Corridor”, a 4,500 mile long multi-modal network consisting of ship, rail, and road routes.

Once all these elements are put in place and start functioning Russia gets elevated to the level previously occupied by the British Empire in geoeconomics power play.

 

Cheers!

 

Muthu Ashraff Rajulu

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist