Russia is not good for anything. This is clearly shown by the World Economic Forum's World Economic Forum Davos ranking of global competitiveness. The Russian Federation occupies an honorable 66th place in it, right after Vietnam and before the South American state of Peru. Leading, as always, neutral Switzerland, developed Japan, the happy USA and their faithful friends from the European Union, as well as the fabulous city-state of Singapore.
And what about Russia (aka unwashed Russia or, simply, "Rashka")? A savage state, lost somewhere in the ice in the north of the Eurasian continent. Russian Mongols know nothing but how to pump natural gas from their bowels and launch blanks into space. And also - they always trample on democratic values and violate the rights of sexual minorities. The first place in the world for the consumption of alcohol and alcohol-containing products. What else is there to talk about?
Sixty-sixth place for our country … well, thank you for not 142nd. It is clear that after 20 years of merciless reforms, we are clearly not pulling first place. The rating was compiled by highly qualified experts, there is no reason not to trust this information.
Stop! What is it?! How did Saudi Arabia, Canada and Australia infiltrate into the top twenty, together with the United States, Germany and Japan? What are these "superpowers" doing here? Are the experts of the forum in Davos seriously convinced that the global competitiveness of Canada (12th place) is higher than that of China (26th place)?
Maybe it is worth reminding respected experts of the main features of a state that give it the right to be called a superpower? Without the crafty figures of GDP and other ratings of the "average temperature in the ward." What factors determine the geopolitical weight of a country on the world map? How is global competitiveness determined and how does a “first world” country differ from a “third world” country today?
The first, obvious, condition is that a superpower should not be subordinated to another country. Neither in formal nor in practical terms! A superpower is a completely independent state that independently determines its domestic and foreign policy based on personal needs and interests.
And what are we seeing now? Canada and Australia are crashing out of the "superpowers" rating. Both countries are dominions of the British Empire. The form of government is a constitutional monarchy headed by a governor-general, i.e. formally, Canada and Australia are still subordinate to the Queen of Great Britain!
But what about Saudi Arabia, drowning in luxury? An influential Middle Eastern state that lives according to medieval laws, which has tremendous authority among the Muslim world. And also on the territory of Saudi Arabia there is a large American airbase "Prince Sultan", where the Center for the Control of Aerospace Operations in the Middle East is located. And this is no accident.
The old model of European colonialism was the complete occupation of overseas countries. By the beginning of the 21st century, the United States improved this model; now, to control the captured country, it is enough to have a number of compact military bases. Prince Sultan Airbase is a clear symbol of Saudi Arabia's complete dependence on Washington in the economic, military and political spheres.
What a news! - the liberal-democratic community will be delighted - But what about the NATO base in Ulyanovsk? It turns out that our "Rashka" was also sold with giblets to the West?
I will have to upset the supporters of Russia's entry into NATO. The transit point at the Ulyanovsk-Vostochny airfield is in every sense not a foreign military base. Foreign cargoes are carefully inspected by Russian customs, there is no permanent military contingent of NATO countries on the “base”, after all, we are talking about exclusively “non-military cargo”. No fighters and tanks - just stew and cans of fresh water.
With the same success, any international airport or foreign embassy on the territory of Russia can be declared a "foreign military base".
There are no military bases of foreign states on the territory of Russia
So, we figured out that the "superpowers" Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia do not correspond to the declared status. They, both formally and in fact, are dependent on other states. By the way, only officially, there are two US Air Force military facilities on the territory of Canada. There are four such facilities in Australia.
Well, esteemed experts from Davos, are you ready to continue research into the conformity of the countries that claim the role of "superpowers"? A number of other important criteria can be named:
The "superpower" is a priori the leader of the union of states. Saudi Arabia looks very good from this position. The homeland of the Great Prophet has always played a key role in the life of the Muslim world. Its position was further strengthened with the discovery of rich oil fields. For the past half century, all the countries of the Middle East region, one way or another, have been adjusting their decisions in accordance with the official position of Riyadh and are listening carefully to the opinion of Saudi Arabia. The undisputed leader.
Australia and Canada in flight. The first is a former British penal servitude, lost somewhere in the middle of an endless ocean in the southern hemisphere of the Earth. The second strives to assert itself, trying to shout down its southern neighbor. Alas, the opinion of Canadians, against the background of American opinion, sounds as loud and clear as the driver's breathing against the background of the roar of a Kamaz engine.
Indeed, when we say “America,” we somehow don’t think that on this continent, besides the United States, there is another rather big country. That's the whole answer.
But what about the "wild Rashka"? But nothing, it is still a key state in the post-Soviet space. Despite all attempts to embroil the fraternal peoples, the ties between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are still strong - a single visa-free space, the majority of whose inhabitants “know Russian language”. Most of the inhabitants of the Caucasus and Central Asia have not forgotten the Russian language either, it is to Russia that crowds of migrant workers are striving, and large diasporas of immigrants from these countries live here.
Cosmodrome "Baikonur", 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri (Armenia), 7th Russian base in Abkhazia, radar station "Daryal" missile warning system (Azerbaijan), radar "Volga" and 43rd node naval communications on the territory of Belarus, the Kant airbase in Kyrgyzstan, the Okno space control system in the mountains of Tajikistan, and finally the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol - whatever the spiteful critics of the Russian people say, Russia's military presence is still strong.
Russia does not just fictitiously control 1/6 of the world's land mass. Russian barbarians constantly reshape it according to their own understanding! And those who do not want to live by the established rules are leveled with tanks and forced to eat their own ties.
Ugh! How not democratic and not tolerant. Nevertheless, "unwashed Russia" by the strength of its influence easily bypasses cozy Canada and deserted Australia. Saudi Arabia's global influence is limited to preaching about "holy jihad" and training militants-martyrs.
It is interesting to know the opinion of experts from Davos on Russia's membership in the United Nations. The UN is an old solid organization that still retains some powers in the field of world security. For what merits did the bad Raska, along with the good USA, China, Great Britain and France, receive the "veto right"? (The veto is a useful thing, for example, the refusal of the Russian side to sign the resolution on Syria automatically nullified all the efforts of American and British diplomats). And why did the Russian language suddenly get the honor of being called one of the six world languages of the UN?
The answer seems obvious: First, Russia is large, and the number of Russian speakers is estimated at 250 million people around the world. Secondly, the legendary joke of Comrade Stalin comes to mind: “The Vatican State? How many divisions does he have? "
Russia has countless divisions. Despite all the brutal democratic reforms, the Russian Federation managed to retain a rather weighty part of the armed forces and the defense industry of the Soviet Union. The Russian armed forces still have no equal on the European continent. The German army has degraded to such an extent that the number of Bundeswehr tanks will soon be limited to 120 units. From the once mighty British fleet, 19 frigates remain. Of the twenty-seven states of the European Union, only Great Britain and France have nuclear submarines.
Just for comparison: the number of combat-ready main battle tanks of the Russian army is estimated at 6,500 units (the total number, taking into account those in storage, is 22,000 units). The number of military personnel is 1.1 million people (which is comparable to the population of Estonia!). The Russian Air Force is armed with 1,200 combat aircraft and about the same number of helicopters (excluding the reserve). Despite reasonable doubts about the technical condition of Russian aircraft, the Russian Air Force still poses a significant threat to any of the "potential adversaries." Despite all the efforts of the "reformers", the Russian Air Force continues to receive the latest models of aircraft and air defense systems, which have no analogues abroad (no matter how trite it may sound).
Finally, the main argument, the trump ace of the Russian deck, is the world's largest arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia remain "in the fools".
Over the past half century, the number of countries possessing nuclear weapons has grown exponentially. The pioneers of the USA and the USSR / Russia were soon joined by the UK, France and China. Now Pakistan and India already have nuclear weapons. Israel has working samples. North Korea is conducting unofficial experiments. Dozens of countries around the world have their own nuclear centers and are also familiar with nuclear fission technologies firsthand.
But! Even the possession of a couple of ready-made ammunition does not in fact make the country a serious player in this field. A nuclear weapon without appropriate means of delivery is a paper tiger, dangerous only to its owner.
Today, only Russia and the United States have a sufficient number of warheads and their carriers for a massive nuclear strike. A simultaneous salvo of hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles is guaranteed to break through any, even the most sophisticated, anti-missile defense system and fall like a fiery downpour on any part of the planet.
Dear experts from Davos, please take this into account when you compose the next ranking of the global influence of the countries of the world.
In my opinion, one of the most important criteria that distinguishes a third world country from a superpower is the level of development of high-tech industries. Nanotechnology, biomedicine, electronics. You can be as ironic as you like about "Russian nano-planes" and "Russian iPhones", but the fact remains that Russia is one of four countries * capable of developing and launching a fifth-generation fighter on its own. Only with the help of our own materials, technologies and developments. Building an airplane of this level is more difficult than flying into space.
Space … Such a banal topic that we will only mention it in passing. Yes, today "Rashka" is the only country in the world that carries out manned launches into outer space. In terms of the total number of launches, it is also the first in the world. In total - twenty-three successful launches in 2012. It is not the only artificial satellite launched by North Korea, nor is it a lone Iranian monkey in space. But seriously, the Russian orbital group includes satellites of the global positioning system "Glonass", as well as more specific things - the space radio telescope "Radioastron" and satellites of the global electronic intelligence system "Liana". This is not counting dozens of other operating spacecraft: communication satellites, reconnaissance, repeaters, scientific vehicles. True, in the ranking of technological development, for some reason, Russia occupies 62nd place - between Costa Rica and Pakistan.
Don't you think it's strange that we haven't thought about Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia for a long time? That's right, they have the same attitude to the creation of high technologies as the Eskimos to the construction of the Egyptian pyramids.
Of course, many research centers and high-tech industries operate in Canada and Australia. However, as evidenced by the facts, Australia and Canada cannot even dream of launching into space or creating a fifth generation fighter.
And yet, the snowmobiles and business jets of the Canadian firm Bombardier look very solid against the background of the Saudi Arabian industry. Corrupted by the endless flow of petrodollars, the Saudis do not produce or create anything at all. And they are not going to do it. Before us is a real "living corpse" with gloomy prospects for the future - after the depletion of oil fields, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia risks plunging again into medieval chaos. Country of the "third world", there is nothing more to add.
Well, with Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia, everything became more or less clear. It remains to be seen where Russia should be?
