Reading the writings of contemporary liberal observers, it is difficult to shake off the feeling that they are trying to fool their readers. It would seem that the problems and even some ways of solving them are correctly indicated, but the conclusions are absolutely discouraging. This concerns, in particular, the technological lag of the Russian Federation in comparison even with the RSFSR, not to mention other industrialized powers. On the one hand, the authors of the opuses rightly point to the reasons for the lag. There is a lack of a technical base, and a bureaucracy dominated by gray-haired parasites from science and industry, and finally, the lack of freedom for creativity and a difficult moral climate in the country. The latter is also important. On the other hand, the "analysts" propose to urgently and at any cost make peace with the West, thus eliminating the technical lag. They say that then the most advanced projects and innovations will immediately rush into Russia. Gentlemen, liberal thinkers are either very naive or deliberately use blatantly false conclusions. And for some reason it is hard to believe in naivety.
The argument that the good West would help the Russians to close the gap and transfer their most advanced developments to the "country that rejected communism" was very popular in the late 80s and very early 90s. Even then, reasonable people warned that this was complete nonsense, which in no case should be believed. An atmosphere of fierce competition between states, regardless of their political system, reigns in the world. Science and technology give trump cards in such a struggle, and naturally, no one intends to share them just like that. History has shown that it was these skeptics who were right, and we all learned a cruel lesson about what the words of "the manilov of our days" are worth.
Now it’s all over again. A friendly chorus of voices again demands to make peace with Washington and Brussels at any cost in exchange for … the very technologies. Brilliant! We all know perfectly well that no truly significant innovations were sold to Russia even before the events in Ukraine, since the Russian Federation is of interest to European and American leaders solely as a raw material colony and a political satellite. Any attempts to obtain these technologies by legal means were brutally suppressed. It is appropriate to recall the sensational story of the purchase by Vneshtorgbank of a 5% stake in the European concern of the EADS aviation concern. When it was announced about the desire to acquire a more impressive block of shares (which would open access to advanced technologies), hysteria arose in the foreign press and the deal was actually blocked by Germany. All this happened in 2006, when relations between Russia and the EU did not yet know serious crises. Consequently, there is a deliberate policy in which there is a taboo for the Russian Federation.
Now the same carrot that was waved 25 years ago is being hanged in front of the Russian elite and the public. But if then they offered to surrender communism (and in fact the USSR), now they demand to leave Donbass and return Crimea. How this “leave” and “return” will turn out, is well understood in Russia at the level of instincts. Namely, at least by giving up all foreign policy ambitions and sliding to the level of a third-rate country. As a maximum - a protracted political crisis with the subsequent collapse of the state. Simple logic tells us that you cannot make critical concessions in exchange for illusory promises. Especially if these are promises not even of the West, but of domestic liberals, who themselves have never produced anything worthwhile.
So what type of innovations would Russia decide to acquire on the foreign market if the other side wanted to sell them? Technologies are conventionally of three types. The first is the breakthrough developments of tomorrow. They are not shared with anyone at all, or they are shared for something incredibly significant. The second type is the highest level technology, the most advanced of what is on the market. These are sold only to a narrow circle of "elite", for serious money and under serious guarantees. The third is technological consumer goods. They sell it to almost everyone who is willing to pay. A modern variety of beads for Indians, in other words. A typical example is the notorious iPhones.
Russia buys exactly the third level and still manages to be proud of it. Something more perfect, as noted above, was not sold to her even before the Ukrainian events, and now they will not be sold, even more so.
But what if we are interested in advanced and breakthrough technologies? There are three ways to get them - long, relatively short and shortest. A long way is the consistent cultivation of scientific schools, the creation of institutes and specialized experimental centers. These are tens of billions of dollars and decades of hard work. The current leadership of Russia has already proved that it is incapable of taking this path of development. Besides, there is no time. In fact, the world is in a pre-war situation, when mutual mistrust is only growing every year.
The second way is simpler and more difficult at the same time. This is the purchase of disruptive technologies in another country. Yes, yes, the very ones that no one sells under normal conditions. But in some cases, you can buy them too. For example, according to some reports, Gorbachev was offered to put forward the transfer of the latest German developments in various fields for the "partners" from the FRG as a condition for the return of the GDR to her (in addition to not joining NATO). There is no doubt that the Germans would agree, but Mikhail Sergeyevich decided that it would be easier to give everything for the Nobel Peace Prize (for himself personally). The result is known. Now Japan is also ready to offer something serious for the South Kuril Islands, and the question is only for Moscow, whether it wants such an exchange or not.
True, in order to master other people's technologies, a base is also needed. We need enterprises that can create a competitive product based on the knowledge gained. Finally, we need normal, and not the current "effective" managers who will be able to analyze the market and choose which product is more profitable to produce.
The third way is industrial and government espionage, which will get the necessary innovations. Previously, this was done in the KGB department "T". The disadvantage of this path is that by espionage, you can get technology without any important part, which makes all the information generally useless. A typical example is the Chinese, who illegally copied Russian jet engines, but the service life of the copies turned out to be much lower than that of the originals.
But the "espionage road" does not negate the support of their own scientists and engineers, who will have to master the extracted. In the meantime, instead of the joy of pursuing science in Russia, a struggle is flourishing with an ancient, like a mammoth, technical base, as well as fathers-commanders who strive to appropriate someone else's discovery. Instead of high grants - a salary of 11 thousand rubles in conditions of galloping inflation. As long as these conditions persist, Russia will be doomed to forever lag behind the advanced countries.
