Post Graduate Intelligence Study

Throughout history, Russia and The United States’ relationship has been a tense one, lacking trust. “Like most cultures, it is important to have

The article I chose to reflect on is “Why Russia Matters” by James F. Collins and Matthew Rojansky. In this article the author highlights the ten most important roles Russia plays in the world today. The only thing that I can honestly say I already knew about Russia prior to reading this article was that it’s big. Russia being so big has a lot to do with its importance to the rest of the world. For example, Russia has a lot of land and water making it home to many natural resources, so preserving it is very important. Along with lots of land and water, Russia is the second largest producer of oil. Being such a big producer of oil gives Russia power to control the prices around the world. Russia has the 12th largest economy in the nation and

In so called “Crimean” speech in March 2014 Russian President V. Putin used such terms as “divided nation”, “national-traitors”, “Russian world”, justifying and legitimizing Russia taking over Crimean peninsula. President V. Putin applied mostly to the Russian people concerned by “protection of compatriots” abroad from discrimination or even repressions and historical “injustice” needed to be repaired. But does Kremlin really believe in this or it uses this rhetoric just to explain Russian involvement to the neighbor’s inner situation? The right answer on this question will make us to understand true Russian foreign policy motivation in Ukraine and Baltic states. Knowing what is Russian Foreign Policy driven by, the recommendations to those

A lot of politicians affirm nowadays Russia has become “an autocratic, corrupt and is focused on Putin, all his oligarchs, officials and criminals are connected in their desire to create a “mafia state.” This openly shown despotism is not enough for Putin; he needs an enemy to justify his authority. Lately Russian mass media is filled out with shows about "American imperialism", all newspapers constantly talking about aggressive plans to overturn Russian government.

Amid Russia’s current political strife, there is an aroused interest in the nation as a whole. Only by understanding its origin and growth can Modern Russia truly be understood. The very concept of Russia as just a country is fundamentally flawed, until the Russian people are acknowledged as more than

The issue raised within the article is the increased tension between Russian and the United States caused by Russia’s decision to back out of a ‘ landmark agreement on disposing weapons-grade plutonium’ added to its deployment of ‘ new nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad on the baltic sea’ these two actions by Russia occurred due to Russia’s annoyance at the US’s military exercises in eastern Europe both of these actions have negatively affected interstate relations between the two world powers. Russian president Vladimir Putin’s military aggression has worried both european and american officials leaving them with a very difficult decision on how to deal with the issue and Putin because Washington’s attempts to deter Russia have failed

Upon finding new employment at St. Petersburg’s City Hall, he became involved in Russia’s transformation from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, as well as the transition from a one-party state to a multi-party political system. Witnessing firsthand the disastrous effects of Russia’s isolation from the world economy, Putin decided that state management of Russia’s vast raw materials economy and oil sector was pivotal for the country’s economic recovery and future development. That very idea set the platform for Putin’s foreign policy and enabled him to save Russia’s collapsing economy. In terms of democracy, his preference has always been order over liberty, and the attempted integration of equality, freedom, and fairness did not sit well in his mind. Observing the way in which his mentor Anatoly Sobchak was treated in elections, he found them to be dangerous and distasteful, further increasing his animosity towards democracy and fueling his appetency for a strong central

Russia has been around for a long time and has evolved over the years. Their ability to adapt to their environment as a country and, essentially, become a powerhouse in the world, is a great feat in itself. Over time Russia developed their social climate, economic system, military power and efficiency, as well as infrastructure. Today, I will be discussing how their military, political views, economics, social views, infrastructure and physical environment all relate together and has enhanced Russia’s ability to stay a powerhouse.

By the end of this paper you should have a general knowledge of the country they call Russia, the topics we will discuss is the history of Russia, the overall culture of Russia, and what makes up the Russian military. Russia makes up one-tenth of the earth’s land making it the largest country in the world. It spans through eleven time zones across two different continents (Europe and Asia) and is surrounded by three different bodies of water those being the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Arctic oceans. Russia is made of up of 142,470,272 people, about 120 ethnic groups speak more than a hundred languages. Russia military is ranked 2 out of 126 its

Vladimir Putin was and still is, one of the most influential and controversial figures within the Russian State. Vladimir Putin’s childhood was one marked by high achievements and important events that shaped him into the leader he became for Russia. He was a student at a high-ranked Russian school, known to only take children with high, above average grades. Here at this school he relished in the idea about becoming a spy as his career after admiring them in many of his favorite spy movies. After his high school career he decided to continue with his education by going to Leningrad State University, where he would find his ticket to the top of politics in the form of a professor. His name was Anatoly Sobchak, a teacher in Putin’s second semester of collage. After Putin attended the university he was offered a job with the KGB, one of the only ones in his class, where he would achieve his dream of being a spy. He was located in Eastern Germany as an undercover agent to spy for the USSR and was able to fit in with the Germans, gaining important information for Russia. Vladimir Putin’s creation of contacts and impressions that he made in his collage career would really become an advocate for him in his rise to power of one of the largest countries in the world.

Ever since the cold war, Russia has always held a grudge against America as a revisionist state. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, owns extreme nationalism and wants nothing more but for Russia to be on top, the strongest, most powerful, expanding country.

One country is comparable to the United States of America in terms of world power and prominence. Russia makes their name known beginning in World War 2 (WW2), later in the Korean War, Cold War, and today’s proxy war in the Syria. Russia’s culture, environment, politics, military, and economy do not just make Russia a regional powerhouse, but slowly becoming a region of influential power to surrounding countries with the end state of a global superpower. All the factors that make Russia the powerhouse that it is slowly becoming, highlights the impressive trend that supersedes the previous Soviet Union and past leaders.

Russia has many cultural characteristics that have shaped the country we know today. A nation 's culture can define its actions and make them more predictable as a state on the international level. Understanding a nation’s culture gives great insight into the motives and reasoning behind their aggression or acts of force. Factors such as geography, weather, political landscape, military, and key infrastructure provide a clear understanding of Russian culture and how it has shaped the nation over the past century.

For the past year in the media there has been a lot of publicity and speculation involving Russia and its alleged influence in the recent US election. This made me admire things about Russia’s politics and how much power they assert in other countries around the world to meet their own agenda. For example using their military dominance to intimidate other regional powers and even superpowers. My hypothesis is that Vladimir Putin has his own political agenda for Russian power, he wants Russia to become what it once was and the rest of the world leaders are too weary or ill prepared to challenge him. To consider this, I split my investigation into 3 key questions; Firstly, ‘What kind of influence does Russia have in the political

Putin’s foreign and defence policy indicates that Russia is aiming to become the regional power amongst its geopolitical neighbours and aims to accumulate more of the relative power it had lost since the decline of the Soviet Union. Kuchins and Zevelev state that one of the prime explanations for Russia’s actions is the long-standing, historical belief within the states national identity that Russia is a Great Power and its foreign policy reflects ambitions of working to regain as much of its lost power as possible to maintain this belief. This is evident through Russia’s strategic alliances and relationships it is fostering within the Eurasian continent. Putin has recently arranged many strategic ties to China, the only country with rivalling power to that of the US at this present moment. This will help to maintain Russia’s economic, energy, technological, military and geopolitical interests in the face of the sanctions and threats imposed by the US and NATO and rally strength within its regional sphere. Russia signed a $400 billion deal to export its gas to China over a thirty year period. From a realist perspective, this deal was the beneficial approach to overcoming sanctions set forth by the West that without acting on would work against any relative economic gain for