Russia Case Study

With many new factors making the world globalized and as steps were taken toward modernization in the 1700s, the world underwent many changes, however still keeping some of its initial traditions. From 1700-1900 in Eastern Europe, the economy had switched from agricultural to manufacturing due to the growth of factories and industry in the 1800s and serfdom was abolished, however the tsars still remained the center of authority.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the world watched Russia closely as the largest country remaining from the former superpower built itself into a democracy. However, within a short amount of time, Russia has slipped into competitive authoritarianism, giving much of the governmental power to its current president, Vladimir Putin. In contrast, another semi-presidential system, the government of France, is a strong democracy. France’s government has been largely successful since the creation of the Fifth Republic in 1958 and the most recent constitution. In addition to this, the roles of the president and prime minister have been balanced and checked since President Charles de Gaulle stepped down in 1969. These two countries, while sharing the same basic political skeleton, are vastly different in power division and, ultimately, the success of democracy. Unlike France, Russia’s democracy slid into competitive authoritarianism because of the overpowering amount of unchecked power the president has.

To detect a cyberattack on the power grid, Western Interconnection should implement a system that will allow public and private authorities to receive Indications and Warning (I&W) when a cyberattack is in its early phase. Koester and Cohen (2012) discuss their Electric Power Grid Indications & Warning Tool in their paper. The purpose of this tool is “to provide near real-time I&W to alert private and public sector authorities when the likely causes of outage events are malicious activity.” (Koester & Cohen, 2012, p. 1). The tool minimizes false alarms due to severe weather and high temperatures. Implementing this solution will allow administrators at the Western Interconnection power grid to take precautionary measures as necessary. For example, the substations can be manually shutdown in case of a cyberattack, to prevent potential damage and spread of malware.

Even today, the Balkans remain an invaluable geopolitical crossroads where Russia competes with the West for influence. Currently, many Balkan nations that were either historically non-aligned or allies with Russia are seeking greater relations with the West. Montenegro has recently acceded into NATO, and Serbia and Macedonia have signed several agreements that are considered preconditions for closer cooperation and eventual membership. NATO expansion in general is a sensitive topic for Russia, and is only worsened when it concerns the Balkan nations. Russia has repeatedly stated that it will not go to war with NATO, and no military-political organization has been created to counter the influence of NATO

In a documentary by Admiral Vern (2002), “the events of September 11, 2001 tragically illustrated that the promise of peace and security in the 21st Century is fraught with profound dangers”. The US foreign policies and interest in key geographic regions of the world sparks controversies resulting in state funded cyber attacks, cyber espionage and terrorism against the United States and its allied nations. When several attempts to cripple the United States and its allied nations through negotiations failed, enemy states and nefarious groups have shifted their focus to cyber attacks and cyber espionage. According to Gady (2016), “China continues cyber espionage against the United States”. Drezner (2014), “Washington and Beijing hardly agree on everything, but they agree on the big things, like maintaining an open global economy, reducing the likelihood of a military confrontation, and tackling climate change”.

In the short story of proposals for a new code of law talks about how Catherine the II came to power in Russia. She came to power following a coup when her husband Peter III, was assassinated. “After death of her husband” (201). With the support of the army and the nobles, Catherine took power made her husband sign a document of abdication. Leaving no one to dispute her coming to power. Under her rule, Russia was modernized and she also became the longest ruling female leader of Russia. With the country growing and becoming stronger than ever, Russia was recognized as one of the powerful nations of Europe. During her reign, Russia was able to accomplish many achievements and she added about 200,000 square miles of land into the country. Not only did she added more land to the country, but she also modernized the monarchy and tried to improve the lives of her citizens. Inspired by

The “Critical infrastructure, or CI, is a subcategory of infrastructure that includes those assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, which are so vital that their failure or destruction would have a debilitating impact on security, governance, public health and safety, public confidence, commerce, or other societal factors” (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, 2016). According to the 2013 US National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) there are 16 of these sectors and throughout this paper we will discuss a cyber attack on the water supply sector. The best way to discuss the above will be through the evaluation of the impact that a cyber-attack could have on our water supply, and the probable third and fourth order effects from

The 2003 northeast blackout that saw about 50 million people from the northeast US and southeast Canada lose power for about 2 days at the cost of $6 billion dollars according to JR Minkel (Minkle) and was the biggest blackout in North American history (Minkle). The disaster lead to a report that showed the blackout was caused by a combination of human error and equipment failure. To prevent issues like this in the future a “smart grid” needs to be developed that would monitor and repair itself in the event of problems. Essentially computers and applications would be the first responder when there is an equipment failure on the grid. The problem with this solution is that by placing more of the control of the power grid into the hands of computers and applications, it opens up the grid to cyber-attacks. The economic impact of a total or even partial failure of the power grid is astronomical and makes a very appealing target to those who wish to cause

Electricity is one of the most productive forces known but it can also be dangerous and detrimental to infrastructure and security of assets across the Nation if it is lost or compromised. Physical and cybersecurity could be described under the steps to ensure the homeland security role is met, however the AEP’s dependence on technology in order to succeed cannot be understated. Every year the cybersecurity realm grows and the support for securing and managing cyber seems to fall further behind. Several high profile attacks affecting financial, healthcare, retail and entertainment industries demonstrate the potential impact of the threats” (AEP 2015, 2). These events do prepare the AEP in assessing our own cybersecurity procedures and resources to determine where we may need to strengthen the defense of our company but also increases our awareness of how real the threat is (AEP 2015, 2).

Some reports about what the Kremlin’s intention might be have caused a lot of concerns to the United States. What worries the US is that Kremlin might be working on a plan to increase its military support for the Syrian president. The US secretary John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov had a meeting to discuss the current situation in Syria, the reliability of the reports and the role of Russia in the war. If the reports are real then the situation in Syria is going to get worse and of course more lives will be killed. Moreover, an American intelligence analyst has said that near Latakia there are many housing units that are provided by Russia to the airfield. Some American officials have suggested that Russia is going

In order to achieve objectives of the U.S. Policy for countering negative Russia’s influences in the Balkans and protect the U.S. vital interests in the region I propose following three strategy options to be considered: Strategy option A (More cooperation with Russia); Strategy option B (Same level of cooperation with Russia); and Strategy option C (Less cooperation with Russia). All three strategy options should be integral part of respective policies for Europe and overall U.S. policy and have same “end”- Balkans region is strengthen by liberal democracy and resilient to negative Russia’s influence (paragraph #1).

The main problem in Russia is lack of a non-corrupt government. It is impossible to run any country, poor or rich, crime or no crime, healthcare or no healthcare, economy or no economy, without some sort of government. Russia needs assistance in the form of socialist diplomatic support, advice, and very carefully monitored loans. There is no question of producing a Marshall Plan for Russia of the sort that the United States pioneered after World War II, but Russia needs to make that plan, and the U.S. needs to let Russia know that plan will be supported. Although the conditions in Russia differ significantly from the post-war Europe, this struggling nation needs a similar plan to restore it's

Russia has very different standards for security than the United States does. This does not mean they are inadequate, just that the way which they demonstrate they are secure as a nation is different than most nations. The people have a fear of the government which is present due to the sometimes drastic measures which are taken in order for the nation to obtain civil peace. The government performs demonstrations to ensure the people of surrounding countries, and in turn the world, understands the threat which they could potentially power Russia possesses. Other countries are discovering the military power which Russia possesses and how far they reach around the world, extending to helping other countries who do not have the ability to

At the dawn of the 1917 Russian revolution, the Ossetians became an autonomous region within the Soviet Republic of Georgia. By the end of the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991, South Ossetia’s demand to formally secede from as an autonomous, independent state was declared illegal by Georgia. By 1992, tensions with Abkhazia, Georgia’s other region to the north-west, already an autonomous region with Russian roots, escalated as both regions went to war with Georgia. Both regions being tiny areas of land in and about the Caucasus mountains, but are instrumental to Russia as a NATO buffer. By 1992, Russia would host talks for a ceasefire and was in effect in South Ossetia with a peacekeeping force in place as a Constitution was

Russia, known by most as the Russian Federation, is a federal state in Eurasia. Russia is the largest country in the world at 17,075,200 square kilometres by surface area, covering more than one eighth of Earth 's inhabited land, and the ninth most populous, with over 146.6 million people as of end of March 2016. The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the East, with almost eight-tenths of the population living within the European region of Russia. Russia 's capital, Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe and the world. Its ohter major urban cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara.