Russia in global affairs

In mid-June, I published an article titled “Nuclear weapons use can save humanity from global catastrophe” in Profil magazine. It was posted in Russian and in English almost simultaneously on the Russia in Global Affairs journal’s website. [1] It was widely reprinted around the world, sparking a tsunami of responses, objections, and debates, tens of thousands of reactions. There was also no shortage of words of support, either.

Constructive destruction is not aggressive. Russia maintains it isn’t going to attack anyone or blow them up. It simply doesn’t need to. The outside world provides Russia with more and more geopolitical opportunities for medium-term development as it is.

Millions of pages have been written about the history and theory of the Cold War. I will give you one more interpretation. The Cold War is one of the types of international competition for resources (territory, population, and economic potential per se) that has accompanied humanity throughout its history.

The crisis will by all means exacerbate dramatically the growing inequality and the sense of injustice ingrained in the modern capitalism, and further reduce the already shrunk middle class in developed countries. Most will become poorer, but especially in poorer countries.

The only bright spot in this forecast is the possible partial removal of parasitic warts from the body of modern societies and economies―deflation of financial and informational bubbles that increasingly often served as a substitute for the real economy and life.

There has always been an element of uncertainty. And there is no more of it now, and probably even less, than before. The information revolution has given people more opportunities for influencing politics, and this is what worries the elites who have become used to deciding what people need.