Threats to the economic development of Russia ⇐ ПредыдущаяСтр 16 из 25Следующая ⇒ Serious problems for Russia in the unfolding conflict are created by three interrelated circumstances. The first of these is the global systemic crisis of the neo-liberal model of the world economy (U.S.-centric in form and oligarchically financial-coercive in content), the external manifestations of which were inhibited by the frantic monetary issue and the power expansion of the West over the past five years. Nevertheless, the crisis events in the economy continue to ratchet up: the pyramids of derivatives, debts and inequality are getting ever higher, threatening with catastrophic collapse, which makes their owners increasingly aggressive, forcing them to seize more and more resources to maintain the existing order. Russia, as the most resource-rich but sparsely populated country, seems to the U.S. and its NATO allies a welcome prize that, after the collapse of the USSR, was already within their grasp. The establishment of control over Russia is necessary for them to successfully compete with China, in which the Americans are losing. And this means that the U.S. will not give up on us and will fight until the end of its global hegemony. The second circumstance is an obvious imbalance of objectivity, subjectivity and projectivity of Russia itself. In terms of objectivity, our country is uniquely rich, since an almost complete set of natural resources is concentrated on 14% of the Earth's territory, currently accounting for about 40% of the global reserves[200]. On the level of resource supply, a resident of no other country in the world can be compared with a Russian average citizen, including the oil and gas bearing countries of the Middle East. According to the level of national wealth per capita, Russia ranks first in the world (Table 4).   Table 4. The structure of the wealth of states at the beginning of the 21st century. (Source: Abalkin L.I. (Gen. ed.). Strategicheskiy otvet Rossii na vyzovy novogo veka [Russia's strategic response to the challenges of the new century].  Moscow, Ekzamen Publ., 2004, p. 72. (In Russian))   Countries	National wealth		National wealth structure, %
grand total, $ trillion	per capita, $ thousand	human potential	natural resources	renewable resources
World total	530	90	67	16	17
Countries of the G7 and the EU	275	360	78	4	18
OPEC countries	195	195	47	37	16
Russia	60	400	50	40	10
Other countries	100	30	65	15	20

 

However, the use of these resources is extremely inefficient, as Russia produces too few goods and services, is too dependent on the external economic situation, and its political subjectness that had failed with the collapse of the USSR has not fully recovered yet. The process of subject rehabilitation after the acute period of " perestroika" and " market reforms" has in fact just begun, and is very far from completion.

Still quite shaky are the basic designs of the politico-economic model operating in Russia, built on " mastering the Soviet legacy." They are characterized by the following features.

1. " Oligarchism." Large state and private corporations pursue the interests of a small group of persons who have received the ownership and/or management of these corporations out of hands of the yesterday's or today's political elite. That being said, the political elite in the 1990s was formed under the control of American agents, so the oligarchs who grew up then went through " residence registration" directly in the western centers and pulled themselves away from the national soil both in the physical (moving their families to permanent residence in the West) and in ideological sense (denying traditional Russian values and the very sovereignty of Russia). Growing up on misappropriation of property remaining after the USSR, the oligarchy was formed as a cosmopolitan and comprador one. Until now, it appeals to the West as the defender of its interests against the Russian state, the strengthening of which is a horror to it. After all, a strong state derives its power from a link with the people, whose interests should be defended and advocated. The people, in their turn, are clearly aware of the opposition of their interests and the interests of the comprador oligarchy. According to sociological surveys, 83% of the country's residents think that the existing differences in income and status are too large. Along with this, two-thirds of our fellow citizens consider the property distribution system established in the country to be unfair. A similar percentage of the population is convinced that people do not receive a decent reward for their work. At the same time, more than half of Russians (54%) take the last statement personally, believing that their skills, abilities and qualifications are not paid well enough.

2. " Secondariness, " or external dependence. Refusal to create own sources of long-term investment and lending led to the situation that, despite a huge positive trade balance, Russia allowed a sharp deterioration of its position in the global division of labor. The main reproductive circuits of the national economy were integrated into the world market as resource and financial donors. This dependent position was secured by the slaughter of a significant part of strategic assets in order to obtain " cheap" Western loans. This system of foreign economic exchange that is pernicious for Russia is supported by the Bank of Russia, performing the subordinate function of an appendage of the U.S.-centric financial system and blocking the creation of domestic sources of credit.

3. " Self-eating." The mechanism of reproduction that has been established in the Russian economy has a restricted nature, as annually exported capital of $ 100 billion, billions of tons of raw materials and tens of thousands of intellects are not compensated by domestic production, and are in fact a waste of wealth created during the Soviet era. Depreciation of fixed assets, engineering and social infrastructure entails economic degradation and disintegration of the social sphere. This model is characterized by an extreme and ever growing social inequality, which is accompanied by offshorization of the economy and cosmopolitanization of business, creating an economic basis for defeatism and reproduction of the colonial elite that is split into group and corporate interests. Involvement of Russia in the nonequivalent foreign economic exchange and colonization of its economy by U.S.-centric capital is a consequence of the absence of a consistent development project. The attempt to integrate into the global project of the West after the collapse of the Soviet project has led to a loss of independence and deep external dependence, used by Western partners for the neo-colonial exploitation of Russia. An unviable model of the economy has taken shape, in which: the extracted raw materials are mainly exported, and the received foreign currency income is reserved on foreign accounts; fixed assets of manufacturing industry and infrastructure are not reproduced to the full extent; the complex technologies for production of competitive products with high added value are being lost, which is replaced by imports already occupying a large part of the domestic market; more than half of the employed do not work in their profession; activities of the majority of sectoral research and design institutes have been discontinued, and their place is now occupied by foreign engineering companies soliciting non-domestic equipment; the number of scientists and engineers is decreasing with the continuing drain of intellects abroad.

Finally, the third of the negative circumstances is the threat of foreign policy isolation assiduously arranged by Washington. All independent actions of the Russian leadership bump up against tough opposition from the U.S. and the NATO countries it manipulates. At the same time, although the strengthening and development of relations with China, as well as with other BRICS countries and the " third world" as a whole is absolutely necessary, we have to oppose the Western aggression against our country alone, as in the days of Napoleon and Hitler. Obviously, in order to withstand this aggression and preserve the civilizational identity, the Russian productive elite needs to independently create an effective national socio-economic model, consolidating the society around a positive " vision of the future" and the ways to achieve it.

 

 

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