Recently, nostalgic exclamations have been heard more and more often in the Russian media from the lips of representatives of a large army of political scientists, propagandists, etc. that it would be good to return Russia to the borders of the Soviet Union, or even wider.Let's try to understand not only the motives, but also the real prospects of such "projects".
The objective need to expand the territory of a state is most likely associated with a significant slowdown in economic activity due to the physical lack of space, for example, for the placement of important objects or even people. But even this reasoning is very doubtful against the background of examples of the implementation of an extremely cramped lifestyle somewhere in Japan or Hong Kong. The seizure of capitalists for the implementation of some business plans is a completely unrealistic idea. For a long time, for the territorial expansion of business, the seizure of someone else's territory is not needed. That is, there are simply no objective prerequisites, and even with poorly developed vast territories of Russia.
Also, one should not forget about security, which is ensured, among other things, by the creation of buffer territories around independent states. For example, Canada and Mexico are such buffers for the United States. Being controlled to one degree or another, these countries do not allow the location of any means that pose a threat to the United States. In the USSR, the countries of the socialist camp served as such buffers in the west. Examples of the seizure of foreign territories in favor of the USSR or Russia for security purposes are the seizure of Finnish lands in 1939 against the background of the increased influence of Nazi Germany in Finland, as well as the reunification, as they call it in Russia, of Crimea. In terms of security, Crimea plays an important role not so much as a buffer, but in terms of maintaining (and even strengthening) control of the Black Sea region against the background of the increased US influence in Ukraine.
However, there is no reason to believe that the Kremlin is preparing the ground for the popular justification of the planned seizure of foreign territories. First, Moscow's actions in such situations have always been reactionary, that is, such an action occurs only as a response to other actions that create a particular threat to Russia, as was the case in Crimea. Secondly, the level of Russia's armed forces currently provides very reliable security for the country, and it is unlikely that any responsible politician would think of checking the strength of its borders. Security in this case is provided not by a buffer territory, but by high-tech weapons.
The subjective factor remains. In other words, the reason for the expansionist sentiments among the people is people's dissatisfaction with some aspects of their lives, and political scientists only support these sentiments in order to increase their popularity on television and in blogs.
During the Soviet era, expansionist sentiments were also present among the people, although to a much lesser extent. He expressed himself in the fact that it would be good if the working people of other countries realized the perniciousness of capitalism, as we did, overthrew it, after which the world of solidarity and justice would expand even more.
The peculiarity of the current mood is somewhat different. Instead of a "positivist" view, we see something opposite. For example, “if the Ukrainian government is under the control of the Americans, and from there we see all sorts of threats, Russophobia, etc., then we just need to take everything firmly into our own hands,” or “if the President of Belarus conducts his independent policy contrary to Moscow, flirts with the West and does not want to recognize Crimea as Russian, then it is necessary to put pressure on it or replace it and ultimately all unite. " It is these approaches that are observed among Russian TV viewers.
Now let's try to trace where such sentiments come from?
First, of course, it is the influence of the media. As you know, a person pays much more attention to negative information, since negative information can be dangerous. A television story about a brutal murder leaves a stronger imprint on the mind than exclamations about beautiful nature. And all those who fight for this attention use it. As a result, the general mood of people after viewing such content decreases, there is a desire for any sharp, irritated actions. And away from yourself.
Secondly, in the current conditions of exploitation of people in the interests of the unrestrained enrichment of individual individuals, the exploited lose their natural sense of independence. There are fewer and fewer areas in which a person can make independent decisions. For example, in conditions of unemployment, there is no way to decide anything about the choice of work, and hence the means of subsistence. And education, family maintenance and even planning of free time are connected with this. The person smoothly turns into a slave. And in such conditions, dissatisfaction arises, bringing with it a whole range of problems, including a commitment to changing something dramatically, punishing someone, conquering, etc.
Finally, let us turn to the prospects of hypothetical attempts to seize territories.
For the successful expansion of the territory at the present time the desire of the aggressor is insufficient. The consent of the person being captured is also necessary. We can say with full confidence that without the will of the Crimeans, Crimea could not have been annexed to Russia, no matter what. The consent of the Crimeans was formed by several factors. This is ethnicity, cultural, and common history, but the main thing is the prospect of a higher standard of living. This is what was promised and is being implemented.
From this point of view, the accession of Ukraine also looks like a quite realistic scenario. However, there is a difficulty. It consists in the fact that purposeful Russophobic propaganda is operating on the territory of Ukraine. In such conditions, it is very easy to keep your own population in a state of hatred and rejection of everything Russian, despite the ethnic and cultural affinity. That is, to overcome this factor, it is enough to stop the propaganda, and Ukrainian independence will disappear like spring snow.
The situation is different with Belarus. Here the question of who lives better is open. Even if there is a lag in material terms, it is small. And in such matters as confidence in the future, social guarantees, the absence of crime, the development of the environment, social justice, Belarus looks preferable. Its absorption by the tough Russian business will surely overwhelm all these advantages at once. And there is no compromise here.
As for the Baltic republics, here, with a similar material standard of living and an almost complete absence of a intelligible economy, a strong Russophobic treatment of the population like the Ukrainian one is visible. In addition, the school has long taught according to Western standards, characterized by a low level of education and a severely deformed history. And all this against the backdrop of unlimited foreign control over all aspects of life.
In order to talk about unification with Russia in such conditions, an extremely large difference in the standard of living is necessary. But under the conditions of Russian capitalism, this task seems absolutely unrealistic. Although technologies are being improved that increase labor productivity, all profits are spent on super-enrichment of the capitalists. For ordinary people, at best, nothing changes. Rather, the trends of recent years indicate a widespread decline in living standards with a sharp increase in the wealth of giants in the banking, IT and pharmaceutical spheres.
In order to make a breakthrough in improving the welfare of the population, it is necessary to reorient the economy from obtaining maximum profits by oligarchic clans to the formation of orderly economic activities aimed at production focused exclusively on meeting the needs of people. And in order to create an appropriate mechanism, it is necessary to radically change the procedure for the formation and control of the apparatus carrying out state functions.
As an example, a real economic boom took place in the period 1925 - 1940, in just 15 years, when the entire economy on a gigantic territory was created practically from scratch to the highest level of that time, which even ensured victory in the war against practically the entire united West.
It is quite obvious that modern Russia at the moment is incapable of such a leap for fundamental reasons, and therefore one can forget about dreams of reviving its former power.
These soldiers are from a country whose president is a Jew Zelensky. Orthodox churches are also being destroyed in this country. Synagogues are not touched. Surprisingly, it turns out that Jews get along well with the Bandera Nazis.
Mr.BadGuy
Publisher
These soldiers are from a country whose president is a Jew Zelensky. Orthodox churches are also being destroyed in this country. Synagogues are not touched. Surprisingly, it turns out that Jews get along well with the Bandera Nazis.