Is Russia a Major world Power?

Reminds me of Obama, lol (Not disagreeing with you).

Before you read, please notice that I am Russian.

Personally, I think that the Soviet Union was a superpower and Russia seems to still have a bit of Super-Poweryness in them (though not enough to be one). The military is made up of poorly trained conscripts, and their military tech is... decent. They do have some of the most powerful nuclear weapons on earth, which is scary because Putin is a maniac (all of my family believes so).

Life in Russia isn't TOO bad, though. In Novorossiysk (the largest Russian port city), life is quite well. There are kids playing in the street, people out on the beach, bustling farmers markets, ect.

In Gatchina, a small village outside of St. Petersburg, people grow crops and sell them at a farmers market. Everyone's friends with everyone. Only problem are the landmines left in the fields from WW2

So, to recap, eco sucks, leader crazy, life ok.

 

Again, I didn't say they don't have a big military, I said they have an outdated military, which is correct.

No they weren't lol, they haven't had a stable economy in a very long time. China and Russia are hardly allies, it's a "enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation.

 

However their military is going to be up to date by the end of next year and even more so by the year 2020.

 

Based on?

 

I don't think Russia is a major world power anymore, but rather a strong regional power. Russia's economy is crumbling, their military is at least 30 years behind the U.S.'s, and the government is corrupt. Although it may seem biased coming from an American, if you look at the trends of economic growth, military advancement, etc., you'll see they're on a downward slope.

 

It's pretty hard to backwards in technology. And 30 years? K. Yet France is scared of Russia so much they refuse to give them the Vladivostok.

 

If you are talking about the ships that they were going to sell them, they were pressured not to sell them by the US and the UK. France isn't scared of Russia, France has nukes too.

 

I feel they are scared because for a while, they wouldn't say anything about them.

 

They have no reason to be scared, if Russia threatened France the whole EU and US would come to defend France. Russia has no way of really hurting France.

 

Meanwhile in Russia...

 

russians sued my dad last year! <3 russia tbh scares me

 

Cool story bro.

 

At this day and age, Russia is a regional power not a world power. The Russian economy has weakened drastically to levels not seen since the years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. It's actually shocking how much the Ruble value has dropped. As of November the ratio of Ruble's to the U.S Dollar and Euro was forty nine Rubles to one U.S Dollar and forty five Euros to one Ruble. It unquestionably has grown worse compared to November and drastically weakened the economy. Another daunting issue is the American Oil Boom. The falling price of oil for reasons that have nothing to do with Russia: OPEC trying to undercut its American competition. This is a problem for Russia, which is so heavily dependent on oil that every year’s federal budget is pegged to an oil price. Lastly would be the obvious. Sanctions closing access to foreign companies to all Russian companies.

Edit: I'm not sure what Putin is planning, or if he has reserves of money stored away, but the more aggressive he get's the weaker his Economy gets which leads to a unsustainable amount of problems.

 

Thus far there is no consensus on the line between regional, and and world power. I would say my litmus test is whether or not we stood a chance of victory should we declare war on eachother. The fact is we could not invade Russia, China, and some other countries, and I would say this qualifies Russia in this standard as a world power. Additionally, the fact they have exerted their military in a global scale, such as the piracy issue that was in the spotlight a bit ago, inherently makes them a world power, simply because they have the power to exert it on a global scale.

Also, you could argue any nation that has nuclear capability is automatically a world power, as they have the capability to drastically alter humanity on this planet as we know it. Should any major conflict arise involving any of these nations, I would have to assume it's probable they would use their nuclear arsenal before facing any real chance of defeat/being conquered.

The Russian - Ukraine situation is a perfect example, history has shown us many incidents of major world powers intervening in blatant acts of aggression. However in the case of Russia/Ukraine, sanctions were all we could do, considering the implications of what Russia has now done. Much like the U.S global war on terror, it has grave implications on the world, and nobody was able to stop it, nor will they be able to in the near future. Now that this type of conquest is legitimized it will be very interesting to see what happens next, will this embolden Russia to attempt the same thing in a former Soviet satellite, now a member of Nato? And if they do will we be able to stop them? Will it be worth the next war in epic proportions?

Because I think the answer to any of those questions are horrifying, yes, they still are a world power.

 

4.4% of their GDP is going towards advancing Russian military.

 

It's about an 1/8th of what the US spends on military and less than half of what China spends on military. Hell Saudi Arabia almost spends as much as Russia.

 

what does inb4 mean I'm an old lady

 

America uses 3.8% of their GDP on military expenditure, mind you their GDP is bigger however, with the current reported 2014 American GDP it means that America is spending $640 billion on military while Russia is [going to] spend $850 billion on military.
Do the research before making assumptions!

 

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