It’s been remarked by famous investor, author and philosopher Doug Casey that “Russia is nothing more than a gas station attached to a gun store in front of a wheat field” & while I somewhat agree once you take a trip outside of Moscow or St. Petersburg, I think Russia is truly the only capable country to threaten the status of the United States.
Immediately what came to your mind was a bunch of snipers, fighter jets and trench warfare given the Ukraine border war–but I am not referring to a military threat to the United States (more with subscribers)–I am referring to an economic threat or perhaps put a different way, the threat of resiliency.
Putin and his ministers have made it quite clear that their approach to foreign policy is non-aggressive but; responsive to provocation. This has been the approach for two decades for those paying attention. In other words, contrary to what the press’titues write, Russia has no desire nor benefit by marching east like in 1945–but they will, like always, strive to defend the motherland.
Notwithstanding that once you leave St. Petersburg, Moscow and a few other cities, Russia appears to be a third world country (although, have you been to Detroit?), Russia is position well economically.
From January 1st, 2000, the S&P 500 went about 4X while the Dow Jones Industrial Average did 3.37X; The MOEX did 19.40X (Please see my article here Russian Equities for more)
More Economic Figures
- Unemployment rate at a low–>3%
- Russia has paid the debts of all former soviet states (although they are owed nothing official for this deed)
- Please see our BRICS article
Comparisons with Challengers
Great Britain are still a major economy–obviously no longer controlling the British Empire nor do they hold the reserve currency of the world but still nevertheless, an important economy
Comparing some military might numbers:
Russia has 1.3 million soldiers; Great Britain has 190,000
Russia has a soldier reserve of 250,000; Great Britain has 37,000
Russia has 14,240 tanks; Great Britain has 227
Russia’s military budget is $410 billion a year; Great Britain has one of $67 billion
Russia has 5889 nuclear warheads; Great Britain has 260
Russia has 6574 self-propelled guns; Great Britain is 89
Russia has a total of 809 military aircraft; Great Britain has 120
Additionally, much of the Ukraine, Georgian, Houthi & Gazan conflicts are purely American influences on their foreign adversaries to stoke the flames. However, what if the Americans became directly involved in a conflict with Russia. In a serious conflict.
Look at the starting point I have created from where the Americans stand:
20% of youth think that they’re the opposite sex, most of the citizens smoke dope, #China controls a significant part of the farming & power grid, few have an understanding of the world (+15% are illiterate), millions of 3rd worlders now roam free, almost all college students are taught to “overthrow capitalism” from their cell phone, 20% of Americans cannot name their states without a map, some states have ‘zero’ rule of law, 1/4 of the entire nation are on anti-depressants, some races ‘hate’ their neighbours & 50% are overweight
51% who begin college never finish, 60% are playing the stock market (whom are reliant on pensions), homelessness & drug deaths have never been higher. Fertility rate is below replacement (has been for decades), military recruitment at all-time low, munition supplies are dwindling, 175T exists in unfunded liabilities (34T public debt), 45% of violent crimes go unreported, almost all of the military were forced to receive a toxic spike protein, credit card debt has never been higher & FBI arrest hundreds yearly for social media postings.
But wait there’s more…nobody comes close to the US in school shootings, meritocracy in the workplace is long-dead. Military veteran suicides are off the charts, extremely low percentages of current military have been in combat, all sectors of military (beside Marines) classified as ‘Weak’ by their own categorization, 56% can’t touch 1000 dollars within 24 hours, 33% have zero savings.
USA have weakening alliances with ALL big energy countries, Strategic Petroleum Reserve at 1983 levels, manufacturing jobs are all in Malaysia, Mexico, Vietnam & 50% of the country perpetually hate the country/administration they’re living under
People just need to think about this for 15 minutes. Of course, just because the situation in the USA is such doesn’t mean that Russia is going to become the next global empire tomorrow. However, it does highlight the distinction that Russia is not faced with these social, financial, cultural & strategic problems that the current reigning empire does hold.
European cannot dissociate from Russia easily; they have to keep paying them
Despite the sanctions, Russia was the primary go-to for the European Union for crude oil, coal and natural gas. It should be obvious that the EU cannot supply itself easily without involving Russia as the US supplies will cost more and turmoil in the Suez Canal makes it questionable whether LNG from the Middle East will ever arrive.
Despite not having the largest coal or oil reserves, Russia has focused considerable effort in upping production. Energy is a major strategic piece of leverage that it holds over Europe, especially when you consider how dependent the entire continent is for imported energy.
Enter the North Sea Shipping Route.
You’re going to want to read our article on this that provides an overview of Russia’s big move to offer all countries a secure passageway to deliver materials to escape threats currently faced in the Red Sea & Panama Canal. Coupled with new icebreaker technology for shipping & a heavily secure/remote area, this alone could be a giant money maker for Russia making use of their Northern territory at a time when sending ships is a gamble.
Russia’s situation:
- Russia has some of the lowest debt in the world; certainly relative to a sample of large economies!
- Russia has the largest gold reserve ratio holding out of any country (at 25%). It has been remarked by many experts that Russia has the most experienced army in the world.
- Anecdotally, Russians (please see our interview here) are more skeptical of others’ intentions and are more “down-to-earth” with respect to international affairs. In other words, they are more attuned at discriminating bluffs and threats than other cultures.
- Russia has friends around the world, namely in very geo-strategic countries. All of Central America and South America can travel visa free to Russia. Russia influence in Mexico and Venezuela has been growing, two energy behemoths.
- If we just consider Venezuela, they rank 1st in oil reserves at over 300 Billion barrels, 15th in coal reserves at 480 million tons and 8th with about 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.
- Russia is part of the BRICS 11, whom hold a significant percentage of the worlds energy resources. Energy security = political security. Russia and this group and significantly dictate global commodity markets. BRICS is a currency union and trade agreement bloc. Each individual places of course have their problems and weak points–the utility of BRICS 11 is the ability to survive outside of the US dollar, which is crucial to the overall article!
- Russia has quietly and calmly been replacing the presence of European forces in Western Africa, who seem to welcome Russia with open arms.
- Not everybody disagrees with them on other geopolitical matters
- Russia, with Switzerland, have the highest percentage of gold relative to their GDP in the entire world (around 9-12%), making them a gold superpower. This amount is 6X the United States and about 15X that of China.
- Russia particularly has the support of ideologically possessed nations such as Nicaragua, Cuba, North Korea and China. Especially with North Korea, this could be a very troublesome chess piece for the Russians who are fighting off NATO mercenary threats.
Of the BRICs, Russia is the least totalitarian, holds the lowest debt level and while still being detached from CIA foreign influence
More Strategy that is unique to Russia
Russia still has a close tie to commodity rich countries such as Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan; Russian is spoken by most of the population of these countries that provide a major connection in terms of communication, understanding, culture & media. In fact, citizens of these countries are able to travel and live freely throughout Russia.
Russian men and women place a considerable amount of effort on their physique and presentation to be able to achieve a long-term partner. Notwithstanding their higher mortality rate and high rate of smoking, heterosexual relationships yield more children than homosexual ones in the long run. With little results, Russia is trying to reverse their dying population trend.
Russians, on average, hold a high IQ by global standards & hold a level of patriotism higher than other nations (perhaps the highest morale?). They very much view their country as a body that requires protection.
Nobody is Appreciating This Fact
Russians have a tremendous history of defending their borders. With the brief exception of Genghis Khan, Russia has never been conquered in its existence. They quite literally have over 1000 years of experience defending their border with the last 200 years being very significant.
Russia has the largest number of nuclear warheads compared to any other country on the planet to do the defending now.
…Besides, do you see anyone else wrestling bears? Just joking
Quote on Russian alliances
As goes the Russian proverb, Не име́й сто рубле́й, а име́й сто друзе́й, which means it’s better to have 100 friends than 100 rubles.
Closing
I believe the Western Axis are completely and utterly underestimating Russia. It could be that Russians are a unique people, very dark, poetic, clever and often strange people. They have their own fundamental way of thinking. Whereas Americans tend to want everything stronger, faster, better RIGHT NOW, Russians may have been biding their time patiently to get themselves in such a position. Whether you hate Russia or not, you cannot ignore the fact that they have an immense army (backed by currently and lots of prior experience throughout the centuries) with the special forces are top-notch, fuelled by resources, the relationships to oil/gas producers & common language component for foreign neighbours.
What inspired me to write this is not to take a “Pro Russia” stance nor write that I’m “anti” anyone else–it’s to simply point out that *everybody* is underestimating the Russians, especially the Europeans. If we begin to compare their situation compared to the rest of the world, they are in the healthiest position compared to any other country in the East/Global South.
My video
Final Thoughts
I’ll leave you with these final two thoughts. The first of which is that the national game of Russia is chess. Despite being quite poor at the game myself, I understand that it takes patience, calculation, deception and defence to win such a game. Patience being the most important of the virtues when challenged by the immense force of Washington, D.C. Now ask yourself if anybody (ANYBODY) in Congress would fit the description of a clever, calculating, patient, forward-looking chess player. The board is tilted the longer they play.
Finally, it’s quite interesting to me that Putin is a practitioner of the martial art Judo. Not because of his age doing flips through the air, but metaphorically speaking. I was first introduced to the appreciation of Judo by former KGB operative Yuri Bezmenov as a method of winning in a game of psychological or information warfare. The brilliance of Judo is to not overpower an opponent with sheer strength or force, but to use the opponents’ force against him. It would be counterproductive to try to stop a blow from such a large entity, rather it makes more sense to continue the motion of their weight imbalance.
For instance, as is, the United States are teaching their children (future military, workers, politicians) that men can be women & vice versa, depriving them of scientific inquiry, history & engineering skillsets and pushing for the acceptance of obesity & mental illness. Rather than vocally challenge “this is wrong, the correct way is like this…”, Russia is much better off continuing these narratives or guiding these erroneous beliefs to be acknowledged throughout society. “Woke go Broke”.
I believe Putin’s practice of Judo is more than just a sport–and more of a way of governance with respect to foreign policy. He is actively using the United States’ domestic problems (or by analogy, weight imbalances) against them.
Coupled with the long-term calculated strategies of a chess player, Russia is nearing a checkmate, supported by a new shipping route, an experienced competent military, ample energy resources, significant gold reserves, missile capacity, significant & strategic trading alliances, low debt & a culture that Westerns can still recognize (especially former Soviet states).
If Russia is in fact your declared enemy, it’s best to not underestimate the strength of this bear
