A Decaying Russia

In the minds of most from the West, the days of the cold war, the arms race and of two superpowers jockeying for influence on the world stage have diminished. Russia's power has dropped over the last twenty years or so to the extent that other countries, namely India and China are of greater threat economically and military than the heart of the old Soviet Union. Russia today spends most of its energy on home spats, keeping track on the devolved ex-soviet states rather than being a strong force in the International community.

With the demise of communism went the threat!

Certainly, it could be argued today that Russia is regaining influence on the world stage through bargaining chips in the form of oil and gas! Some statistics have shown that Russia is now the largest producer of energy for the international market with a strong interest to form a major oil cartel in competition to OPEC. Russia has also attempted to use its oil and gas as 'power play" to those who buy it, a very dangerous re-entrance onto the world stage indeed and one that so far has received shoulder shrugs from the west.

It is though blatantly clear to anybody that has recently visited the country that Russia does not have the wherewithal or strength to become an equal partner to America, or for that matter Japan, China, India or Europe. Russia is a country in decay! It survives today on the infrastructure that was set-up during the heyday of communism and before glasnost was liberally sprinkled around. The railroads and the roads, the bridges that cross them and the places that they go to are deteriorating or have deteriorated so badly that many are either unusable or dangerous to follow. Whole towns (excluding the power houses of Moscow and St Petersburg) are crumbling; churches with holes in them, sky-scrapers with no windows; wharfs and jetties titling towards the water.

Many Russians today quietly mutter that during the days of communism life was better! They may not have had much, but there was always a roof over their heads, bread and water on the table and a security blanket that left nobody starving or wanting. The idea of struggling was not present and although life may not have been great it was definitely safe and predictable for everybody. When the blanket was ripped away old age pensioners had to return to work to survive, there was no guaranteed state pension anymore. People suddenly became thrifty to the point of being mean, some won and made for themselves a better life but many more lost and ended up with far less than they had when Lenin made his mark.

Russia is producing oil as fast as it can find it, develop the fields and pump it. At the moment the emphasis is purely on expansion and development with no thought to spare on the future of Russia or on how long the oil will last. The idea of sparing a moments thought on "what happens after the oil runs out" is not going to be entertained until the well runs dry and when it is all too late. This attitude is seemingly a hangover caused by the transition from communism to capitalism, a desperate need to hoard money to make as much cash as possible and to keep it hidden and to oneself. Rumor has it that Putin wants to get as much oil out of the ground, converted into hard cash and at his disposal in his new power base of St Petersburg before he loses his grip on Moscow. He will not be returning to politics at the next election, he will though still like to be in control as Gazprom (the largest oil company in Russia and worth billions) and other large oil-related companies move shop to the power-base of Putin and away from Moscow.

This attitude is prevalent with every Russian. They all want to make money and they want to make it fast. The small man tends not see the money; the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

A classic example of this inequality can be seen in Sakhalin. This Island on the East Coast of Russia is the local base of some of the largest oil companies in the world. BP, Shell, Gazprom and Exxon alongside some extremely large investors like Mitsui from Japan are all involved in extracting oil onshore and offshore around this miserable outback island. Billions of dollars are being invested in refineries, oil platforms, ice breakers, terminals and ports and billions are being made as the oil and gas is pumped out into tankers for the international markets. The oil is pumped out as fast as humanely possible and the money made travels on literal trains to Moscow and the West side of Russia. Whilst walking around Yuzhno the capital of Sakhalin or Kholmsk where the main supply base exists, any thoughts of this island being the centre for oil production on the east coast would not even enter the head. Potholed roads, crumbling and empty buildings, rusted train carriages and wharfs that have longs since given way as to meet the sea are everywhere. New buildings are far and few between, the drab grey of the communist style council flats with balconies that mostly but not always defy gravity give emptiness and desperation to the lives within.

Inflation is crazy on this island; to take a job at a certain wage is to find oneself in good stead for one year only. Buy beef today at one price, the next day add ten percent on. Black smoke belches out of the chimneys turning the newly fallen snow into black mush! Ancient dented cars groan and creak there way along cracked roads, a struggle to survive as a new car is but a dream. The many unemployed and those desperate for work hang around the yards and factories with the always present bottle of vodka and a packet of cigarettes to hand, the only warmth they have in an otherwise bleak and crummy existence. For them, the idea of hating the west and of despising capitalism is not worth blinking an eye for, there own people have proved worse.

The money goes west to the pockets of the rich, for oil wealthy business men to buy football clubs in England and to squander all on projects that defy feasibility or sensibility.

Russia is not gaining the influence on the world stage that it would like, the money is not being re-invested, and it is allowing a massive social discrepancy to breed unchecked. The country is looking to a future of internal strife, of a despised Kremlin still influencing and partially running the massive state machinery and where the average worker who constitutes the majority is ignored by the machine that once controlled them.

It is oft said that it takes three generations to change the way a person thinks or acts; unfortunately for the Russians they had communism thrown at them in a day and then another fine day it was ripped away from them without warning. For many now they will tell you; life was better before!

One Russian seafarer recently went so far as to call his country the Nigeria of Asia, a bit harsh maybe but then he was talking about his own country!