THE FIFTH RUSSIAN EMPIRE

 

FOREWORD
Those of you who have been acquainted with my intentions and blog since the early planning stages in April, will recognise the speculative words below.Now that I have completed my objective I thought it appropriate to lift the April posting and put it at the beginning so that readers can compare my aspirations at the outset with what I actually did.

Since I have returned from my journey, Russia and Vladimir Putin have been regular features in the British media.He has clamoured for attention-what British yobbos call "respect man" before they knife or shoot you-and like a little child which throws its toys from the pram, he has de-rusted some cold war turbo jet bombers to buzz NATO bases and exercises. The sabre of Russian oil and gas has been rattled regularly and has been waved threateningly at Estonia and the Ukraine.Then to cap it all he looks to be engineering his transfer to the Prime Minister's positon preparatory to legal return to the Presidency in the near future.Shocking? Well perhaps not so when one contemplates the return of the Clinton dynasty after two reigns of the Bush clan, in a country that purports to despise aristocracy and monarchy.

Putin, like Russia is hard to read and there may be laudable intention behind his autocracy-when you consider that before he ran away, Boris Berezovsky's assets equaled more than 40% of Russia's GDP.In order to get below the surface whilst there I picked up an excellent book by the former Financial Times Moscow correspondent who both observed most of the post Yeltsin goings on and interviewed all the key players. He pulls no punches and it is worth noting that I bought this at a regular bookstore in Ykaterinburg. I strongly recommend INSIDE PUTIN'S RUSSIA by ANDREW JACK-GRANTA BOOKS, to those like me with more than a passing interest.The historical text referenced below covers the whole span of Russia's development from tribal life on the Steppes under moslem rule/tyranny and Lonely Planet's Trans Siberian Railway is a mine of info about how to travel there and what it's all about( interesting to see that the Aussie owners have sold Lonely Planet to the BBC-so now Gordon brown controls our travels too!)

You just can't ignore the largest country in the world, with its eleven time Zones, seamlessly linking the European and Asian land masses. Lake baikal has 20% of the world's fresh water and there is abundant untapped energy and mineral resources.But it is still in a fragile state. The population of 140 mill is declining rapidly due to premature death and low birth rates. If oil prices come off the boil the new found prosperity could soon go into reverse.It has the benefit of a very well educated people but as they stand comparatively where they were in 1917 their choice between, an organic move to greater political freedom and a lurch back into the dictatorship of an elite, will determine whether the Fifth empire will be the longest and greatest or yet another debacle in which the remarkable resilience of the Russian people will again be tested through brutal toil, strife and bloodshed on an unconscionable scale.

I recall walking amongst them along the Nevsky and thinking that they looked just like me and other westerners, but they sure as hell aren't.There is another ingredient in their genetic and cultural soup and we would be wise, whilst offering friendship and assistance, to ensure we have the latest big stick close to hand and ensure they are aware of it because above all they understand,crave and respect power.


ENJOY!!!


WHY BOTHER WITH RUSSIA?
Since the founding of the Kievan empire in the 9th century, Russia's expansionary ambitions have spawned four Empires and grown to have global consequences. Boris yelstsin, the first democratically elected president of Russia, died yesterday and his successor, Vladimir Putin is deeply engaged in building a fifth post Soviet Empire with significant implications for Europe and the wider global community.

Rather than continuing its historic push into Western Europe, Russia is being pressured by the encroachment of the European Union into its former satellite countries and feels threatened by the establishment of new NATO members on its western borders.But, as European countries (especially Germany)become highly dependent on Russian Gas and oil supplies the influence of the Fifth Empire on Europe's economic security grows apace. Its state influenced corporations are eying off potential acquisitions in other countries and there is a new struggle with US entrepreneurs to acquire and control teams in England's premier league.Will Uncle Sam's Manchester United prevail over Chelsea's Arctic Bear?
Well, "all very interesting" you say "But why are you really going there?". The short answer, as with all my enthusiasms, is a romantic fascination with this huge country that is neither fully western nor entirely eastern.I think this started with history homework and a particularly challenging requirement to write an essay about Catherine the Great's foreign policy-when I would rather have been dancing to Buddy Holley numbers at the church youth club. This was hard to get ones mind around, sitting in the front room of a Coronation Street style terraced house in smoggy, late 50s Manchester and even a brief trip to St Petersburg by train whilst attending a graduation ceremony in Helsinki did little but scratch the itch of my curiosity.
So, subject to the timely issue of a visa, I am enrolled for a summer school Russian course from 28 May at the St Petersburg State University ( the oldest in Russia)and then I plan to spend a month hopping on and off trans siberian trains from Vladivostock to Moscow-stopping in many of the historical towns en route.Perhaps having relished my move from a cool, wet little Island to live on a large dry continent I am now hankering after a huge cold one that joins Western Europe with the pacific orient and mainland China. BOOK REFERENCES:-Russian Empires by Philip Longworth. Publisher-John Murray 2005 INSIDE PUTIN'S RUSSIAby ANDREW JACK.Publisher Granta Books.