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First published: 2008 Jan. 3
Geopolitics and space
Russia saw the dawn of the 21st century in bleak colors. A decade after the Soviet collapse, the nation's economy was struggling, dominated by cliques of powerful oligarchs, amidst ever deepening gap between rich and poor, high unemployment, rampant crime and social apathy. In May 2001, a respectable American magazine published an apocalyptic prophesy entitled "Russia is Finished." Intellectualizing the conventional wisdom of the 1990s, the article confidently promised "the unstoppable descent of a once great power into social catastrophe and strategic irrelevance." Little editors of the publication knew that just few months later, the only remaining superpower would be hit with the worst terrorist attack in its history, dragging its government into a protracted and costly conflict across the world. One of unintended consequences of the post-September 11 global instability became soaring oil prices, which quickly turned Russia's natural resources-driven economy from bust to boom.
With Kremlin coffers full with oil revenues, Russian government managed not simply postpone a "social catastrophe," but made steps to reverse its "strategic irrelevance." On the international stage, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his official doctrine the creation of the "multi-polar world," which would challenge America's military and economic dominance. (Ironically, he started with erasing vestiges of "multi-polar" political system inside his own country.) By the end of his two terms, President Putin consolidated so much power in his hands that he could make his old secret service bosses red with envy. Putin used his new financial and political muscle to repair Russia's battered economy and military might.
In 2006, Russian military spending approached 600 billion rubles, or double of its annual budget in 2000. (240) By the end of 2007, a Russian aircraft carrier group was heading back on patrol of high seas for the first time since the end of the Cold War. Strategic missile bombers, land- and submarine-based ballistic missiles flew regular doomsday rehearsal missions.
Oil money also started trickling down into previously underfunded space industry. To the delight of Russian space officials, increased funding was accompanied by President Putin's declaration that "...without astronautics, Russia can not compete for one of the leading positions in the world's civilization, and will not be able to provide its defense at the necessary level." (270)