Comments by "buddermonger2000" (@buddermonger2000) on "CaspianReport"
channel.
-
37
-
15
-
14
-
5
-
5
-
4
-
4
-
3
-
3
-
3
-
3
-
3
-
3
-
3
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
@markmuller7962 I think you're the one who is really uneducated on this. Demographies around the world are incredibly unequal such as the rapid birth rate in the middle east and throughout much of the Muslim world compared to the incredible collapse in East Asia and Europe. This has applied very heavily to Russia and to ignore what have historically been the strengths of Russia (large population and birth rate which allowed them to grow to their current borders in the first place) and how those strengths are no longer around and overall showcased better in countries such as China in regards to population and central Asia and other ethnic minorities in birthrate. This also paired with the very poor geography that comes from an incredibly flat terrain with few natural borders means that the only way to survive is by military strength. You seem to lack understanding of the mindset of the historical Russian state and its goal above all else: secure the borders of the Russian heartland. This has dictated the actions of Russia since its unification under the rise of Novgorod and has largely dictated its foreign policy since. It's also idealistic to view the modern world as a status that will continue onward and specifically this commitment to peace from all of Europe which is not followed by much of the world outside of it. People want to be represented in their governments and often identify with their own groups so Want their groups as part of the government. In many instances they also want their own land and this is the start of the nation-state model: a core desire for your people to have a state. Empires have largely dominated this by being a larger state which can defend all of the territory but the groups within either united and part of the larger identity or subjugated and maybe sometimes represented if that empire cares to.
Now within all of that context there needs to be something here to address in my statement: Russia is either a world power or a rump state. The reason is because the only defensible borders that it has are found THOUSANDS of miles apart. It has the Pacific in the East, some mountains north of Manchuria and Mongolia, used to have mountains south and east of Kazakhstan, the Caucuses in the south, used to have the north pole in the northwest (now it's just Finland), used to have the Carpathians (now Moldova), used to have the black sea (now Ukraine, and used to have the Baltic sea. These all pushed into mountains and uncrossable water to the North, East, and South, and pushed far into the north European plain in the west. This prevented any force from pushing in once it got its military in order but Russia had to be powerful enough to control all of this land and also had to have the population which populated it to be truly Russian to maintain control. This was lost when Russia weakened. If Russia doesn't grow back it loses Siberia to China as climate change makes the region more temperate and loses the region just East of the Urals to people who out populate Russia in that area as the Russian heartland is in Eastern Europe and if Russia becomes weak enough to lose the area past the Urals to other groups it'll never have the ability to keep itself protected at its Western border. This leaves Russia completely indefensible as the only areas around it are flat grassland perfect for invading from.
Btw world powers do not have to be exclusively from military ability and most often wield very strong cultural and economic influence over many regions.
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
2
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1