A New Russia
Many would have believed that the death of the Soviet Union brought about the birth of a new Russia. But one question we should really ask is has Russia really changed?
Political Scientist Hans Morgenthau describes Russia's national character. "In Russia the tradition of obedience to the authority of the government and the traditional fear of the foreigner has made large permanent military establishments acceptable to the population"(Politics Among Nations).
Russia's government has been authoritarian throughout history, under the House of Rurik remembered through Tsar Ivan IV [ the terrible] through to the house of Romanov. Russia has been ruled by totalitarian monarchy.
By 1914 Russians had grown tired of autocratic rule with the effects of World war I, the suffering and the dashed hopes resulted in the the October 1917 revolution ending the Russian monarchy. In 1929, Stalin emerged victor in the battle for supremacy amongst the three; Lenin,Trotsky. Lenin died in 1924 and Trotsky was exiled in South America.
With the failure of Gorbachevs initiative in liberalizing the Socio-economic structure and the CIA-Vatican interference in Poland which effectively resulted in the dissolution of the USSR by 1991. A Western -style private enterprise system was sought to be established in Russia with the unwanted result of power and wealth going into the hands of only a few people- The Oligarchs.
Putin elected in March 2000 moved the country in the way that he deemed would awaken Mother Russia, reining in the control of all government agencies, Putin has implemented a game -plan of using the West to rebuild Russia. Realizing that Russia's chief asset is its Oil it is only natural that we should expect Russia to seek control of its oil assets to put itself back into World consciousness that it still matters in World affairs.
And with the hand-picking of the new Russian president Dmitri Medvedev by Putin and He being the Prime Minister, we can be sure that Russia would put itself back into World reckoning.