Geopolitical chess - a Russian Grand Master?
With morbid fascination the world has been watching a complicated and unpredictable geopolitical play unfold right in front of our collective eyes. The actors in this play are familiar but with new set pieces. No longer is it the Soviet Union versus the United States, instead a hyper-nationalistic Russia has risen from Soviet ashes. Are we witnessing a re-kindling of the Cold War or Russian "schizophrenic" gestation as it tries to regain its prominence as a super-power? I do not believe we will see Russia rival the military might of the old Soviet Union. Russian economics are too dependent on the commodities market (in particular oil and extractive minerals) to sustain a large military in the style of the old Soviet Union. But overwhelming military might is not needed in this day and age to compete on the global stage. Vladimir Putin has repackaged elements of Russian national power (for example: the military - particularly the special forces, information/propaganda resour