Russia's Putin dreams of sweeping Eurasian Union
By Associated Press,
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has a vision for a Soviet Union-lite he hopes will become a new Moscow-led global powerhouse. But, his planned Eurasian Union won’t be grounded in ideology: This time it’s about trade.
The concept of regional economic integration may be losing some of its allure in Europe, where a debt crisis is threatening the existence of the eurozone. But some countries across the former Soviet Union, still struggling economically 20 years after becoming independent, are embracing Putin’s grand ambition.
Russia has moved one step toward this goal under an agreement with former fellow Soviet republics Belarus and Kazakhstan that as of Sunday allows the free movement of goods and capital across their common borders.
As Putin envisions it, the still-hypothetical union will eventually stretch from the eastern fringes of Central Europe to the Pacific Coast and south to the rugged Pamir Mountains abutting Afghanistan.
..cont'd
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russias-putin-dreams-of-sweeping-eurasian-union-for-trade-not-ideology/2012/01/03/gIQAUARgXP_story.html?wprss=rss_world
= new reply since forum marked as read
Form the Mountains of Silesia on the German-Polish Border to the Pacific Ocean, there is NOT a single mountain range (Except for the Urals, and then only 2/3rds of the way down Russia) to form a border for Russia. Thus any border within those two extremes are arbitrary lines drawn in the sand.
The "Solid" Borders of Russia has historically been the Mountains of Afghanistan Persia, the Caucasus (With the Black and Caspian Seas undermining that border, so that Georgia, and Azerbaijan have come under Russian domination but NOT Turkey or Persia.
The Deserts of the Former Central Soviet Republics (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan etc). even when they were independent prior to the late 1800s, where under strong influence and control of the Tsars (And had been ever since the Tsars replaced the Golden Horde as the dominate power in Central Asia).
Prior to the Tsars replacing the Golden Horde, Genghis Khan had united the Central Asiatic tribes into one Country, the Golden Horde inherited this united country (including Russia) but never had the population to truly dominate it, thus were replaced by the Russians starting with Ivan the Terrible and ending with Catherine the Great.
Given Russia has no natural borders, it has always been worried about countries on its borders. Turkey (Do to the Black sea being an open invitation for Turkey, as the Byzantine Empire before it, to intervene in Southern Russia and the Ukraine). Poland took Moscow during the "Times of Troubles" when Ivan the Terrible was a young boy, Germany invaded under the Teutonic Knights in the Middle ages as well as WWI and WWII, Sweden under Charles X attacked Russia during the rule of Peter the Great (The long term effect wast to end Swedish rule of Finland).
Genghis Khan held Northern China when his forces attacked Russia, thus Mongolia and China have launched attacks on Russia.
Thus, with the possible exception of Persia and China (And let me point out The Persians did invade what in now Russia under Cyrus the Great about 10 years before the invasion of Greece), and Attila the Hun, while ruling what is now Hungary, Germany and Poland crossed what is now Russia to invade Persia between his attacks on the Roman Empire in the early 400s. AND China did support Kublai Khan against the Golden Horde in the Civil Wars between Genghis Khan's grandsons as the Mongol Empire broke up).
For the above reasons, Russia has had a problems with Borders. The Balkan, Black and Caspian seas encourage trade between every one who borders those seas, and thus increases tensions between those parties unless they are united into one country. The problem is it is hard to unite these countries with Russia, given Sweden is pulled westward to Denmark, England and France by the same sea, Southward to Germany via the Same sea, Turkey is pulled southward by the Mediterranean sea and Turkey by the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers (Which Rivers from Persia flow into) as while as the Persian Gulf.
These same pulls, also pulls these power to reach into Russian sphere of influence, thus the German and Swedish move into the Baltic nations, Persian and Turkish pull into the Former Central Asiatic republics. Turkish pull into the Ukraine.
Now I have NOT mentioned Poland in the above, for Poland is centered on the same Steppes as Russia, Now do to its location Poland is drawn to Germany via the Baltic and its common border with Germany, to a much higher degree then Belarus, the Ukraine and the former Soviet Central Asiatic Counties of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan). Thus in many ways Poland is part of the same "Country" if you define "Country" as geography as oppose to legal (State is a Legal Term) or ancestry (Nation is a term for a people who share something in common, generally language, religion and ancestry). A further limitation as to Poland and Russia is the Pripet Marshes which is the passable but not by a large group of people or any thing that comes close to a heavy cargo (Those marshes are an effective barrier to interaction as any Mountain range).
Side note: A lot of people use the terms "Nation", "State" and "Country" as interchangeable terms, and in most cases are, but each emphasis a different aspect of a modern "Nation-State". Nation emphasis things in common, may be common ideology (as in the old Soviet Union and the US today in addition to anguage, religion and ancestry, or a common LEGAL existence (This is what the term "State" implies, thus the US is a "State" in that it exists legally, even through it is made up of 50 other "States"
, finally we have Geography, which includes extensive trade do to the ease of trade and movement of people. Between Mountains of Silesia and the Pacific any borders between States are just lines drawn in Sand. Between the same points people mix up together, but generally tend to concentrate around rivers, thus the Poles around the Vistula, the Ukraine around the Dnieper, Russian around the Volga, Don, and Northern Dvina Rivers. Belarus population is centered on the Dnieper, but north of the Pripet Marshes, thus a difference between the two people who made up those "Nations".
Just pointing out the problems of Russia, Russia sees itself surrounded by potential enemies, and in many ways it is. Furthermore they are no easy defensible positions between those enemies and the heart of Russia. Given all nations want defensible borders, Russia wants to achieve such borders and to do so requires movement into areas where these potential enemies lay.
The problem of Russia, is that to be truly secure, Russia has to conquer or control everything from the Elbe to the Great Wall of China and south to Asia Minor.
At the same time, the flatness of Russia invites people on the outer edge to move into the Steppes for their own advantages.
Thus you have all the seeds planted by Geography for tension and thus wars between Russia and any other nation on the Steppes AND those countries that border the Steppes. Russia always wants to be as secure as it can given the above problems of geography and to have peace with Russia we all must learn to live with that desire. Putin is just the latest victim of this accident of History, he wants Russia as secure as possible, and that means with as many Nations of the Steppe and bordering on the Steppes under Russian control as much as possible. This often requires a lot of money (The Reason the Soviet Union Collapsed was do to the expense of holding onto the Warsaw Pact members by force via the Warsaw Pact) but it is driven by geography more then anything else.
