Russia hasn’t dropped out of the Core yet

ARTICLE: “Goldman Sachs Rediscovers Russia: A Race for Underwriting Business,” by Heather Timmons, New York Times, 3 February 2006, p. C3.

Last Economist listed Russia as experiencing the greatest percentage uptick in foreign direct investment right now among top emerging markets.

And as this article points out, Russia is not only aggressively courting foreign investments, Russian companies, “buoyed by high oil and gas prices, are expected to engage in acquisitions this year and will be looking for help from big Western banks.”

I know, I know. The “loss” of a democracy that was never there, and some serious grabbing for power by the state in the natural resources sector, but so long as Russia remains open for money, connectivity with the outside world improves. That, coupled with a lot of social connectivity (Russians come and go as they please and they excel in many global sectors, especially sports), means Russia stays in the Core for now.

Ah, but they have seemingly so many conditions for their partnership on security issues. Yes they do, but the synching up of those requirements with those of the Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Europeans, Americans, Brazilians, etc. is the process of building the next generation of security regimes for the Core as a whole. It’s happening, slowly but surely, over Iran and North Korea. Won’t end up looking like our preferred vision across the dial, but if done well, the threat of major wars recedes into history—gone for good.

Remember that when you want to get all jacked up about this “increasingly dangerous world” that strikes so many as more dangerous than the Cold War. If you can’t get past that myth then you can’t see the world for what it is today, and what it will become tomorrow.