Russia, Gas and a Gasping Super Power

Russia and the European Union are geopolitical neighbors. Whether or not their relationship is in fact neighborly, rather than tense and confrontational, is of critical importance to both.

Unless it modernizes its economy and society, Russia can forget its claim to status as a world power in the 21st century and will continue to fall behind both old and newly emerging powers. Moreover, Russia needs partners for its modernization, because its population and economic potential are too small for it to play an important role by itself in the emerging new world order. Russia’s strategic nuclear weapons will be insufficient to ensure it a place among first-rank powers.