The United States will thwart integration in post-Soviet space. A statement to this effect was made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who described integration processes in post-Soviet republics as attempts to restore the Soviet Union.
Experts say Washington is reconsidering the ‘reset’ with Russia, while the range of instruments it is using to exert pressure on Moscow is scanty enough.
Most analysts say Mrs.Clinton is totally unaware of the essence of processes taking place in post-Soviet republics. President Putin has described her statements as ‘nonsense’ saying that post-Soviet countries share a language, mentality, transport infrastructure and years of economic ties and that integration is designed to boost their competitiveness. By integration Vladimir Putin means plans by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to create a Eurasian Economic Union.
Russia’s intention to safeguard it and its neighbors against economic upheavals that are raging all over the planet is quite understandable. However, Washington perceives it as an attempt to gain an edge over imperial ideology. Meanwhile, it’s the United States that pursues the policy of neo-Imperialism having reserved the right to be a regional and global leader. Washington is thus trying to regulate ‘global traffic’ from its own, ‘home-made Olympus’ brandishing its military and economic potential as if it were the striped stick of a traffic regulator.
What could the US do to hamper integration processes in post-Soviet space? Not much, says Professor Andrei Sidorov, Associate Dean for Research at the Moscow State University’s World Politics Department.
"The United States could only strike a free trade deal with members of the Customs Union. In other words, it could offer financial gains to them in return for their withdrawing from integration processes. Or, it could raise a motion in the WTO, of which Russia is now a member, to the effect that the benefits provided by the Customs Union should embrace other WTO members. Such a move would wipe out the advantages of integration in post-Soviet space. Washington could pursue either of the two options but I think neither is promising enough. For Russia, there is no need to find anything to oppose these moves. Once an integration process is set into motion, it’s enough to adhere to the existing agreements. Integration yields mutual gains. Once all those involved in integration processes feel that, no foreign interference will ever reverse them."
As the world is changing, the current modification of the global economy may result in the change of global leader. The world’s only super economy in the face of the US will thus be replaced by a number of economies which push regional development. This will inevitably lead to the redistribution of countries’ political weight. The point is whether this will make ‘a hard or a soft landing’ and what will come next, Vladimir Putin said.
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