Maybe Russia’s Bizarro World is not so bizarre after all
Russia started off by creating a political alternative to the West. Now it may end up changing everything.
Modern geopolitics has become Bizarro World ever since Russia intervened in Crimea. Step by step, Vladimir Putin’s Russia is creating an alternate universe of new institutions, systems and global partnerships that, in many ways, appears to be the exact opposite of what the West has been offering the world ever since the breakup of the former Soviet Union.
In this Bizarro World, the EU is no longer the only economic option for the fledgling countries of the former Soviet Union — there’s now the Eurasian Union, which is basically a political and economic amalgam of Russia and its two most loyal satellite states — Belarus and Kazakhstan. At least, for now. Plans are to recombine other post-Soviet states, like Armenia and Azerbaijan, sometime soon down the road, and that, of course, has people worrying about a reconstitution of the old Soviet Union. (Especially given the recent events in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.) Most likely, though, it’s intended as just a way to link Europe and Asia, with Russia as middleman.
Or, take the standard of liberal democracy that the U.S. has been pitching to its allies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia for the 20+ years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia is countering with its own brand of political philosophy known as Eurasianism, which relies a lot on the idea that Russia is a unique civilization capable of competing with the West. It suggests that strong moral values matter and that Europe’s Atlanticists have somehow lost their footing in the modern world. The growth of Eurasianism, in short, is the result of turning on the TV and seeing a bearded Austrian transvestite become the new singing sensation of the world.
Russia is also ripping up the playbook when it comes to all the institutions of the modern economic world, like the G8. (Mostly because they’ve been kicked out of these institutions) They’re working on a separate side deal with other BRICs, working for a way to create a new multipolar world. And they’re doing it with a political appeal that makes intuitive sense — that the modern world needs a greater voice for emerging giants like Brazil, India, China and South Africa.
But that’s not all.
There’s a plan to replace the U.S. dollar with a new reserve currency, thereby breaking up de facto U.S. control of the global financial system. Russia and China recently signed their first agreement on conducting deals with their own national currencies. They’re referring to it as the “de-dollarization” of the world.
In fact, in Bizarro World, the modern financial system is going to look very different. There’s now a plan afoot to replace the world’s most famous ratings agencies — Fitch, S&P and Moody’s — with a brand new ratings agency that has both Russian and Chinese backing. Now just trying to downgrade Russian sovereign debt to below investment grade.
The Internet, too, is going to get a brand new look. In some ways, this is a reaction to the whole Snowden Affair. In other ways, it’s a response to the growth in unruly dissent made possible by the Web. The Ru-Net (“Russian Internet) has been growing in size in recent years, and now there are plans afoot to get rid of all the big U.S. players and replace them with homegrown favorites. There’s a “Russian Google” (Yandex) and a “Russian Facebook” (vKontakte). And there’s even a YotaPhone, a “kooky” Russian mobile phone with two screens meant to compete with the iPhone.
And what about GPS for your mobile device or in-vehicle navigation device? Russia has a competing version of GPS called Glonass, as well as a plan to set up Glonass satellite stations across America. That, of course, isn’t going to go over so well with American legislators. But then again, Russia is making noise about its unwillingness to support GPS on its own soil as well. So we’ll call this one a draw for now.
Speaking of swapping out old Western technologies for new Russian technologies, thought Boeing and Airbus were the only two consortia capable of manufacturing commercial airplanes? Well, China and Russia just signed a deal in Shanghai to create a Bizarro version of Boeing. The plan is to start churning out Ilyushin Dreamliners sometime soon.
And speaking of outer space, Russia is now hinting its support for the international space station program is going to evaporate soon, and that the U.S. soon could be forced to send its astronauts to the space station with a trampoline. Russia, meanwhile, is building a gleaming new space center in the Far East, capable of sending Russian rockets (and cosmonauts) into space without needing to rely on either the U.S. or Europe.
We’ll have to see where this brave new adventure to Bizarro World takes us. Russia claims that its alternatives are better suited to the world around us. But are they? Remember the “Seinfeld” episode where Elaine meets new versions of all of her friends in Bizarro World and concludes that she’d rather have the old, lovable characters back, warts and all? That may be the case if the world takes a trip to Russia’s Bizarro World and then must make a decision of whether it wants its old Western world back.
