This attitude is part of a greater plan that aims to oppose the US policy of hegemonic stability. Apparently Putin’s Russia perceives the US as an antagonistic power keen to limit Russian capacity for movement. Putin laid out this view in his declaration to the International Security Conference held in Munich. In his speech he strongly criticized the US and NATO, after saying that countries should not act unilaterally because such attitudes only cause more trouble. He also said that the US had gone too far in trying to impose its will on everybody. In response US Defense Secretary Robert Gates emphasized that Putin was a former KGB agent and that he appreciated his frank words. In fact Russia has made it clear it will not tolerate the installation by NATO of an anti-missile system in Poland or in the Czech Republic; of a mobile radar system in Caucasia; or of a naval base in Romania which would allow the US the access to the Black Sea. Russia insists that these are not NATO but US policies that have the objective of containing Russia, not protecting Europe from Russian influence.
The Russian Security Council has declared that Russia will have to change its security strategy unless the US alters its political choices. It means that the work has already begun and US activities in the former Soviet regions are viewed by Russia as threats.
In order to reinforce the fight with this particular “national threat,” Putin visited several Middle Eastern countries just after the Munich conference and showed his intention to interfere in the traditional US zone of influence. Putin has presented Russia’s new energy strategy and offered to establish an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)-like collective with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, crucial centers for oil and natural gas. This may perhaps aid these resources’ being used as an asset in potential blackmail. Putin has also made a strategic move by trying to sell 150 T-90 tanks to Saudi Arabia as Russia tries to transform anti-American sentiment to pro-Russian and attract “green capital.” Declarations about the Palestinian issue and problems with Jewish businessmen, which poisoned relations between Russia and Israel, should also be kept in mind.
Russia has launched a 144 billion euro modernization program, running until 2015, for its army. The upgrading of TU-160 bombers will be finished by the end of 2007 and the new armament program was announced to the world by the Russian defense minister himself. This new program necessitates gigantic military and industrial investments, including a new anti-missile defense system which could spark a fifth generation star wars.
Furthermore, Russia no longer believes that the US national anti-missile system is a part of the war on terror and has concluded that all these efforts target Russia and its attempts to cultivate its own sphere of influence. On the other hand the administrations of Putin and US President George W. Bush, both of which are influenced by oil and arms cartels, are effectively supporting each other’s will to establish a new world order based on coercion to do business and make money.
