Why Russia is a super power

[ultron]

The distance between Sochi and Anadyr is 7419 km. That's sick.

https://www.google.ca/search?safe=o....7.0....0...1c.1.64.hp..0.6.563.0.2ceW8woZL-4

https://www.google.ca/search?safe=o....6.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..2.5.375.de-H1WcpxwI

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gccalc.shtml

 

[barbarosa]

Russia is a real super power but it cannot play role in the politics of the world. Russia should demand from UNO to shift their half offices to Moscow . The session of the General assembly will be held in Russia for one year and in USA for one year.One main office of the world bank will in Russia and one will in USA. Then Russia will be come the 1st economic power of the world as USA today.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Nome Alaska to Miami is 7000km.

Honolulu to Portland Maine is 8200km.

Guam to Portland Maine is 12,700 km

Guam to Virgin Islands 15,200 km.


Circumference earth about 40,000 km

 

[ultron]

Nome Alaska to Miami is 7000km.

Honolulu to Portland Maine is 8200km.

Guam to Portland Maine is 12,700 km

Guam to Puerto Rico is 15,000 km.


Circumference earth about 40,000 km

Contiguous only.

 

[madmusti]

 

[ultron]

That means nothing. It is a numbers game. Number is infinite.

 

[calmDown@all]

Superpower is a word used to describe a state with a dominant position in international relations and which is characterized by its unparalleled ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined-means of technological, cultural, military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence. Traditionally, superpowers are preeminent among the great powers

here is what i found !!
This is one of those things that there really exact rules for (i.e. your GDP must be at least $1 trillion) because it's all very relative to the world around you. But, generally speaking, for a country to be considered a superpower it must:

• Have one of the top three or four economies in the world. If it's GDP is third or fourth, it either needs to have a dramatically higher GDP per capita than those ahead of it, or the difference in GDP needs to be relatively small.
• Have one of the three most powerful militaries in the world. If it's the third most powerful military, it can't be far behind the first two. This military must have the ability to project power anywhere in the world.
• If other other countries have nuclear weapons, then the country needs to have nuclear weapons. Not only do they need to have nuclear weapons, but they need to have a secure, second-strike capability (i.e. SLBMs and bombers that can carry nuclear warheads).
• You have to have a decent sized population that is well educated and relatively healthy. Small countries (both in terms of geographic size and population) can't become superpowers; the only reason the British Empire ever became a superpower is because it expanded through colonization
• Technology is a tricky thing because a country can mask its technological deficiencies to a certain extent. If you have a really big population, it reduces the superpower's need to rely on having advanced technology for either military reasons (because it can just have a really big army) or economic reasons (because its got a very large labor market). Nobody would argue that the Soviet Union wasn't a superpower despite its clear disadvantage in the area. Really, you just have to avoid being so far behind other countries.
• Politics and demographics are really only important if you want to talk about staying-power. As long as country has a government, any sort of government, and it has living, breathing people, these are less important.

The bottom line is that determining if a country is a superpower or not is one of those "I know it when I see it" sort of things. If there's another superpower in the world, for a country to be a superpower, it needs to be relatively close to that country in terms of its ability to project power, be it economic military, or political, around the world. If there isn't another superpower in the world, for a country to be considered a superpower, it's ability to project power needs to be clearly more superior than other countries.

 

[ultron]

Superpower is a word used to describe a state with a dominant position in international relations and which is characterized by its unparalleled ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined-means of technological, cultural, military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence. Traditionally, superpowers are preeminent among the great powers

here is what i found !!
This is one of those things that there really exact rules for (i.e. your GDP must be at least $1 trillion) because it's all very relative to the world around you. But, generally speaking, for a country to be considered a superpower it must:

• Have one of the top three or four economies in the world. If it's GDP is third or fourth, it either needs to have a dramatically higher GDP per capita than those ahead of it, or the difference in GDP needs to be relatively small.
• Have one of the three most powerful militaries in the world. If it's the third most powerful military, it can't be far behind the first two. This military must have the ability to project power anywhere in the world.
• If other other countries have nuclear weapons, then the country needs to have nuclear weapons. Not only do they need to have nuclear weapons, but they need to have a secure, second-strike capability (i.e. SLBMs and bombers that can carry nuclear warheads).
• You have to have a decent sized population that is well educated and relatively healthy. Small countries (both in terms of geographic size and population) can't become superpowers; the only reason the British Empire ever became a superpower is because it expanded through colonization
• Technology is a tricky thing because a country can mask its technological deficiencies to a certain extent. If you have a really big population, it reduces the superpower's need to rely on having advanced technology for either military reasons (because it can just have a really big army) or economic reasons (because its got a very large labor market). Nobody would argue that the Soviet Union wasn't a superpower despite its clear disadvantage in the area. Really, you just have to avoid being so far behind other countries.
• Politics and demographics are really only important if you want to talk about staying-power. As long as country has a government, any sort of government, and it has living, breathing people, these are less important.

The bottom line is that determining if a country is a superpower or not is one of those "I know it when I see it" sort of things. If there's another superpower in the world, for a country to be a superpower, it needs to be relatively close to that country in terms of its ability to project power, be it economic military, or political, around the world. If there isn't another superpower in the world, for a country to be considered a superpower, it's ability to project power needs to be clearly more superior than other countries.

No one will deny the top two powers are super powers. Rome and Carthage were super powers of their day. Greece and Persia were super powers of their day. Britain and France were super powers of their day. America and Russia are super powers of their day.

 

[dyingtoknow]

No one will deny the top two powers are super powers. Rome and Carthage were super powers of their day. Greece and Persia were super powers of their day. Britain and France were super powers of their day. America and Russia are super powers of their day.

I'm not sure there are usually 2 superpowers in the world, the situation with the Soviet Union and the USA was the exception.

To be a superpower after all you need pre-eminence which precludes there being a peer competitor around.

The definition of a superpower requires also world wide power projection which was only possible when you have globe-trotting blue water navies, say from about the 15th century onwards. It's ready hard to see why even a power like Rome could have been seen as a superpower when it didn't even know a large fraction of the Earth existed. It was more of a regional power.

The first true superpower was probably Britain from about circa 1800 to 1900. Before that it was a "great power" situation where lots of competing peer powers were vying for dominance.

After the decline of Great Britain, the world's only superpower, we went back to a great power situation, with disastrous consequences as we all know (world war 1, and then world war 2).

It was only after the emergence of the USA and Soviet Union (SU) that a period of relative peace has occurred. The USA and SU were both the unqualified rulers of the world - nothing happened without their permission.

By 2030, most pundits expect the USA, the last remaining superpower, to lose its superpower status. We then go back to a great power scenario.

The great powers will be the USA, China and perhaps India or a united EU. All competing for dominance but none powerful enough to impose hegemony and thus achieve superpower status.

It's actually dangerous not to have one country that is completely dominant. Two superpowers are better than one, but one superpower is better than none. History tells us that without a dominant world power to hold the international order in place conflict will break out.

As to Russia's future and present, well it's power is much over hyped around here. It's at most a "great power" with a very weak economy and that makes it vulnerable. It has no global power projection and even its regional power projection is severely limited due to its economic weakness. It simply can't afford, literally, to confront its much economically stronger geopolitical opponents in the EU or US

Russia will only get weaker. It's in relative decline with the rest of the Euro countries.

 

[Nanga Tarzan]

Apart from military power, there are two more things which are common to US and Russia and which are really important in sustaining their super power status. These are:

1. They both are self-sufficient in oil/energy production which makes them immune to any naval blockade etc.
2. They both are self-sufficient in terms of food production. This aspect often gets ignored but is no less important than other factors.