Russia - National Security Presentation Speech or

Russia - National Security - Speech or Presentation Example NEXT SLIDE (TALK ABOUT THE FLAG (VGT) d. Overview: At 6.6 million square miles Russia (also known as the Russian Federation) is the largest nation-state in the world today. It encompasses all of northern Asia and north-eastern Europe. On the south, from west to east it borders on Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China (and furthest east, for a mere 11, miles it borders on North Korea. On the west, from north to south it borders on Norway, Finland, the Baltic States, Belarus and the Ukraine. e. It's national flag is a tricolor with bands of white, blue and red. Officially adopted in the 1890s and again in the 1990s, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the abandonment of the 'hammer and sickle' flag, it has been in use since the 17th century and its origins are shrouded in the mists of history. f. The total population is approximately 142 million and the capital city is Moscow with a population of 8.6 million. NEXT SLIDE In the wake of the Second World War a bi-polar world emerged wi th the Soviet Union and the United States as the world's two superpowers. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s some analysts suggested that the United States was the world's sole superpower and that the 'Cold War' had ended. Francis Fukuyama went so far as to suggest that capitalism had defeated socialism and history had ended. This proposition has proven to be ridiculously utopian. As is true of every state, Russia's national purpose remains advancement of its international interests, national security and national prosperity. In pursuit of these goals its major adversary remains the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); the alliance developed during the Cold War to ensure the security of Europe and link the United States with Canada and the democratic states of western Europe. The Russian Federation's minor adversaries are principally internal. Russia faces threats and terrorist adversaries in Chechnya, the northern Caucasus and througho ut the predominantly Muslim south-eastern portion of the country. On January 29, 2011 Reuters reported that the January bombing at Moscow's main airport was an operation carried out by North Caucasus separatist, terrorists. The report also identified the ethnic, religious and economic conflict at the root of the adversarial relationship: â€Å"Russia's leaders are struggling to contain a growing Islamist insurgency in the region, a strip of impoverished, mainly Muslim provinces along predominantly Orthodox Christian Russia's southern border.† (Reuters, 2011) Russia and the United States share an opposition to Muslim fundamentalism and terrorism. However, there are also multiple, potential points of conflict with the United States. The United States is committed to global democratization and human rights while the legitimacy of Russian democracy remains questionable. It is widely believed that the current Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin moved to the Prime Mi nistership to maintain control and subvert term limits on the President while remaining the 'power behind the throne'. Additionally, Russian corporations have often used accusations of economic malfeasance and other trumped up charges to take over the assets of foreign investors. These infringements on the rights of individuals and corporations remain potential trouble spots between the United States