In it, the United States and NATO are officially identified as threats to Russia. Well, it finally hit home. In general, calling things their own names is a very healthy habit. As an example, calling Maidan "revolution" a fascist violent coup (financed and supported by the US) is a very healthy and right thing to do. There are times and circumstances when speaking in broadsides is absolutely necessary. Correct definitions also, usually, lead to correct actions.
The new document may have a serious ramifications for Russia's domestic policies. We'll see how the situation with Igor Kudrin develops. Bloomberg was spreading rumors about the return of this shill to the post of Russia's Finance Minister for some time now. It is obvious, however, that with threats like US and NATO identified, the questions of competence and loyalty of Medvedev's economic block should be asked. It all still comes down to Putin's world-view or, rather, to its evolution. Not for once he proclaimed himself being an economic liberal but, granted his background and management style, it is very difficult to believe that he is not seeing that the model he publicly associates himself with failed miserably in Russia, as did "elites" who promoted it. Seeing this failure is a crucial issue of Russian contemporary history. It is also a major geopolitical issue, because Russia's choice of model will have a global resonance, especially when one considers real, not Wall Street la-la-la, economy.
To put it in laymen lingo: Russia has an unrivaled experience with mobilizational types of economy and with technological leaps. It absolutely doesn't mean that it has to be Stalin type planned economy with all other, not really nice, things which follow. But calls for massive re-industrialization continue to dominate Russia's political landscape. Some signs of that happening are already visible and it is Medvedev's government which is a major impediment to what is the only way out of Russia's economic slump, but then again, introduction of the new industrial plant continues at the same rate as 1 year ago. Remember Huntington's "States respond primarily to perceived threats"? I never encountered, nor know of, the state which responded to kinetic threats, be it massive hostile army on its borders or Carrier Battle Groups ready to attack, with low inflation rates, capitalization and stocks' growth. Usually, the response is a development of the "heavy" industries, science, education and...ahem...some sort of autarky. Autarky has another definition--it is called being SELF-SUFFICIENT. In today's Russia it has a new name--importozameshenie (Import-substitution).
In the long run, Putin signing this new national security strategy is not even so much a reaction to the external and very real threats (what's new?), as it is another step in responding to what overwhelming majority of Russians were calling on for a decade--to end the reign of incompetent, arrogant and detached from the reality economic block. New strategy adds weight to a case of all those good ol' boys and girls from economic block leaving Russia and seeking employment at the Wall Street or teaching some "economics" BS in Ivy League--that is where they belong. Meanwhile............
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