No instagram, TikTok, or Rocky films- these are some of the craziest consequences if Russia
ruled the world.
To understand a world where Russia was the dominant power, we have to first understand
what it is that Russia wants today.
The invasion of Ukraine may have come out of nowhere for many people, but the truth
is that this invasion was all but inevitable- and you may be surprised to hear this, but
the US and NATO are not blameless in this.
Certainly it was Putin's decision to attack Ukraine, but NATO has seen the possibility
of a conflict like this ever since the early 2000s when they were considering formally
including the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania into NATO.
Time and again Russia had warned after the fall of the Soviet Union against NATO expansion,
and time and again NATO ignored those warnings as it continued to expand east and into former
Soviet republics.
To be clear we’re not arguing that this was wrong- people should be free to dictate
their own fate and the Baltic nations feared Russia and felt they would be safer in NATO’s
hands.
Obviously, time has proven them right.
The inclusion of the Baltic countries though put NATO forces on the doorstep of Russia,
and for a brief moment the world held its collective breath- would Russia invade in
retaliation and kick off a major global conflict?
Thankfully Russia didn't, but it's important to understand that this was a very real possibility
and NATO knew it.
Expanding the alliance all the way to Russia's border was a red line all parties involved
knew could trigger a military response.
Instead, the conflict was delayed by a decade when in 2014 Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.
Eight years later, with Ukraine undeterred from joining NATO and the EU, Russia invaded
the country with the intent of conducting a regime change.
Vladimir Putin has promised that he does not intend to annex the former Soviet republic
or hold on to any of its territory after the war is over- but given that Russia has lied
about preparing for an invasion, carrying out said invasion, and not targeting civilians,
frankly Putin can be trusted about as far as you can throw him at this point.
But why was Ukraine even worth invading in the first place?
The Cold War may have ended in the West, but Russia has refused to admit defeat- and no
one more so than Vladimir Putin who still views his relationship with the West as a
zero-sum game.
There can be only one winner between Russia and NATO as far as he is concerned.
This antagonism comes in large part from the shame of the Soviet collapse, but also from
what has been perceived across much of Russia as the West infringing on the Russian identity
itself.
The spread of western liberal values into the country such as gender equality, support
for lgbtq communities, and racial harmony are seen by many conservative Russians as
a direct attack on their identity as Russians.
The West may have moved on from Cold War social attitudes, but Russians didn't, and the sting
of their defeat in the Cold War only adds to their indignation at what they perceive
to be the penetration of their society by Western institutions.
This is due in part to extreme conservatism amongst a society that was walled off to the
world for nearly fifty years, but also because Putin has used the intrusion of these western
values as a chance to create ultranationalist propaganda.
Russians, under Putin, must stand strong against corrupting western influences that still seek
to destroy Russia- again, in the mind of Putin- and thus by rejecting these values Russians
can strike a blow against the West.
For the most part, it's not that Russians want to reject these values, but that they've
been made to feel like they have to because of vile propaganda levied against them for
decades.
If Putin is going to defeat the West after all, he needs domestic support to remain high-
especially when the cost of antagonizing the West has historically been crippling sanctions.
Another reason for the hostility between Russia and the West though is the matter of Russia's
national security.
Russia sits at the far end of the European plain, a vast swathe of flat country that
is notoriously difficult to defend against invasion.
That's why Russia has suffered terribly over the centuries from European invasions.
If Russia is to remain secure, it needs to keep potential adversaries at arm's length-
and that means keeping them off their doorstep.
With NATO already on its northwest flank, allowing Ukraine to draw closer to NATO and
the EU was strategically unacceptable for Russia.
Again, NATO knew this, and yet continued to flirt with the idea of Ukraine joining NATO-
on purpose.
While there is no way to prove it, the invasion of Ukraine is likely exactly the scenario
that NATO was hoping for, as it now gives the West a way to break Russia without directly
attacking it.
Sadly, the Ukrainians must bear the cost of Russia's defeat.
So what if Russia could achieve all of its foreign policy objectives?
What would a world dominated by Russia look like?
First, we have to stress that this is going to be pure fiction.
Russia is not powerful enough economically or militarily to achieve anything that we
are about to lay out.
Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has become an isolated hermit kingdom who's economy is shattered
and military is incapable of winning a conflict against an exponentially weaker opponent.
So buckle up, because we're about to take a dive into Putin's mind and imagine a world
where Santa Claus is real, faeries exist, and Russia is the world's dominant power.
First, to become dominant Russia has to neutralize the military, political, and economic influence
of both the United States and China.
A successful war against China is remotely possible for Russia- China's military may
be big but it still lags behind in modernity, and more importantly it has no experience
in modern combat.
As poorly as the Russian military has performed in Ukraine, we can expect the Chinese military
to perform even worse.
But again, this is pure fantasy because simply put, neither nation has the military might
to completely neutralize each other.
Instead, a war between Russia and China would drag on to become a multiyear stalemate where
neither side makes much progress and both sides declare peace simply because the war
has become so costly for them.
Economically speaking, Russia has an even worse chance of neutralizing China as its
own economy is a fraction of China's- and shrinking.
With the world blacklisting Russia since its invasion, it has lost any leverage it might
have possessed over China.
Both of these problems are only magnified exponentially when facing off against the
United States.
But the US has a third advantage- it wields far more political might than either Russia
or China.
The world currently exists largely under leadership of the United States, who enjoys the benefits
of having allies and strategic partnerships all over the world.
But let's say that somehow the US and China are both militarily, politically, or economically
subjugated by Russia.
What now?
First, we can expect that Russia would export its model of authoritarianism around the world.
There is nothing an autocrat like Vladimir Putin fears more than being removed from power,
and Russia has a long history of violently removing rulers from power.
Thus, to keep the world under Russia's yoke, we would see the end of the age of free, open
media.
Instead, news outlets would be nationalized exactly the same way as they were inside the
Soviet bloc during the Cold War.
Information would be tightly controlled, and dissenting opinions violently suppressed.
Those who defy the state would face steep fines or jail time, though the more closely
aligned with Russia a nation is, or the more subversive an offender is seen as, worse consequences
such as death are not out of the question.
Russia currently ranks tenth in the Global Impunity Index for the killing of journalists,
but that's hardly surprising for a country that sent assassins all the way to Britain
to murder a defector who slandered Putin's regime.
Modern Russia tightly controls information, and it's learned to be quite good at it.
While a few independent media outlets exist- a rapidly decreasing number ever since the
Ukrainian invasion- most of Russia media is nationalized and gets its talking points directly
from the Kremlin.
Russia is adept at hiding suppression of free speech as laws meant to protect the people,
such as the current law that promises up to 15 years in prison for anyone speaking about
the truth of the Ukrainian invasion.
Russia enacted this law to supposedly combat misinformation that hurt national morale.
The right to assembly, one of the West's most cherished values, is also technically non-existent
in Russia, as while on paper you are allowed to stage protests, you must receive a permit
to do so.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, you are never going to get granted a permit to protest something
the state doesn't want you protesting against.
Russia has the vague appearance of liberal values, but in fact is one of the world's
most autocratic states- what's important though is maintaining the illusion to avoid full-blown
dissent and revolution.
And this is exactly what you could expect to see happening in your own country if Russia
ruled the world.
If you don't like what Russia is doing, you better keep it to yourself because in a world
dominated by Russia, your own government will punish you for speaking out.
It happened during the Cold War, and it would happen again.
To achieve this, Russia would install pro-Kremlin leaders around the world.
Much like during the Soviet bloc days, you would likely still be allowed to vote- but
only from a pool of candidates approved by your government, which itself would be hand-picked
by the Kremlin itself.
Opposition candidates may even be allowed, much in the same way that they are allowed
inside Russia today- but more often than not these opposition candidates would meet with
unfortunate ends.
Many would suddenly be accused of tax fraud or similar crimes and imprisoned or disqualified
from running for office, while others would simply be murdered.
This was Putin's answer to the challenge from Boris Nemtsov, a Russian politician who publicly
called for the public to march against Putin's government for his invasion of Ukraine in
2014.
Nemtsov was shot by an unknown assailant as he crossed a bridge at 11:30 pm on February
27th 2015.
Life under Russian global occupation however wouldn't be all bad- except for being constantly
spied on and having no civil liberties.
Unlike the Soviet Union, Putin's Russia is not communist and has fully embraced the free
market- after all, it has made Putin personally extremely rich, though much of that wealth
has simply been stolen from oligarchs that dared oppose Putin.
You could expect to have much of the same luxuries you enjoy today, and the global economy
would remain largely undisturbed.
However, you can forget about social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok-
instead you would have the equivalent of their Chinese counterparts: heavily monitored and
censored platforms where the government can and will punish you for producing material
they find “unacceptable for public decency”.
In both Russia and China's case, this happens to involve anything that goes against the
official government position- though thankfully unlike China, Russia really has no problem
with silly dances and K-pop boy bands, so you could still enjoy both.
What the world would lose under Russian leadership is not so much its material prosperity, but
its freedom of self-determination.
The liberal values that Western democracies are built on would be stripped away one by
one, because these same liberal values present a challenge to the authoritarian model of
rule.
Any opinion contrary to the official state position would not be tolerated, and your
national government would be made up of Kremlin-approved leadership that works to support a 'Russia
First' agenda.
As Putin today gathers much of his support from ultraconservative Russians, you could
also expect to see a dramatic reversal in race and sex equality, as well as the rights
of lgbtq citizens.
Nationalism would be on the rise around the world, though ultimately all would swear allegiance
to one man and one man alone: your new Vlady-Daddy, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
Thankfully to even come close to achieving global hegemony, Putin would first have to
neutralize both China and America.
If Russia's invasion of Ukraine has proven anything though it's that Russia is completely
incapable of such a task, and if anything Putin must accept that he now lives in a world
dominated by the West.
Ultimately, it's up to the Russian people if they are willing to turn into a modern
North Korea-style hermit kingdom, or if they will remove Putin and his henchmen from power
and end Russia's decade's long zero-sum game versus the world.
Because while Putin is busy telling his own population that the West hates them, us Westerners
are too busy enjoying Euphoria, stupid TikTok dances, and the latest Pokemon game to care
about a rivalry with Russia.
Now go check out What If Russia Invades Ukraine, or click this other video instead!