L. Fituni, I. Abramova Resource Potential of Africa and Russia's ...

CHAPTER 1
Africa in the Tangle of Increased Global
Competition for Natural Resources
1.1. A Rekindled Scramble for African Resources
in the 21st Century
THE RAGING WORLD CRISIS and the change of guard in
America where the new president coined a new political term when
he said it was time for the U.S. to "reset or reboot" its relations with
Russia have made many international affairs analysts and commentators
talk about an imminent fundamental restructuring of the
global system. In their dreams, reformers began discerning a flicker
of hope for the refashioning of strategic alliances, the introduction of
alternative technologies, and moving away from confrontation and
hegemonies. Yet, the underlying foundation of international confrontation
and differences remains unchanged, unfortunately. The
fundamental laws of nature, life and economics call for appropriate
resources to maintain any system. Resources as an economic category
have two intrinsic features: limited availability and the need to
be consumed (i.e. to finally disappear) to obtain a benefit from them.
The growing depletion of natural resources is one of the true and
fundamental reasons for the worsening and latent local, regional and
global crises in the new millennium. The presence or absence of
natural resources have direct effects on people's living standards, the
prospects of social and economic development of states, stability of
the world economy and international security.
The start of the current century has clearly shown that despite all
attempts to disguise the actual motives of their behavior in the world
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