Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

ally; it is just that others are accelerating faster. Nor
does Russia find itself on a steady power gain relative
to other nations. It, too, has to deal with realities <strong>and</strong>
weaknesses that help to inform its stance on NSNWs
in addition to globalism.
GEOGRAPHY, POPULATION, AND MILITARY
MALADIES
No paper on Russian strategy or geopolitics can
ignore a factor that will be only briefly mentioned
here: Russia’s geographical position. The subject is
covered more thoroughly in the contributions by Leonid
Polyakov <strong>and</strong> Jacob Kipp in this section of the
book, but it must be noted here that Russia borders
on many nations—14 in all—<strong>and</strong> has strong historical
interests in at least five more in the Southern Caucasus
<strong>and</strong> Central Eurasia. No other nation has such a
similar complex <strong>and</strong> troubling geographic situation.
How easy the United States has it from this perspective,
with only Mexico <strong>and</strong> Canada as bordering countries!
Russia’s geography profoundly affects its strategic
<strong>and</strong> geopolitical views <strong>and</strong> pushes it naturally to
a more multilateral approach to international politics
today—especially under the conditions more fully
discussed below. This is one factor only, of course, but
it profoundly influences Russian foreign policy, making
it sensitive to challenges from the south <strong>and</strong> west.
A second factor, stemming from the domestic side,
is the Russian population “bomb,” or the matter of
the decrease in Russia’s population. It links closely
to Russia’s perception of threats to national security
because it has a direct impact on maintaining a one
million-man army, discussed below, <strong>and</strong> on Russian
economic production, two factors normally associated
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