The Return of the Russian Empire

There would be a lot of internecine warfare, to the point the newly minted Russian Empire would disintegrate very readily. Furthermore, there are entire territories that are unusuable due to the influence of the Soviets. Russia as it is could stand to be an Empire all on its own, multi-ethnic, spanning two continents and with a lot of different polities involved.
 
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I think it'd be a lot more difficult for them to conquer, if not hold them - assuming NATO and the UN just said "eh, whatever", there's still a lot of bad blood over how at least most of the countries fared under the Soviet leadership, meaning a lot more organized resistance, both during after being occupied. So for anyone holding their breath over the concept of a Makarov IRL, relax already.
 
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Kornheiser said:
Shit itself and do nothing.
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Yeah.....unironically this

Russia only keeps hold of chechnya without an eternal afghanistan situation due to paying a shittone of protection money to the head islamist there in exchange for keeping smaller kebabs in check and not massacring russian schoolkids again. Imagine this situation multiplied by a hundred and before the first year is out russia is either running out of money or running out of schoolkids

This is why russia's foreign policy is more "make neighbours easily controlled pawns we can trust to not collapse and who will be a buffer between us and any nation capable of seriously threatening us" than "muh glorious slavic potato lebensraum!", and frankly I doubt they would even accept 90% of the former territories should they democratically and sincerely vote to return given how many economic black holes this would force the russian state and its already precarious economy to plug
 
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i don't think they need to "reconquer" land territory, they can just go to space if they need. spengler predicted russia was the next world ascendant power, i'd put my money on russia over china in the long run (i think the US is dead in the long run). they've learned hard lessons from communism and are probably immunized against several of the ideological potholes that are causing the west to sociologically and psychologically destroy itself now. they're also much further developed in rocket tech than anyone else (afaik), wouldn't be surprised if in 30-40 years they're the ones going to mars and setting up mining operations on meteors and asteroids for raw material. also something something esoteric duganism shitposting. in the short term they won't be a "threat" to anyone really though.
and if nothing else, considering their handling of the current virus situation compared to everyone else right now, maybe they'll win by default by not dying.
 
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1Tonka_Truck said:
This is why Russia's sphere of influence is "Victor, how far can we ship T-72 on train?
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That explains why they looked at the use of technicals in low intensity warfare and decided to make a couple of divisions of "Light Motorized Infantry" based after that model to hold down what they own of Central Asia.
 
The Bolshevik Revolution was a dire mistake and nearly thirty years after the Soviet Union crashed and burned from within, Russia and the surrounding states are still reeling from the after-effects to varying degrees.

Granted, Russia will always be a major regional power and I can even see them get more global influence if they play their cards right and don't get another economic crash, but as long as the PRC is still around and NATO is there to keep their European interests at bay, Russia can't really advance past the "major regional power/lesser world power" stage.
 
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Wasn't it Putin who once said "anyone who does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it back has no brain"
 
If Russia (re)conquered all of the countries formerly held by the Soviet Union at its territorial peak, what would happen?
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I think the question you should be asking isn't so much what would happen if they did, but how they would do it. As has been pointed out before, this resurgent empire would be constantly plagued by internal conflict. Military force would be have to be applied constantly just to hold it together. Russia, even in its current state, is already a major regional powerhouse and yields considerable global influence. I have a hard time imagining them putting that at stake for the sake of a few second-rate territories on their western border, which are more or less already firmly under their sphere of influence.

Ask yourself this; what motive would the Russians have for reconquering the former Soviet republics? Once conquered, how would they maintain their holdings? How would it benefit them to have those countries directly under their control?
 
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Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains. - Vladmir Putin.
 
dopy said:
i don't think they need to "reconquer" land territory, they can just go to space if they need. spengler predicted russia was the next world ascendant power, i'd put my money on russia over china in the long run (i think the US is dead in the long run). they've learned hard lessons from communism and are probably immunized against several of the ideological potholes that are causing the west to sociologically and psychologically destroy itself now. they're also much further developed in rocket tech than anyone else (afaik), wouldn't be surprised if in 30-40 years they're the ones going to mars and setting up mining operations on meteors and asteroids for raw material. also something something esoteric duganism shitposting. in the short term they won't be a "threat" to anyone really though.
and if nothing else, considering their handling of the current virus situation compared to everyone else right now, maybe they'll win by default by not dying.
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Russia is a country in decline, and it has been for a long time. The Russian economy received a boost following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the economic reforms it underwent in the 90s, but that has flatlined in the last decade, with no apparent turnaround in sight.

As it stands, Russia has an aging, shrinking population, a stagnant economy which depends heavily upon natural gas exports, a net downward trend in foreign investment, and some of the worst levels of political corruption in the developed world. None of this suggests that they are the next ascendant superpower, it suggests that they are the depressing shadow of what might have been a former one.

As for the idea of mining asteroids and other planets for natural resources: that is a very long way off from being cost-effective, and when/if it finally does become viable, the shape of the global economy will have shifted massively against Russia's favor. It almost certainly won't be Russia that will benefit, it will most likely be India and China.
 
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I'd be cool with that. You need somebody in the huwhyte world to counter the poz of the Jewropean Jewnion.
 
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