rnment's desires--the Russians have by far the largest army, and their country is the main market for neighboring states' exports and the main supplier of energy to these states. Much of this energy has been exported at subsidized rates, and last year Russia exported the equivalent of 10 percent of its GDP to the other ex Soviet states in the form of aid and cheap loans.
Just as the West will not allow Russia to disintegrate further into economic anarchy and loss, the remilitarization of Russia would also be met with considerable resistance from the West. Without economic development, Russia remains too weak to take on the West in any direct fashion, one of the primary reasons why the Soviet Union fell part in the first place, with economic weakness leaving the country in an arms race it could not maintain.
What Russia will become remains uncertain given the size of the difficulties that the country has to overcome in order to become a competitive nation in world markets. Russia has to raise the living standards of the
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