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Originally Posted by Feanor
Turkic, unlikely. Though I would argue that the collapse of the Soviet Union and conflict between it's former republics qualifies as internal strife. About an independent Muslim state, Chechnya? Tatarstan anyone? It's all so close to becoming a reality.
However there is another interesting view. Russian demographics have show marked improvement recently. If the trend of improvement continues we may see population stabilize at around 130 million in 2025, and possibly back up to 150 million by 2050 with further growth a reality. That of course would be a best case scenario. I'm not sure how likely it is  |
It is interesting that the only regions that show fertility rate above 2.1 (replacement rate) in Russia are - Muslim regions. The rest are falling sharply. Also another scenario that Russia may become DE facto Muslim country in 30 years - just simply by numbers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parihaka
Yes it is a weakness, and yes I differentiate Britain from Europe. Geopolitically their island status hasn't been this pronounced since WWII.
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Nationalism which I see in continental Europe and in Russia is very real. It is built on few factors. 1. Anti-Americanism - De Gaulle creation 50 years ago only for France, now adopted for whole Europe 2. No backbone policy whatsoever with Arab and Muslim countries in order to get oil and gas which support European economies without interruption. 3. Complete lack of support for joint (USA-Europe) military cooperation among European elites 4. Euro as currency is created to directly challenge and possibly beat American dollar 5. Protectionism on the whole European level against any challenge. 6. Certain ideas from Russia are adopted for whole Europe as a policy today, due to dependency on Russian natural gas supply. For example Germany takes 65% of Russian gas. Thus more and more hostile rhetoric from Western Europe to-wards USA based on Russian point of view - for instance future anti ballistic missile radar and interceptors in Eastern Europe against Iran, but which arose huge Russian outcry.