Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Appendix L The Threats to Russia (View of the Ministry for Emergency Situations) 1. Corruption and incompetence of the governing structure 2. Increase in the hegemony of the United States 3. Increase in crime and the criminal economy 4. Lowering of the standard of living and antagonisms within the social structure 5. Decline in the production and investment potential 6. Decline in the scientific-technical and innovation potential 7. Increase in the military and technical strength of China 8. Decline in the defense and fighting capability of the military forces 9. Sharpening of the internal conflicts among nationalities and reli- gious groups 10. Deepening of the energy crisis 11. Increase in the openness of the national economy beyond appro- priate limits 12. Growth in the military threat from the United States and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) 13. Sharpening and deepening of regional and local armed conflicts 14. Increasing damage from dangerous national and catastrophic events and processes 15. Increasing damage from industrial accidents, environmental pol- lution, and depletion of natural resources. Source: Kommersant (2003). 137