Two Giants: USA and Russia

A COMPARISON-CONTRAST
FRANCIS JUSTINE MALBAN
III BOHR

Russia and the United States of America are both competitive countries. In almost every aspect, the names of these countries are always in the rise. Two important aspects in our society which the two countries are ahead of the others are economy and arms and weaponry. For some reasons, the economy of the United States is undeniably ahead to that of Russia. But when it comes to arms, maybe they are the same.

Russia is the largest country in the world which covers about eight of the whole earth’s land area. Moscow is their country capital. Russians are approximately 142 million in population. This number is the 9th largest in the world. Russia also houses the greatest reserves of minerals in the world due to their large span of land. Russia established a worldwide power through the Soviet Union which was joined by many Asian and European countries. The said federation was the world’s first Socialist State. It is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.

While the United States of America, which is referred as U.S., America or United States is a Constitutional Federal Republic .USA is comprised by 50 states. It is in the North American continent. It is bordered by Canada in the north and by Mexico on the South. It is the third largest country and also third in terms of population. The country’s economy is the largest in the world and is threatened by the Asian power, Japan..

Economy is the basis to determine whether a country is in the go or its stability is not that good. USA is considered as the world’s largest economy. After the great depression has ended, finally, USA has recovered from a great loss. The high inflation rate finally lowered. The markets of USA have improved after decades. And with an effective leader and correct settlement of regulations, the United States achieved the fruitful economic success. In Russia, since the turn of the century, rising oil prices, increased foreign investment, higher domestic consumption and greater political stability have bolstered economic growth in Russia. Since Russia has large reserves of minerals, those mines become the major export of Russia. They explore and exploit their resources to increase the economic growth. Their well planned economic strategies have strengthened their stability. Their unemployment rate has gone down from 12% in 1999 to 6% in 2000. But by the year 2011 their economic growth is expected to drop by 3% due to oil crisis.

When it comes to Arms and Weaponry, both countries won’t let anyone to be ahead of them. Together with technological advances, both countries are improving and upgrading their military defense. This came into reality when they both developed the usage of Nuclear Weapons. The world first saw the destructive effect of nuclear arms when the Armed Forces of the USA dropped a nuclear bomb into the Japanese Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leaving behind a large number of deaths and a large cost of damage.

We can’t stop each of the countries eagerness to be ahead of each other. Both of them are globally competitive. So, it’s just natural for them to bring out the best on whatever they do.