The United States and Russia do not see eye to eye on issues such as North Korea, Ukraine, NATO expansion, and more. The Kremlin has a huge nuclear arsenal and advanced space technology, and it also owns big oil reserves that supply its economy. Is there a way that Russia could lose its leadership and power in these areas? Yes, and Elon Musk will play a key role in weakening the Land of the Tsars because the businessman has founded two key companies: Tesla and SpaceX. The first one will hit the Russian oil industry in the long term by producing electric vehicles, and the second one will increase American power in terms of space technology by using money from the private sector
Russia depends on oil
According to a report by Forbes, Russian giant Gazprom is the leading energy company in the world, surpassing even Exxon.
Russia still has a relatively backward structure in terms of its economy. According to a report by Trading Economics, oil, petroleum products, and natural gas account for 50 percent of the Russian federal budget. Even more, oil and energy products represent more than 60 percent of its exports. The structure of Russian exports is different from Japanese and German exports that depend on manufacturing.
Tesla and its impact on oil
What would happen if the output of Tesla vehicles grows exponentially and the price of oil and other energy products falls 40 percent? It would reduce the Russian budget by 20%, including 25% of Russian exports. Tesla will triple its population of cars in 2019, but it will grow exponentially in the long term, so, it will have a big impact in the future.
SpaceX and the US
Russia and the United States have been competing in the conquest of space, and their governments have accomplished this. Elon Musk will change it because he founded SpaceX and now a private company will be able to accelerate the conquest of the galaxy. According to a report from Florida Today, Musk wants to establish a city on Mars, he is convinced that in the future a million people could live on the Red Planet, and they would be a self-sustaining community.
The American Gross Domestic Product is about 14 times bigger than the Russian one, so, SpaceX could get huge amounts of money from private investors and develop all its potential, surpassing the space explorations funded by Moscow. The days of Russian leadership in the space technology and oil industry are numbered.
