Россия

By Caleb Rodriguez

В настоящее время Россия переживает большие реформы. Новый президент был избрал в 2008 году. Его зовут Дмитрий Медведев. Медведев хочет усилен демократии в русской политике. Медведев хочет усилен демократии в русской политике.

В 2009, Медведев подписал указ президента по реформированию системы государственной службы. Он хочет, чтобы милиционеры, губернаторы и местные органы власти– что они будут более эффективным.

Медведев сказал, что он хочет, чтобы местные правительства, будет более демократичным.

Он также хочет изменить избирательную систему, чтобы законодательный орган системе пропорционального представительства, и создавать законы, которые позволяют свободных средств массовой информации. Недавно он сообщил, что в ближайшее время "будут подготовлены и другие законопроекты, касающиеся, прежде всего, вопросов местного самоуправления, укрепления демократии на региональном и местном уровнях".

Медведев также сказал, что он хочет модернизировать страну. Политические философы говорят, что модернизация является следствием демократии. Пропорциональное представительство в законодательных органах, более демократична, потому что больше получить меньшинств представлены в законодательном органе.

Эти изменения очень важны. Если Медведев хочет демократизации России, то страна могла бы получиил лучшие экономики и граждане будут лучшую жизнь. Он идет к демократии 101 за счет увеличения демократических институтов на местном уровне.

Планы в реформы в России может повлиять на многих людей. В стране большое влияние на мировую экономику. Они торговли нефтью и может контролировать цены нефть.

Россия экономике может оказать влияние на экономику Соединенных Штатов. Демократизация страны, зачастую приводит более экономному. Таким образом, все должны надеяться, что Россия станет более демократичной и процветающей!

A Russian Short Story: Presented by John Wright for your pleasure ~

Чих

Джон Райт

Я человек больной... Я злой человек. Непривлекательный я человек. Я думаю, что я, может быть, болею гриппом. Я не ходил к врачу, и я не буду ходить к врачом. Я отказаюсь всё лекарство, я не принимаю ничего. Я бы любил уходить общество и никогда не видеть никто опять (или точнее никогда не видеться никому опять), потому что я так некрасивый, но мне нужен деньги для жизни, поэтому я работаю.

Место, где я работаю, книжный магазин. Его зовут Ад Книжный Магазин, в честь жаркого места. Почему его зовут так? Я не знаю, но люду всё же приходят.

Извините, я только что чихнул. Во всяком случае, мне не нравится эти люди. Они скучны. За исключением одного человек, которого я очень презирую. Там он теперь, носит свою палку, проходя через вороты Ада. Чёрная шляпа сидит на его голове, прячя его редкие волосы, и белые усы висит на его лице. Ему, должно быть, сто лет. Он смотрит вокруг. Наши глазы встречаюсь.

Почему я презирую его? Ну, в первый раз, в который он был в Аде Книжном Магазине, он подходил к мне, нося книгу в правой руке и в левой руке нося палку, гремя её будто она бы была сабля, и, не приветствуя меня и знакомя самого с мной, он спросил меня: {{Сколько книга стоит?}} Он не даже сказал здравствуйте. Я думал, что он должен думать, что я не человек. И я ненавидел его за это.

Я ответил ему быстро и весело, но мой ответ была не правда. Я сказал, что она была дешёвая и стоила только двести девяносто пять рублей, но я знал, что она действительно было очень дорогая. Он ушёл от меня счастливо, но потом, когда я видел, чтобы он ушёл из магазина, он был несчастливый и без книги. В ту ночь я нёс книгу на улицу и жёг её, и потом я зарегистрировал, что книга была отсутствующая.

Это было только его первый раз здесь. Он скоро возвращался с больше деньгами, но ему сказали, что книга была отсутствующая. Он возвращался опять всё же, и тогда опять и опять. И теперь он тут опять, ходя по моему магазину.

То было большой чих из меня!

Сегодня я работаю в кассе. Мой теперешний заказчик старая дама, и она хочет купить книги для её внуков. Она медленно кладёт их перед мной, и, когда я жду, я смотрю следующого человек в очереди. Там очень красивая женщина, самая красивая женщина, которую я когда-нибудь видел. У неё есть длинные коричневые волосы и красивые зелёные глазы. Это любовь с первого взгляда. Она видит меня и улыбается. Я должен знакомиться её и говорить с ей. Это судьба.

{{Быстрее! Быстрее!}} Я говорю старой даме и беру её книги. {{Они стоят тысяча пять рублей.}} Она начинает писать медленно в чековой книжке. {{Наличные!}} я говорю. {{Платите наличными!>> Она не понимает. {{Быстрее!}} я думаю. Она даёт мне чек. Я даю ей расписку, прощаюсь, смотрю красивую женщину, и говорю {{Ах! Ждите! Я забываю эту книгу.}} говорит старая дама. {{Берите её! Она бесплатная.}} Я отвечаю. Она говорит спасибо и уходит.

Моя касса открытая. Я смотрую опять красивую женщину. Она подходит. Я улыбаюсь. {{Здравствуйте.}} говорит кассирша слева от меня. Я смотрю её. Что? {{Здравствуйте.}} говорит женщина её, ходя в её кассе. Что? Я не понимаю. Она не ходит к мне? Может быть, она никогда не улыбалась мне? Может быть, она некогда не видела мне? И если она ходит туда, то кто приходит к мне?

Это он. Наши глазы встречаюсь опять. Он начинает ходить. {{НЕТ!}} Я кричу. Он останавливает. Все смотрят меня. {{Э-э... Я... Я нужен в другом месте. Моя касса закрытая.}} Я залавляю. Я ухожу из моей кассы.

Проходя мимо рядом с старым человеком, большая идея приходит к мне. Я чувствую её в моём целом теле, ждёт выпускаться. Я поворачиваюсь к ему и, с руками далеко от рта, Я чихаю на него. Он кричает. Я ухожу, и надеюсь, что он становится больним, похож на меня.

Capitalism in Russia: Not quite the right fit

By R.G.I.V.

Though there was arguably more to the Cold War, no one can deny the fact that economic systems were a focal point. With the United States on the side of capitalism and Russia leading the Soviet Union on the communist side, these two were in a battle to see who would be on the winning end of an economic endurance test. The United States labored to contain communism in countries where it dominated while the U.S.S.R. assisted countries in revolt in order to draw in more members. In the end, the U.S. 'won' and capitalism was crowned the economic system of the free world. Today the U.S. still promotes capitalism and provides more help to capitalistic countries, Russia now being one of them. Capitalism reform in Russian has been described as “shock therapy”, but is it really the right answer for Russia? Is capitalism supposed to be a one size fits all system? The consensus is that no one wants the U.S.S.R. back but that does not mean they necessarily want capitalism.




Still can't fill the gaps




The main pushers for revolution are the poor, lower class. Communism was supported to help these people, and free them from their upper class oppressors. There was virtually no change when communism was implemented , and if anything, the government just exploited and oppressed the lower class. With capitalism now in place, still nothing has changed. The wealth distribution is still a pyramid, with the concentration of wealth being at the top, belonging to somewhere between 15 to 45 billionaires. Moving down the levels, less and less wealth is distributed thinly between more and more people. In Russia, the largest oil and metal companies belong to about 3 people, which some have compared to western experience 100 years ago. The disparity arises because of a division between two types of people. It has been described as “two countries in one, two people, market and non-market”. With three revolutions, two world wars, two empires, a full cutting of elite in 1917 and 1937, little has changed. Now with the dramatic “shock” of capitalism, we expected progress, but disappointingly, the gap between classes remains wide.

If it works for us it should work for everyone, right?

With the recent sub prime mortgage crises, and the many crise that preceded it, the U.S. people have begun to look at our system and cry foul. We are not the only ones. A hot topic at this years World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland was the future of capitalism. With the slogan 'to rethink, transform and reconstruct', the forum brought to light the weaknesses of capitalism, namely the finance sector. The majority proposed for reconstruction of capitalism, with stricter regulation, in order to restore confidence in a system that has “discredited itself time and time again.” The question can be asked, why do we impose a system that we ourselves don't truly understand? A system that has been described as broken, problematic and discredited? Currently, the Russian people are asking for tighter regulation to stop the U.S. crisis from occurring in Russia. Maybe they will be more successful than we were at obtaining stability.

Do they want it?

It is obvious that capitalism is not perfect. It is loved by some and accepted by most in the U.S., but that is our choice. We also support capitalism, singing its praises to other countries, going as far as to say everyone should be capitalistic. But who knows what works best for a nation than its people? Russia does not completely despise capitalism. When asked if they considered capitalism incurably sick, needing replacement, only 23% said yes. Compared to other countries such as France(43%), Mexico(38%) and Brazil(35%) Russia seems pretty capitalist friendly. They did however have an overwhelming majority (77%) say government should nationalize branches of industry or play an active role of managing them. 76% of Russians also felt that economic prosperity should be more equally distributed and move from class to class. The last two questions show that a large majority of at least 75% of the population want something different. Though they don't specifically want the end of capitalism, their wants are a step in that direction.

Is there is a solution?

Russia is a unique country with a history of struggle for change. We would all like to believe that their prayers were answered by the emplacement of capitalism, but that is not the case. We ourselves are sometimes not satisfied with our system, so why would they be? Some would think that this means a return to the communist experiment, but I don't think that is the answer. It would seem that the answer is not so easy as one over the other. Though none exists now that is feasible or popular enough, a new system might be the answer. I think that sometime in the future, a new idea will arise that will not only work for Russia, but maybe for other countries that are not satisfied with today's answer. Don't get me wrong, capitalism works for now, but there is always room for improvement.

Evolution of a Game: The Soviet’s impact on Ice Hockey

By Brian G.

In September 1972, the wisdom of ice hockey was challenged. The Soviet National team arrived in Canada to play the first four of an eight-game series against the best Canadian ice hockey players of the day. The Red Army team had long dominated international ice hockey, regularly collecting gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships, with few exceptions. The professional stars of the NHL had not faced the Soviet team in these amateur tournaments. So leading up to the highly anticipated series, the Canadians expected to dominate the Soviets four times at home, and in four games in Moscow.

Ice hockey has a long history in Canada and the northern United States, stretching back to the late 19th century. Professional leagues had been formed in the first decades of the 20th century, and fans of the National Hockey League (which came to be through the merging and reorganization of several leagues before WWII) have long enjoyed following the exciting competition. So, as was typical of the Soviet experience, Russian hockey began with a large competitive disadvantage but quickly made up for lost time.

The North American style of hockey was decidedly simple- the strongest and fastest won. The game was played in an up-and-down fashion, often one skater attempted to carry the puck from end-to-end, shouldering body checks and fending off hacking sticks. Ice hockey was a violent game. In the 1972 competition - dubbed the “Summit Series”- the Canadian team played this same style. For most of the preceding twenty years, Gordie Howe had dominated North American hockey, utilizing his size, speed, and sharp elbows to win four championships with the Detroit Red Wings.

The Soviet team had developed its game differently. After originally importing the North American style, in Russia and throughout Europe, the preferred strategy changed. Diagonal passes, weaving skaters, and carefully structured five-man units were developed to take advantage of the whole ice surface, to advance the puck to the opponent’s net. Players practiced getting open - weaving up the ice to shake defenders and create gaps - and passing the puck to open areas, rather than to an individual. The repetition and the efficiency of the Soviet sport schools produced capable units of skaters that were greater than the sum of their parts.
And so, the Summit Series began. While fans noticed that the Soviet players did not have booming slap shots, or take dazzling end-to-end rushes to score goals, the Canadian players were stunned by the relentless methodology of the Soviet system. The Red Army teams criss-crossed back and forth, executing seemingly blind passes. They shot the puck into the unprotected net, as the goalie would be caught guarding the wrong side. The Soviet players were not attacking at the customary direct angles, but coming diagonally and across the ice rink. The Canadian team was stunned; they lost two, won one, and tied one game in Canada. The damage had been done the Canadian team was booed by their own crowd in the fourth game in Vancouver. After the loss, Phil Esposito told interviewers how hard they were trying telling fans just how good the Soviets were. The era of North American dominance of hockey was ending.

The Canadians saved face in Moscow winning the final three games in dramatic fashion, winning the series 4-3-1. Relying on the heroics of Paul Henderson who scored the game winning goal in the three wins, and the viciousness of Bobby Clarke who intentionally broke the ankle of Soviet star Valeri Kharlamov. Nonetheless, it was a hollow victory.

In the following decades the Russian style was integrated into North American hockey, especially with the collapse of communism, and the increasing numbers of European players coming to the NHL.

Russian Privatization and the Voucher System

By A.K.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, reform was implemented to revive the Russian economy especially after the failures of the cold war. Since privatization had long been illegal under the Communist regime, the shift to a market economy was going to be challenging for Russia because it had longed relied on the planned economy and the guidance of governmental rules. Some of the goals set forth for privatization were: to gain revenue for the state, to create competition in industries, to give the workers in Russia ownership of the enterprises that they never had access to before, to open up new capital for modernization and expansion, and to bring in competition that would allow for the best qualified people in management roles.

Instrumental to the beginning processes of the voucher system was Anatoly Chubais, who was appointed by the Yeltsin administration. Chubais realized that transferring power to privatization and away from state authority needed to be done as soon as possible. He set up through the Russian legislature to allow 51% of the privatized enterprises that would be available to the management and workers within the company itself. The problem remained, that very few people had access to money to buy shares of the company, and the heads of the company were eager to get the funds that privatization would allow. Chubais did succeed in popularizing privatization with ordinary Russian citizens with hope of benefiting their socioeconomic status. Much of the country was hopeful that privatization could plunge them out of the deep poverty that they had sustained under the Soviet Union. Because of such poverty however, most of the vouchers that were given to workers in factories and lower management were sold almost immediately for money. This allowed the elite to gather the vouchers and create a monopoly on the industries creating an even higher socio-class disparity.

Though most industries were eligible for privatization it is important to note that some remained ‘off limits’, mainly the Russian military and to some extent the banking system. Unlike the United States, the government remained in control of these important enterprises because it realized that it was to soon to allow them to be privatized, and needed to analyze the results from the initial privatization. Much of the sales of arms from the arms build up during the cold war play a central part in the economy of Russia.

In the end, voucher privatization had mixed results within Russia. An unintended result was wealth disparity between the classes in the form of ownership of industries. National sentiment over privatization largely turned negative with many corruption allegations involving wealthy Russians throughout the 1990’s. Despite this, the overall goal of moving Russia into a market economy succeeded. Over 70% of Russia’s large and small industries are now privately owned and over 60% of Russia’s GDP today comes from privately owned businesses. Now, Russia will try and tackle the problem of its banking industry and whether or not it should be centralized throughout the country.

Origin and Acquisition; Understanding the Roots of the Modern Russian Lexicon

By Meryn Riley

As students of a foreign language, college students benefit greatly from a basic understanding of the influences and factors from which the modern prestige dialect, the form of language taught in the classroom, was adopted. These influences may change the way a student pronounces and conceptualizes vocabulary, inflection, and grammar. In order to examine foreign borrowings in the Russian language, I will examine works of literature in which the Russian language is affected by contact with other language groups. The primary focus of this article is the literature of the 19th century (specifically the works of Lev Tolstoy), and the prominent role of French language contact in the printed works of this time.

This century came to be known as ‘The Golden Era’ of Russian literature. This age of unparalleled linguistic innovations in the field of Russian prose affected the way the Russian language is spoken today. The works of Lev Tolstoy, who lived from 1828 to 1910, were among the most prominent Russian of the era, and, perhaps, of all time. His magnum opus, War and Peace, takes place during the French Revolution, and thus directly questions the adherence of the Russian aristocracy to the French language. In the late 17th century, long before the rise of Napoleon, Peter I enacted sweeping cultural reforms in Russia as a means of ‘Westernizing’ the nation. In his reforms to bring Russia culturally closer to Western Europe, Peter I highly encouraged the acquisition of the French language among the Russian nobility. By the time of War and Peace, a fair portion of the Russian nobility spoke French as a first language, with Russian as a close second. Tolstoy illustrates this in his work immediately, with a line of dialogue in French as the opening lines.

Today, many borrowings still exist, though spoken French is not as common in Russia as it once was. As a second-year Russian student, I am already aware of several direct borrowings from French (Диван, багаж, etc.), though my knowledge encompasses only a small fraction of the vast French-influenced Russian lexicon.[1] In War and Peace, the frequency of spoken French became an issue of nationalism, due primarily to the fact that the nation was at war with France. The language spoken by the characters of the book often corresponded to their behavior as well, denoting which characters acted in a ‘Russian’ manner, and which behaved in a ‘European’ manner.

In a similar manner, other languages have been incorporated into Russian by contact with other language groups, though none is quite as pronounced as the French influence. Other 19th century works depict situations in which Russians come into contact with other language groups, primarily through warfare. War and Peace also includes scenes of interaction with German and Polish speakers through interactions by military alliance. Later on, pidgin dialects, blends between two languages, arose in Soviet-era writings as an effect of the Russian language mandate. Even English came to affect the Russian lexicon though the acquiescence of sport terminology in the early 1900’s.

Though language can be changed in many ways, be it through war, political doctrine, or adaptation of new concepts, the best way to observe the effects of these changes is in the everyday interactions of speakers of that language. In a related sense, the best way to examine the spoken habits of previous centuries is by the written examples of literature.

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[1] For further reading, the inFrance.com Russian forum discusses and lists the borrowings in-depth.

Cultural Revolt

By Haydee Antunan

This short story is based off of 3 articles that I read about the current rebellion against the degrading of the culture of theatre in Russia. There has been an uprising in the world of theatre that demands that only theatre of quality be produced and anything less be booted immediately. Whether it's a stereotype or not, Russians take great pride in their work, and that's not excluding theatre. This short story is based off articles covering this movement in Russia. From the Opera House in Komomolka to the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow, more and more artists are taking control of the quality of their work.

At the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow, actors are working to petition the removal of the current artistic director Alexander Galibin. If he were to live in the world of the story, he would be one of the “revolutionaries” that brought the world to it’s current state of artless life. He has been accused of producing a string of flops, getting terrible reviews from both critics and audiences, and creating a lack of disorganization in the financial sector of the theatre. The actors have also complained of bad treatment – longer hours and less salary. What have the actors done to stop this nonsense? They’ve published an open letter of 57 signatures in the Literary Gazette.

In an Opera House in the district of Chelyabinsk, the question is how government grant money is distributed among all employees, who is getting more and who is getting less. The question of what the money is being spent on has been brought to light as well. As complications among those involved have arisen, the audiences become displeased with the work they see on stage. Those who work in the theatre and with the productions have voiced concern. The viewers have decided to spend their hard earned rubles on a show, only to walk out during intermission.

The content of what currently is being produced has also been questioned and even criticized. More and more shows are being produced that are geared towards creating a “Blockbuster” hit among theatre box offices, rather than in depth “Classical” plays. There are those who believe that the theatre audience has become inactive as a whole. As the author of the article “Пустякам здесь не место. Провалы в сезоне” (Trivia does not belong here. Failures season), stated “Театр — не коробка для развлечений, а место спасения от жизненной пошлости (если, конечно, в том же театре тебя ею и не накормят по горло).” (Translation: Theatre – not a box for entertainment, but a place of salvation from the banality of life (unless, of course, in the same theater you do not feed it and to the throat).

This short story reflects the minor revolution that’s currently taking place in theatre and is also based off a short poem by Thomas Hardy, At the Railway Station, Upways. The story takes place in a world where good theatre is punished and considered a crime against society. This is the story of one man who defies society and creates a masterpiece, only to find himself being carted off to prison.

At the Railway Station, Upwaysby Thomas Hardy

There is not much that I can do,
For I've no money that's quite my own!'
Spoke up the pitying child--
A little boy with a violin
At the station before the train came in,--
'But I can play my fiddle to you,
And a nice one 'tis, and good in tone!'

The man in the handcuffs smiled;
The constable looked, and he smiled too,
As the fiddle began to twang;
And the man in the handcuffs suddenly sang
With grimful glee:
'This life so free
Is the thing for me!'
And the constable smiled, and said no word,
As if unconscious of what he heard;
And so they went on till the train came in--
The convict, and boy with the violin.

It's a rainy day on the streets of Moscow, there are people shuffling along with their heads bent down, eyes cast to the ground. The streets lost the glow they had some years back, when everything was alive and the lights danced, when there was a sparkle in someone's eyes. Times are different now, that's certain. No longer is there such a thing as art in the world, let alone theatre. No, all of that is gone. No one knows what happened, it happened so unsuspectingly and before the people knew it, they became robots, leaving people only eating, sleeping, and working. The people lost the light in their eyes. They walked in the streets vacant and hollow, shuffling from their homes to work and back again.

Art is banned in this world. Any form of expression is considered heresy, at least by those in power. If you whistle a tune, you'll get a hefty fine. If you're caught doodling, you could get probation. If you were to produce a show of good quality…well, the consequences are unfathomable.

There are some living people left in the world. They're a rare breed, but they're there. You won't find them taking action against the inaction, but you'll find them holed up in their shanty little apartments observing the world around them with a bitter heart. There are some who broke the silence and staged their own uprising in subtle forms. They weren't successful. Their names were only erased from the books and their bodies placed in the earth.

However there was one man who managed to shine, if only for a little bit. And he escaped. Who knows where he is now, or what he's doing, but he made a spark in the dilapidated minds of the people. We'll call this man Convict.

Convict is an honest man – hard working, zealous, and full of life (when he's not being watched). Ever since he was a little boy he had a smile as bright as the sun and a glint in his eye that his parents always tried to snuff out, lest he get in trouble for it. No matter how many times they tried to snuff his fire out, it only managed to get brighter and brighter. They had to send him away for fear of his life.

He was very educated, even though he lived with his grandmother for over a decade in a peaceful little village in the vast east of Russia, miles away from any metropolitan city or academic setting of good standing. His grandmother made sure to cultivate his mind with only the best of the black market tutors. He was tutored in a variety of subjects – from Anthropology to Physics, to playing the piano and even studying with an acting coach.

His grandmother, being a cultured convict herself, grew up as one of the underground revolutionaries, creating a steady stream of underground art in the form of poetry readings and small staged skits all across Russia. After her husband lost his life to the cause of art, she decided to retire her life of vigilante art. But that’s another story for later.

Convict became a bright young man and, at the tender age of 19, he came to the bitter realization that he had to disguise himself if he ever wanted to leave the countryside, where he was exiled when he was a little boy. So the young boy grew up into the man known as Convict and moved to the largest metropolitan city on earth. Convict learned a lot, about himself, about those around him, about the world. He joined the underground art movement and followed the footsteps of his grandmother – until he met his wife. After swearing to never again follow that vigilante lifestyle, he settled into life as an accountant for the local bank branch. He raised three beautiful daughters and continued his life of comfort and repetition.

Several years passed and the Convict was a middle aged man. The young man with the burning passion and unyielding ideas was buried beneath the aging man. He was bored to death with his job and with the ongoing graying of the world, but he enjoyed his domestic comforts and adored his family. Occasionally the thought of what could’ve happened if he hadn’t married crossed his mind, but he learned to quell it throughout the years.

On a gray foggy morning, unlike any other, Convict woke up, put on the same gray suit and red tie he wore to work, and ate the same breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast his wife prepared for him. This morning would be different though. Ding dong. The doorbell rang and the husband and wife looked at each other, puzzled. “Did you order milk for Tuesday, dearest?” asked Convict.

“No, the milk man delivered the milk yesterday. How odd. I’ll go see who is calling.” The Wife made her way to the front door and looked through the peephole, only to be surprised by what she saw. ‘Why would the Art Inspection be here?’ she thought to herself. ‘I got rid of the girls’ secret stash of records just last week.’

“Can I help you Officers?” asked Wife as she opened the door and smiled her most charming smile.

“Good morning, Madam. Is Mr. Convict home? We are here to arrest Mr. Convict on the charge that he was involved with the Underground Art Movement to a dangerous degree.” Wife just looked on in astonishment. Her whole life she’s tried to live inside the lines that society placed on her. Don’t stray from the path that was built for you. Art is reason enough for condemnation. Raise your family, do your work, and don’t get into trouble. The thought crossed her mind fleetingly back when Convict had asked her for her hand in marriage. He swore that he would stop this ridiculous art nonsense. He swore.

The police pushed past the dazed Wife and made their way to the kitchen where they arrested Convict on the charge of being too involved with the arts. Word on the street was that he was indicted for producing a masterpiece of a play that encouraged people to actually live their lives. He wrote and performed these spectacular shows that gave goose pimples to whoever was fortunate enough to sit and watch. Everything he did was against the system of belief that was put in place.

Needless to say, Convict was ushered out of his home and thrown into the police car. Instead of dragging on this tale, I will make it short, so you may go about enjoying life just as our hero would have.

So the Convict stood in front of the Judge of Mental and Spiritual Well-being. He was accused of wrongly influencing innocent people with his works and was sentenced to a number of years in prison. Before he was carted off to prison, he said his goodbyes to his beloved family; whispering in their ears to not despair and to not let anything quench their light.

On his way to prison, Convict had an escort: Constable. Constable was a young man who had just earned the title of Constable. He was entrusted with the responsibility of transporting the convicted to the prison. It was his first assignment.

It can be said that the young mind is easily persuaded and Constable was no exception to that. He must be given credit, however, for his cold demeanor and hard resistance to Convict.

The journey to the prison was a long train ride through the gray countryside. Sitting on the bench at the train station, waiting for Train 9 to come up the rails, Convict began to observe his young trustee. He noted the hard jaw and the steel gray eyes.

“Do you have any family, young man?” asked the Convict. It would be the beginning of the demise of the Constable’s career – or the beginning of his life. The Constable remained like a stone, only revealing a trace of emotion when a poor little boy played a sad sweet tune to the two men sitting on the bench. One man was overcome with affection and grief for the life he was to leave behind, while the other man slowly was opening up his eyes to the life within him and surrounding him. The only trace of that was through a tiny playful smile.
“I breathed life into people, only because it gave life to me. I only produced the finest work, only to feel the audience digesting the life I had to offer. And what do they do? They send me away, saying I’m a threat to the masses. Oh, young man, live your life to the fullest extent. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” were the words said to Constable as they boarded the train.

No emotion registered on Constable’s face, but it did affect the deepest corners of his soul. It wasn’t but 10 minutes later, before the train was to leave the station that Constable turned to the Convict and whispered fiercely, “I am going to free you from these handcuffs old man. You are to pretend that you’re still cuffed and make your way to the bathroom. Escape when you get the chance! You’ve taught me all I’ve ever needed to know. Now, go!”

Convict just stared at him in disbelief. “May you live a life full of happiness and freedom. Live your life,” responded the old man after a second or two. Constable unlocked his cuffs and gave him a quick flash of a smile.

“Now go.” Convict got up and slowly made his way to the bathroom. Before he left the cart, he took one look back. Staring back at him with eager and bright eyes was the Convict, urging him to leave.

“Thank you,” mouthed Convict. That was the last that these two characters ever saw each other. But I can tell you now that they never forgot each other. Forever were their faces engraved in each other’s mind.

Even though there may be times when we feel as if we live in a world destitute of what is good, be it theatre or laughter, there will always be those who will stand up and fight for what good is left. Those in Russia, protesting in their nonviolent ways against the financial discriminations or the lack of quality in theatre can be thought of as the archetypes in this story. I’m hoping their voices will be heard.

Conflict in the Caucasus

By Sharanya

The North Caucasus in Russia is often associated with rebels, militants and terrorist. In Dagestan, located in the North Caucasus, Muslims make up a large proportion of the population, with ethnic Russians accounting for only 10%. Despite its oil and gas reserves and access to Caspian Sea fisheries, the people of Dagestan are among the poorest in Russia. It is home to organized crime, violence and remains one of the most unstable regions in the country.

The conflict in the Caucasus can be traced back to the 19^th century when the tribesmen of this region and Chechnya fought against the advance of the Russian Empire. However they escaped the harsh treatment meted out to Chechens during the Stalinist era. The fall of the Soviet Union however did not lead to a decrease in the violence and lawlessness, and it continues to plague the region.

In the 1990s there was a dramatic increase in armed conflict in the area. The Russian government attributed this to Chechen separatists “who have frequently led armed operations in the region”. According to the BBC, in 1999 an Islamic body set up an independent state in parts of Dagestan and Chechnya. Together with Chechen militants, they fought Russian forces, an incident which led to the return of Russian troops to the region.

Since the late 1990s, there have been reports that a radical sect of Islam, Wahhabism, is gaining strength in the area and supporting the separatist movement. To address this problem, Moscow deployed 30,000 troops to the area while attacking guerilla bases in Dagestan and Chechnya. This has led to escalating levels of violence in Dagestan and the surrounding regions.

Members of the FSB, the federal security service, periodically claim to have killed militants. In 2009, there were reports that the Russians had killed an al-Qaeda militant known as Dr. Mohammed. The Algerian national was killed together with another militant near the Chechen border. In July 2009, there were reports of 8 militants being killed. Although Chechnya is becoming more peaceful, the violence is spreading to Dagestan and Ingushetia.

Caught in the clash between the militants and Russian forces are civilians who are subjected to sudden raids, kidnappings, and disappearances. Although the poor suffer the most, the fatalities are not limited to ordinary people. In June 2009 the interior minister, Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, was shot during a wedding reception and later died from his wounds. Earlier in the same month, a senior police officer was also killed and there were also fatalities among the security services.

The killing of militants does not appear to increase the prospects of peace in Dagestan. The metro bombings in Moscow were a huge setback to the peace process, as it increased fears of future attacks and created the potential for xenophobic violence. In fact, just days after the bombing in Moscow, 12 more people were killed in Dagestan in a separate attack. Recently Medvedev spoke of addressing the root causes such as poverty, in an attempt to stem the violence. But, the Dagestan’s tense relations with Moscow, together with poor leadership, make stability in the near future unlikely.

“Fuck the Environment” – Vladimir Putin

(Title is Not actual quote by Vladimir Putin)
By Kelly Wendland

In the past decade, as in every past decade, a new fad has invaded our society. In my lifetime, these phenomena of pop culture have been unquestioningly embraced by ‘edgy’ bands and Hollywood elite in general.

Sometimes you get the best of both worlds

The latest and most significant of these fads will be instantly familiar to anyone not living in a cave, is championed by Al Gore, and is described by the hip catch phrase ‘going green,’ because that’s the color of plants.

The latest of most significant of these fads is described by the hip catch phrase ‘going green,’ because that’s the color of money plants. It has come to the mainstream in recent years thanks in large part to Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ along with tear-jerking pictures of polar bears swimming around, unable to find solid land to stand on because their ice caps have melted.

The idea is that we are just now realizing how our energy consumption adversely affects the environment. Forget about baby seals playing in oil spills, the new wave of environmentalism focuses on what the average person can do to reduce his or her personal energy consumption, and if everyone works together, we can make a collective difference.

As with any fad, businesses are generally quick to adapt to market trends, aka jump on the bandwagon and make money. This time around, words like ‘organic,’ ‘natural,’ and ‘chemical-free,’ are the buzz words used by marketing departments to make their products sound more environmentally friendly. In one particular instance, Huggies announced a new line of diapers, dubbed ‘Huggies – pure and natural,’ which are made from a full 20% percent recyclable materials. Well, that’s not too shabby – oh, actually the 20% recyclable material only applied to the paper-thin plastic packaging the diapers came in.)¹

Even I know you’re full of shit.

Well, not all businesses are just throwing meaningless eco-phrases onto their products to make some money. The most integral part of this new wave of environmentalism is obviously the energy industry. Because of pressure from the public, debated scientific evidence about global warming, and the fear that oil and natural gas demand will outrun supply in the coming years, many governments and private energy providers are turning towards various forms of energy which can be replenished, and minimize impact on the environment – these are all grouped into the cleverly named category of renewable energy.

Here in the US we know all about this debate – it was a significant part of our last presidential race. Despite the fact that ‘going green’ is indeed a fad that will probably be abandoned by pop culture five years down the road, energy conservation is an important and noble goal for society. With populations across the globe growing exponentially, it will be important for all nations to work toward maintaining renewable energy sources in the future - if not for environmental concerns, than to reduce the likelihood of global conflict over non-renewable energy supplies.

Being part of a Russian class assignment, I decided to do some research into the Russian market and see if they’ve changed their tune towards the environment since the days of dumping spent nuclear reactor rods off the coast of Norway and hoping no one would notice.

“Do something, Norway… yeah, that’s what I thought”

Having never lived in Russia, I really don’t have access to the general mood of the public, or get to see if their companies rely on the ignorance of consumers to sell their products, so I had to settle for official reports on what the government and large-scale corporations are up to concerning reducing environmental impact.

As recently as 2000, it seems (as in the USA as well) that renewable energy was something of a running joke in Russia – after all, they consistently compete with Saudi Arabia for the top ranked oil producer in the world (accounting for 12.1% of the world’s production in 2006). With enough oil and natural gas to satisfy domestic needs and still be able to sell energy to much of Europe, why bother extensively developing a different system? The natural gas fields of Russia were justifiably a source of pride for the country. And apparently it wasn’t enough just to produce a huge amount of energy – the environment had to be Russia’s bitch. That’s right, it seems Putin had some kind of personal grudge, evidenced by the fact that he shut down State Committee for the Protection of the Environment in 2000 after he took office.

“I’m hunting nature itself”

However, Medvedev seems to have made an earnest attempt to turn things around since coming to office in 2008. Obviously I can’t speculate on whether or not he cares about environmental impact, but he certainly recognizes the economic concern. With a hefty amount of US, European, and Asian (well, mostly Japan) capital going into solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear energy sources, from the business side of things, alternative energy isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The Russian Federation is currently the fourth largest consumer of energy in the world, behind the US, China, and Japan, and the modernization of the methods by which energy is consumed would make an enormous impact on the amount of money wasted by relying on the less efficient coal and natural gas industry. Medvedev himself, in an article written in Sept. 2009, stated “the energy efficiency of the majority of our companies is shamefully low.” Because of this, he would like to implement plans to cut overall national consumption by 40 percent by 2020 – which would require a monstrumental overhauling of the industry. Perhaps most importantly, they are looking into re-vitalizing the nuclear power industry of the Soviet era.

I would imagine that Chernobyl still poisons public opinion in Russia about nuclear power, but the government doesn’t seem to have a problem with giving the public the middle finger and expanding the number of reactors in the country from 31 to 59 by 2020. This move makes sense from an economic and environmental standpoint – the worldwide nuclear industry is rapidly expanding, and the only reason Chernobyl happened is because of the shortcuts the USSR was notorious for taking (ie they didn’t build a containment shell because they thought their technology was too badass to malfunction). On an interesting note, Russia’s nuclear energy is still completely state run.

Currently, geothermal power is the most developed renewable resource in Russia. This involves harnessing heat from beneath the Earth’s surface and turning it into working electricity, and has been developed extensively in the Northern Caucasus and the far East already. These are the only two regions where geothermal power is practical, but when harnessed correctly, this is a very efficient and clean way to provide essentially free and limitless energy (Iceland has been taking advantage of it for years due to their uniqe geographical position).

Another huge untapped and potential source of energy is the vast land encompassing Siberia. Not the land itself, but the huge amount of land that solar panels and wind turbines could possibly be used on. Of course, transporting the energy from Siberia to areas where people actually use electricity may prove problematic.

Pictured: Siberian parliament building

Even though solar and wind aren’t terribly cost-effective at this point in time, this is one of the most currently researched scientific areas, and universities worldwide hope to improve the storage capabilities of solar energy storage in the near future.

So basically, Medvedev has shown genuine enthusiasm for the development of alternative energy sources in Russia. The potential is most certainly there, for the government or private companies to take advantage of – the country needs to reach into the pocketbook a little bit now, to potentially see huge dividends in the next 50 years. There are really few long term investments that I can think of (and I base this off my having never taken a financial class ever) that are guaranteed to pay off such huge dividends in the next 50 years as alternative energy.

_________________________________

1. http://www.treehuggingfamily.com/huggies-goes-green-well-at-least-goes-greenwashing/

The Plight of Russian Women

By Kasey Stricklin

In most modern countries, including the United States and Russia, women still lag behind men in more ways than one. Though society tends to focus more on the statistics of race and socioeconomic class, the fact remains that around half the population (women) still must fight everyday for the samel rights that men already enjoy. While constitutions around the world show that females should have everything in keeping with their male counterparts, women are still disadvantaged in many aspects of life. It takes looking at these problems and recognizing that they still exist in order to fix the discrepancies and actually achieve equal rights.

In Russia, as in the United States, the majority of those working in health services and education are women. In fact, 85 percent of workers in health services and 81 percent of educational employees are female (with the lowest share of women being in construction as only 22 percent of construction workers are female). After the fall of the Soviet Union, many women lost their jobs or moved on to jobs where they didn’t put their skills to use because their current jobs lacked proper pay. Because jobs in education and health care are often classified in the lowest pay brackets, many women are trapped in careers with small wages and little hope of advancement.

In the Soviet era, women also enjoyed benefits such as accessible day care and child allowances. In modern times, these perks have disappeared and, while it is now required that employers give three years of paid maternity leave to employees, this just means that a large number of employers discriminate against younger applicants and hire women who have already had children. While there are protective laws in place to ensure women don’t undertake jobs that are too straining, including lifting heavy items or working at night, a law allowing ‘temporary’ contracts for these jobs means women can still be seen undertaking such tasks. While the notion of equal pay for equal work is in the constitution, men still prevail in leading positions. Women make up 45 percent of the unemployed population and, though the pension age for women is 55 (it is 60 for men), they only receive around the equivalent of $50 compensation, barely enough to eat with for a month. This means many older women who would be able to retire and relax if they lived in America have to, instead, take up a small part-time job.

Domestic abuse is very much a problem in modern day Russia. According to Amnesty International, 36,000 women are beaten each day by their husband and a Russian woman is murdered every 40 minutes in an act of domestic violence. Studies show that 30 percent of married women are subject to physical abuse. Lara Griffin, an Amnesty International advocate, explains that economic difficulties have meant that many families are strained and an upswing in domestic violence has resulted (with women most often the victims). Also, the law and society of Russia tend to view domestic abuse as a private matter, not a crime.

In addition, numerous female activists and journalists have been assassinated in recent years for their efforts to fight for human rights and expose the government’s wrongdoings. Natalya Estemirova, who can be connected to the human rights organization Memorial, was murdered in 2009 in Chechnya. President Medvedev promised to investigate the murder, but the killers are still unknown. In the 2008 annual report issued by the international organization Reports Without Borders, Russia was included in the list of high-risk countries for journalists.

In summer 2008, CNN reported on Moscow’s booming sex slave industry and cited a recent surge in prostitution. The fast pace of development in Moscow has fueled a demand for cheap labor, and this includes prostitutes. Young women are often lured in with the promise of education or a good job, and some girls are even kidnapped from their hometowns and forced into a life of prostitution. Police say the problem lies in Russia’s virtually open borders and badly controlled migration flows from other countries. There is also no basic law that defines victim’s rights and, instead, the problem is mostly pawned off on aid agencies.

Russia, like nearly all countries in the modern day, still has a lot of catching up to do for women to truly enjoy the rights and freedoms that men have. One step in the right direction is the celebration of International Women’s Day every March 8 during which countries celebrate the past, present and future achievements of women. This is a national holiday in Russia and hopefully it can be used as a tool to draw attention to the continued plight of women around the country and the world.

Sources:

http://www.waytorussia.net/WhatIsRussia/Women/Facts.html

http://www.ehow.com/about_5368319_womens-rights-russia.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/18/russia.prostitution/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_violence_in_Russia

Russian Political Parties: Dominance and Opposition

By Allison

Political party competition in Russia has been drastically restructured since the inception of the Putin administration in 2000. Early in his administration, President Putin changed the law on party representation in the Russian legislature from a threshold of 5% to 7%. Although President Putin argued that this change would assist oppositional political parties by encouraging consolidation and coalitions, it also served to eliminate a number of parties that had previously been represented in the Russian legislature, the Duma.

Formally, the party structure in Russia is characterized as a one-party dominant system, i.e. one political party largely controls the political landscape across numerous consecutive administrations. United Russia, the dominant party which was created by former President Putin, captured around 50% of the Duma vote in 2003 and around 66% in 2007. Because United Russia is considered a non-ideological political party, these electoral results may be somewhat surprising to Western observers, who interact with political parties that are based primarily on ideological strategies to win office. Unlike many opposition parties in Russia, such as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, United Russia’s leaders claim to be “above politics” and do not need a strong ideological platform to secure office. Arguably, however, United Russia does not need an ideological platform because the party has an extremely large resource advantage compared to other parties, which enables it to promote the party message and attract voters more easily. This resource advantage encompasses a variety of tools: from television time and newspaper coverage, to office space and supplies for contacting voters by phone or mail.

The prospects for oppositional parties in a one-party dominant political systems are typically bleak, however dominant parties do lose power for a variety of reasons, e.g. the LDP in Japan or the PRI in Mexico. Although frequently politically constrained through authoritarian repression, oppositional parties in dominant party systems have a variety of options that they can pursue to gain political office. With regards to spatial voting, for example, they can try to capture the political space already colonized by the dominant party, which is frequently the center of the political spectrum, or define their own ideological space. For example, the Communist Party in Russia has retained the ideological platform from the Soviet era on the far left of the political spectrum, and attempts to compete with United Russia based on ideological grounds, rather than try to attract voters using administrative resources. Especially in the context of an underperforming economy, voters may favor concrete patronage goods distributed by United Russia than the ideological platforms promoted by oppositional parties. Thus, eligible voters frequently instrumentalize the act of voting: a citizen views voting for the dominant party as a fair exchange for a job or other economic good that they need. Although it is uncertain whether United Russia will survive in a post-Putin era, the instrumentalization of voting in combination with United Russia’s current resource advantages, make drastic change in the party structure and political representation in Russia rather unlikely.

Голодомор на Украине

Holodomor in the Ukraine
Написанных Тифф Дункан
Tiff Duncan

The Holodomor was part of the great famine that occurred from 1930 to 1933, which caused the deaths of millions of Russian and Ukrainian peoples. Was it the Stalinist policy of collectivization and economic exportation that caused this famine? Was it the result of a sever drought, or was it simply Stalinist genocide against the Ukrainian peoples? Though Ukraine did – according to Ukrainian and American scholars – suffer the most losses during this drastic time in history, many contend that The Holomodor was not simply aimed at them but a terrible tragedy that effected all those across the former U.S.S.R..

Holomodor can be translated to ‘murder by death’ and refers specifically to the famine suffered in the Ukraine in the beginning of 1933. This famine was part of the great famine suffered across the whole of the U.S.S.R. between 1930 and 1933. It was during the winter of 1932-33 that the Ukrainian people, over a period of just four months, suffered losses in the millions. The official report of the victims is 2.4 million, though that number is contested by the Ukrainian report which puts the number up to seven million. This unfortunate time in history saw not only the deaths of millions but also some extremely gruesome practices. There were so many deaths that bodies had to be collected daily by carts. People were so hungry that an estimated twenty-five thousand people resorted to cannibalism.[1]

In the first three years of the 1930s the Russian economic policy regarding agriculture was to export grain at all costs. So, although approximately seven million tons of grain was produced in 1931 none of it was afforded to the people. Then drought in 1932 caused less grain procurement which further depleted the available food stuffs to the local people. There was not enough food in the end of 1932 to make it to the next harvest and people began to starve.

Was the Holomodor really genocide against the Ukrainian people, or was it simply the effect of bad economic policies in the beginning of the Stalinist era? This is a question that is debated among many. In 1998 the Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma decreed that the third Saturday in November is a day of remembrance for the victims of the Holomodor and political repression. The current Ukrainian government does recognize the Holomodor as genocide, though that is not the official Russian position. [2]

Scholars such as Robert Conquest and Dr Raphael Lemkin do believe that this instance in history was a deliberate act of murder – genocide. In 2006, the Ukrainian government declassified the archive pages of the Holomodor. According to Robert Conquest, “these documents suggest that the Soviet regime singled out Ukraine by not giving it the same humanitarian aid given to regions outside it.” Lemkin described "the destruction of the Ukrainian nation" as the "classic example of genocide," for "...the Ukrainian is not and never has been a Russian. His culture, his temperament, his language, his religion, are all different...to eliminate (Ukrainian) nationalism...the Ukrainian peasantry was sacrificed...a famine was necessary for the Soviet and so they got one to order...if the Soviet program succeeds completely, if the intelligentsia, the priest, and the peasant can be eliminated [then] Ukraine will be as dead as if every Ukrainian were killed, for it will have lost that part of it which has kept and developed its culture, its beliefs, its common ideas, which have guided it and given it a soul, which, in short, made it a nation...This is not simply a case of mass murder. It is a case of genocide, of the destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation." [3]

Still this is hotly debated. Some historians do maintain that the famine was the unintentional consequence of the Soviet collectivization program. Also, that the resistance on the part of the Ukrainian peasantry furthered an already difficult issue. There was a drought that year that caused a poor harvest and Ukrainian refusal to properly go along with collectivization may have caused the demise of the Ukrainian people. [4]

You decide. Was the Holomodor simply a miscalculation on the part of the government that caused the accidental and tragic deaths of millions? Or was it a strategically planned plot from the central Soviet government designed specifically to take out the Ukrainian population? In many ways, it could very much have been both.

______________________________

[1] http://www.rian.ru/politics/20091128/195817126.html

[2] http://www.rian.ru/politics/20091128/195817126.html

[3] http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0 %BE%D1%80_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B5

[4] http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0 %BE%D1%80_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B5