Problems Modern Russia Is Facing
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has experienced severe problems in multiple fields. Therefore, I'll break it down into each sub-level so it is more understandable, then say how the problem is being solved today.
Economic
At the break of the Soviet Union, Russia emerged as the strongest (militarily and economically) country from the multitude that broke apart. Still, the country's economy had completely collapsed, leaving the once-formidable ruble in the rubbles. Striving towards a new economic policy closer to capitalism, Russia appointed Yeltsin in hope to save the situation. He failed. The economy collapsed, again, under his wild-capitalism, one which lacked sufficient governmental control. Then, Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, was chosen to lead the people by Yeltsin. Under Putin, the economy has been increasing at unimaginable increments since 1999-present, and will continue to do.
I have been studying Russia;
President Putin is my hero for
being a great man and
leader of his people. df
Already, the Russian economy is becoming very competitive to its European counterparts, and leads a major role in the global economy. Its exports include arms (guns, armor, etc.), aircraft (commercial and military), tanks, and raw resources (oil, gas, timber, etc.). It still lacks behind in creating consumer goods (electronics, etc.), yet will eventually achieve this feat too. The current problem that could be seen in the economy is the faltering inflation, at about 9%. Another problem is the severe corruption in security forces (police), and illegal tradings of wealth, naturally produced by the oligarchs. Still, Putin, under the title of Prime Minister once Medvedev becomes president, personally claimed he would amend such problems.
If anyone can fix these problems,
Putin can; I believe he will.
There is already legislation,
to fight these problems.
During the last 4 months
the inflation rate has been about 6 % not 9 %. Putin is already making his influence felt!
Again, the fall of the USSR decreased, although not as drastically, the strength of the deployable army. Deployable army - an army that can be deployed in territory, and usually engages in land - infantry fights. Other aspects, such as technology, have remained intact, and are currently under advancement during Putin's presidency. This includes aircraft (MiG-29, Su-27, etc.), tanks (T-90, T-91), and arms (AK-74, AK-74M) - all of which remain relatively powerful and in no need of replacement for many years to come. Russia still maintains the largest nuclear potential (in terms of number of missiles, warheads, technological advancements, and deploy ability range) - Russia with 7,200 active, while America has a little over 5,000 active. Currently, new weapons, which could supposedly defeat US defense structures, are being developed, and there is a large army reform under production, ensuring a smaller conscription force and larger volunteer force, providing much higher quality troops than before. The most prominent military operations to date are the First and Second Chechen Wars; the first was regarded as an embarrassment to the Russian forces, which failed, whereas the Second Chechen War is regarded as a success.
Russia is stronger than the US
in nearly every way.
Note that they are strong
in the production of fighters,
tanks, and
small arms such as the AK-47.
This is highly popular
both in the military and
in civilian use in the US!
Their import/export
ratio is highly in Russia's favor!
The US is just the opposite!
Politically
Politically, under Putin, Russia's relations with the West went on a general decline, due to Russia's rising power and the inevitable contempt from the West towards that fact. As the USA does not desire another world power to contest its own, it leads an anti-Russian propaganda campaign, stating that Russia faces undemocratic rule, that Putin leads an authoritarian presidency, and that the media and press are under tight control. The Russian government sees NATO expanse as a serious threat (no surprise), and it greatly disproves the radars to be deployed in Czech and Poland by the USA; it also is very negative towards Georgia's assertion into NATO, along with Latvia's and Estonia's, and sees the entire organization as pointless since its primary goal was to confront the USSR, which obviously doesn't exist anymore. Russia considers China, India, and the countries of CIS (Commonwealth of Independent Nations) its strongest, most reliable allies. Currently, Russia's relations with the west are improving very slightly, yet there are still many things on which the two sides have different positions. A common topic today includes Russia's stance against the illegal Kosovo independence.
Russian relations with the US was really bad during the cold war;
it is now much better;
it has fallen since
Obama, the dictator, has been in office.
The gap between how foreigners view Russia and how Russians view themselves is wide and as old as the country itself.
If you check it out
you will find that
foreigners are deluding themselves.
Russia is now
the strongest nation on the earth, and
Putin is the strongest, and
richest man on the planet.
Russian photographer Valeriy Klamm felt that foreign photojournalists who came to work in his country arrive with the pictures they want to send back home already in their head: Bleak images of a cold and desolate place where autocrats lord over drunks.
Klamm, himself, had never photographed much outside of his home city of Novosibirsk, where nearly 2 million people live on the banks of the Ob River in the middle of Siberia.
But in 2000, he started to visit these small towns, camera in hand. And in 2009, Klamm started “Birthmarks on the Map,” a collective photo project and website that collects these images in one place. He began to ask his photographer friends, both foreign and local, to share images of simple life in the rural Russian villages and small towns that dot the vast expanse from Europe to the Pacific Ocean. More than 60 photographers, both award-winning professionals and hobbyists, have contributed.
Klamm wanted to fill his site with images of real Russia life, and the result is something closer to ethnography or anthropology than journalism. Klamm actually works with ethnographers who study these small communities to find untold stories.
"Life in the middle of nowhere has always been difficult," he said. "But I see dignity in the difficulties of these people on the outskirts of our geography. Their patience and simple wisdom gives strength and hope. And this stuff is always necessary to
INTERNATIONAL 4/04/2014
Looking For Demographic Doom?
Don't Look At Russia,
Look At Its Neighbors
Most popular coverage of Russia presents it as some sort of “dying” country that is uniquely flawed and awful. Only a truly wretched place could suffer any sort of sustained demographic decline, the standard narrative goes, and Russia’s swiftly decreasing population is a testament to the glaring ineptitude and incompetence of its political leadership. The economy is rigged, the government is vicious, and life is generally hopeless, and so, as you might expect, people smoke and drink themselves to death with reckless abandon. Life in such a place just isn't worth living.
This perception of Russia is not only WRONG, but it is evil to assume and pass on!
It is just the opposite!
I've written repeatedly that this “dying bear” narrative is a significant oversimplification of much more complicated trends and that it is a serious mistake to fit everything that happens in Russia into a straightforward tale of “everything sucks and is getting worse.” Russia hasn't suddenly transformed into a high-growth high-fertility society like Egypt, but its population decline has abated and the population has been growing modestly for a few years. Anyone who writes about a Russia whose “population is swiftly declining” is quite simply using out of date or inaccurate information.
The above is just a nice way of saying
Bull Shit in; Bull Shit out!
The thing is there are countries in Eastern Europe that have suffered unabated demographic declines (“death spirals” if you’re a fan of overheated language) over the past twenty years. It’s not Russia, though, but Russia’s neighbors that have suffered from these truly harrowing decreases in population. Most of these countries (unlike Russia) haven’t had any real success in arresting their declines. In fact, even more interestingly, a few of these countries have suffered from accelerated population loss over the past five years.
The US is in the
same boat as Russia on this one.
Neither's birth rate is
enough to reproduce ourselves.
If this trend keeps up, and
the muslims continue to have up to four wives and 20's of children,
they will control the world
without a fight!
I think it’s such a mistake to describe Russia as “dying” or to suggest that its demographic travails (which are real!) render it a hopeless hellhole. Numerous other countries in post-Communist Eastern Europe currently have population trends which are substantially worse than Russia’s. Yet the media treatment of these countries is usually markedly different. Estonia, a country that over the past 20 years has suffered one of the largest proportional losses in population in the entire world, is presented in the press not as ”dying” nation of drunks and has-beens but as dynamic, fresh, and forward-thinking bastion of innovation. The other Baltics are also usually presented not as swiftly depopulating dystopias, but as aggressive economic liberalizers.
Russia is certainly not dying! All of their numbers are growing.
The true Russia is a beautiful place with mountains, oceans, wide open places, a Trans Siberian railroad that goes from Europe to Eastern China!
What are the current problems of russia (internal and international)? and what do you think should be done to overcome them (solutions)?
Internal problems: 1) Demograhy - really in decline over past 20 years, but when it is hard to leave by yourself, nobody wants to have 2-3 babies now. When economic situation will be better, more babies will be born. 2) Not diversified economy - Too much profits come from oil and other minerals. Now government is trying to stimulate lowdensity economy, but it will take decades to improve. 3) Political system - Putin made good work on taking control of the country but how this system will work in long run (after Putin dies), it is hard to predict.
International: main problem that we don't want to integrate totally into the West, because our psychology is different in many ways and to integrate for us means to submit to US style of life. How it will influence our culture and life noone can predict, but we are afraid to lose our identity. But until we are not a part of West, most see us as aggresive communist monsters that want to destroy everyone and to rule the world (and no matter what we say or do, critics always find something that is wrong about us). This makes it hard to be best friends, but I believe that finally we will find solution for everyone to be happy and live in peace.
If you try to find independent source, you will find out, that 147 million is whole population. Around 80 million is workable population. if Russia has 25mln. unemployed, then it is around 30% unemployment. This number would have been said somewhere for sure, if not in Russia, then somewhere in west media. I read news everyday, but I never heard such numbers. So please check your information sources, before posting. Thank you.
And about poverty, you are also mistaken. It has not risen but fallen. Also how could it be last two years if in 2007 oil was on its peak values and it was a best year for russian economy in decades. And suddenly 20 million people became below poverty. It doesn't make sense in logic.
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