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Will Russia be a rising state or a great Failure? (реферат)

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Will Russia be a rising state or a great Failure?

The collapse of the Soviet Union lead to creation of the New Independent
Republic. World politics dramatically changed in 1991 when Communism
ended in Eastern Europe and Russia. These republics are trying to
rebuild their economies and find the way toward the democratic regimes.
The largest country in the post-Soviet borders Russia has inherited a
legacy of the Soviet Union. Many features influence the Russian society
and economy which are Russian media, Russia-US relations and the
problems Russia faces in its transition to the democratic society with a
market economy.

Russians are trying to reconstruct their economy and social system.
Russia has many challenges and obstacles to overcome during their period
of reconstruction. These obstacles include the destruction of the
economic ties with its former suppliers and customers in the United
Republics, corruption, war in Chechnya as well as “Checheny syndrome”.
Russia will cope with these obstacles and finally rise as a world power
with a market economy and strong democratic institutions. Its potential
is based on its vast lands full of natural resources, great history,
and, most importantly, the intellectual potential of the Russian people.

Russian territory has historically had a tremendous impact on the
Russian economy, political situation, culture, traditions, and mentality
of Russian people. Vast space has helped Russia many times to defend
itself from other more developed nations. For example, Napoleon froze
his army to death during his invasion to Moscow.

Russia is very rich in natural resources. Almost all the elements of
periodic table are in Russia. Russia is rich in gold, silver, gas and
oil, lumber, aluminum, uranium and many other valuable minerals. These
resources can be very attractive prospects for future investments.

Historically, Russia has been regarded as a major world power. Slavic
peoples settled in Eastern Europe during the early Christian era. Many
converted to Christianity in the ninth and tenth centuries. In 988,
Prince Vladimir declared Christianity the state’s official religion.
Early in the 13th century, Mongols conquered the Slavs and ruled for 240
years. The Slavs finally defeated the Mongols in 1480 to regain their
sovereignty. In 1547, Ivan the Terrible (1533-84) was the first Russian
ruler crowned Czar of Russia. He expanded Russia’s territory, as did
Peter the Great (1682-1724) and Catherine the Great (1762-96). The
empire reached from Warsaw in the west to Vladivostok in the east. In
1814, Russian troops that had defeated France’s Napoleon marched on
Paris, and Russia took its place as one of the most powerful states on
earth.

When Czar Nicholas II abdicated during World War 1, Vladimir Lenin, head
of the Bolshevik Party, led the 1917 revolt that brought down the
provisional government and put the Communists in power. Lenin disbanded
the legislature and banned all other political parties. A civil war
between Lenin’s Red Army and the White Army lasted until 1921, with
Lenin victorious.

In 1922, the Bolsheviks formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR) and forcibly incorporated Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine,
Belarus and Central Asian republic into the union. The unification of
Turkestan and separation of the United Republics gave a birth to the
modern states of Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Tadjikistan and Turkmenistan.
During Lenin’s rule, which ended with his death in 1924, many died as a
result of his radical social restructuring. Under Lenin, a plan to rise
the national economics of the United Republic as well as itself was
implemented. If before Russia had below than 10% literacy level than
after World War II due to reforms started by Lenin almost all population
could read and write. Currently, Russian literacy level equals to 99%.

Lenin was followed by Joseph Stalin, a dictator who forced
industrialization and collective agriculture on the people. Millions
died in labor camps and from starvation. The Nobel Price laureate,
Alexandr Soljenicin, in One Day of Ivan Denisovich characterizes this
period as “the most devastating trial fallen on Russian soul”. While
many historians argue that these sacrifices were necessary to meet the
new challenges and make Russia equal to other developed nations and
finally win the Second World War, Russian’s sacrifices were so large
that even now Russia feels the consequences of that war. Germany invaded
the Soviet Union in 1941, and World War II that was called “Great
Patriotic War” in USSR eventually took more than 26 million Soviet
lives. During the WWII the tremendous amount of industrial plants were
relocated to east due to the German occupation of the Western part of
the Soviet Union. Many new industries were developed in Uzbekistan
during WW II such as plane and truck assembling, gas and oil industries.
To supply the increased need for silk and cotton, Ferghana Canal was
constructed.

Nikita Khrushchev, who took over after Stalin’s death in 1953, declared
his intentions to build real communism within 20 years. Hard liners,
people opposed to his reforms and policy of peaceful coexistence with
the West, replaced Khrushchev in 1964 with Leonid Brezhnev. Until his
death in 1982, Brezhnev orchestrated the expansion of Soviet influence
in the developing world, ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, and built
up the Soviet nuclear arsenal. This invasion proved to be a terrible
mistake. The consequences of this invasion had a devastating impact on
relations with the west and internal stability. Many millions of
people lost their lives in there. Moreover, the long-term result of this
invasion is the continuous civil war in Afghanistan and as a result
instability in the region. When the next two leaders died in quick
succession, a younger man, Mikhail Gorbachev, rose to power in 1986.

Gorbachev soon introduced the reform concepts of perestroika
(restructuring) and glasnost (openness). Many of his reforms failed and
the economy of the Soviet Union during its last years was deteriorating.
The union quickly unraveled in 1991 after several republics declared
independence. Russia’s leader at the time was Boris Yeltsin.

In 1993, after Yeltsin dissolved a combative parliament, his opponents
voted to impeach him and seized the “White House” (parliament building)
in an attempted coup. Following street riots, the showdown turned
violent and militants were forced from the building by tank fire. That
victory and the approval of Yeltsin’s new constitution were two
highlights of an otherwise difficult term in office. Communists and
ultra-nationalists mounted a strong challenge to him in the 1996
elections. Despite poor health, Yeltsin prevailed in the voting to
become Russia’s first ever freely elected president. A violent 21-month
war with separatists in the Chechnya region tarnished Yeltsin’s image at
home and abroad. Finding a solution was complicated by internal
rivalries, rebellious military commanders, and Yeltsin’s failing health.
Tens of thousands died before a cease-fire finally restored peace in
August 1996. Russia withdrew its troops in 1997 and Chechens elected
their own local leaders. They have de facto control over internal
affairs until 200 1, when the two parties make a final decision on
Chechnya’s bid for independence. However, the war was not over.

The invasion of Chechen rebels to the Russian territory, Dagestan made
Vladimir Putin, acting Prime Minister launch a new attack on Chechen
rebels. Putin’s initial war successes brought his a success in the
President’s elections in 2000. After becoming a president Vladimir Putin
started a new wave of restoring the “constitutional order” in Chechnya.

Russian government made several attempts to resolve the difficulties
between Russian and other Republics of CIS. In 1996, Russia and Belarus
agreed to closely linking their societies without actually merging. The
presidents of each nation then signed a union charter in 1997 outlining,
among other things, how Russia and Belarus would cooperate and their
ethnic groups. Also in 1997, Russia made peace with Ukraine, over
ownership of the Soviet Union’s Black Sea naval fleet, helped a peace
agreement in Tadjikistan, participated in international summits, and
announced that it would no longer target nuclear weapons at former Cold
War enemies.

Russia played an important role in Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS). Russia has peacekeeping forces in Tadjiskistan and much helped
the restoration of peace in this republic. Russia helps the
Tadjikistanian government to protect its borders of illegal drug and gun
smuggling from Afghanistan. Russian peace keeping forces made a number
of joint training with the military representatives from the Republics
of Central Asia and NATO. Great Russian history shows that many times
Russia had to face the difficult and challenging times and still was
managed to survive as a nation and was not dissolved by foreign
invaders. The problems in Russia are immese, but Russia will be able to
cope with all its problems and will rise again as a great power on the
world stage.

Russia’s population, the crux of Russian reform, of 148 million is
shrinking annually by 0.7 percent. Ethnic Russians form 82 percent of
the entire population. Other groups include Tartars (4 percent),
Ukrainians (3 percent), Chuvashes (I percent), Byelorussians (almost I
percent), Udrnurts, Kazaks, Buryats, Tuvinians, Yakutians, Bashkirs, and
others. The capital and largest city is Moscow, with a population of
more than 10 million. Other large cities (one to three million residents
each) include St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhniy Novgorod,
Yekaterinburg, Saratov, and Samara. Most Russians still live in rural
areas, but young people are moving to the cities. Russia’s Human
Development Index’ value (0.792) ranks it 67th out of 175 countries.
Serious gaps between rich and poor, skilled and unskilled, and healthy
and ill are widening and threatening Russia’s future development. Women
earn only one-fifth of the nation’s income. Migration of ethnic Russians
from the republics of the former Soviet Union to Russia increased the
total Russian population but not significantly enough to offset the gap
between mortality and birth rates in Russia.

Russian language belongs to Slavic group of languages and is the
official language in Russia. Other Slavic languages are Ukrainian and
Belorussian. It uses the Cyrillic alpha- bet, which consists of 33
letters, many of them unlike any letter in the Roman (Latin) alphabet.
Non-Russians also usually speak Russian, especially in urban areas.
Rural minorities more often speak their own languages at home or within
For example, Tartars speak Tartar, Chuvashes speak Chuvash, and Udmurts
speak Udmurt. These individual languages are only taught at schools in
areas where the ethnic group is prominent. Ethnic Russians are not
required to learn other local languages, but students are increasingly
studying foreign languages (especially English, French, German, and
Spanish). In Soviet Union Russian language was main language to connect
Republics of the former Soviet Union to each other and establish the
united territorial- economic complex. As a result Russian is widely
spoken outside Russia itself. In Uzbekistan people speak Russian mainly
in the cities while Uzbek language is dominated in rural areas. However,
many so-called ethnic Russians or the Russian-speaking population
residing in areas other than Russia feel abandoned by the break up of
the Soviet Union. They tend to be closer to Russia than to their local
states.

The Russian Orthodox Church is the dominant religion. After the October
Revolution (1917), the Communists separated the church from the state
(which were previously tightly bonded) and discouraged all religious
worship. Soviet regime did not tolerate any independent way of thinking
and many religious leaders were killed, jailed or sent to exile. Many
churches were forced to close under Lenin. Mikhail Gorbachev was the
first Soviet leader to officially tolerated and even supported religion.
Yeltsin also embraced the church, which is rapidly regaining its
influence. Churches other than the Russian Orthodox are scarce in rural
areas, but nearly every major religion and many Christian churches have
members in cities. Some Tartars and Bashkirs are Muslim, and some
Tuvinians and Buryats are Buddhist. Despite the years of Communist
rulings and oppression the religion played and important role in the
rural areas. More and more Russian are getting more involved in religion
now. Religion is thought to fill the spiritual gap in peoples souls and
help them reevaluate their moral values.

Russia’s long history of totalitarianism have denied its inhabitants
opportunities to make their own decisions, whether ruled by a Czar or
the Communist Party. Personal initiative, personal responsibility, and
the desire to work independently were suppressed by the state, and one
was expected to conform to official opinion and behavior. In the current
climate, Russians are searching for new social values. The resulting
confusion and chaos have led many people to wonder if the old ways were
not better. Many people are tired of the economic instability, rapidly
changing society, characterized by high prices, increasingly violent and
rampant crime, loss of income and a reduced quality of life. However,
many Russians, especially in the younger generation, are eagerly taking
advantage of the open environment. Indeed, Russians are learning the
value of discussion and compromise, personal creativity, and
risk-taking. This long-term process carries hard lessons such as
financial loss, political polarization, economic instability, and social
disruption.

Friendship is extremely important in Russia. Russians are warm and open
with trusted friends. They rely on their network of friends in hard
times and will go to great lengths to help friends whenever possible.
Although intensely proud of “Mother Russia” and its achievements,
Russians are a basically pessimistic people and usually do not express
much hope for a better life in the future (except among the youth). Even
generally happy and optimistic Russians might not show their true
feelings in public but rather express frustration with everyday life. A
general feeling in Russia is that the “soul” of Russia is different from
that of other countries, that development cannot take the same course as
it has in Europe, for example. Russians often believe they must find a
different path that takes into account their unique historical heritage
and social structure. In general, Russians desire to be remembered not
for the negative aspects of the Soviet period and its aftermath, but for
Russian contributions to world literature, art, science, technology, and
medicine.

Social customs in Russia are very similar to the United States. When
meeting, Russians shake hands firmly and say Zdravstvuyte (Hello), Dobry
Deny (Good day), Dobroye utro (Good morning), Dobry vecher (Good
evening), or Privet (a casual “Hello”). Good friends say “hello” with
the more informal Zdravstvuy or Zdorovo. Friends, but not strangers,
might also ask Kak dela? (How are you?) and wait for a response.
Russians are introduced by their full name (given, patronymic, surname).
Surnames are not used without titles, such as Gospodin (Mr.) and
Gospozha (Mrs.). The military, police, and some citizens continue to use
the Soviet-era title tovarishch (“friend” or “comrade”). At work or in
polite com pany, Russians address each other by given name and
patronymic (the possessive of the father’s first name). This is also the
most appropriate form of address for a superior or a respected elder.
Close friends use given names alone.

Hand gestures carry much significance in Russian culture. Pointing with
the index finger is improper but commonly practiced. It is impolite to
talk (especially to an older person) with one’s hands in the pockets or
arms folded across the chest. To count, a Russian bends (closes) the
fingers rather than opens them.

Russians like to visit and have guests. Sitting around the kitchen table
and talking for hours is a favorite pastime. One usually removes shoes
when entering a home. Hosts generally offer refreshments, but guests may
decline them. Friends and family may visit anytime without notice but
usually arrange visits in advance. They make themselves at home and
generally can expect to be welcomed for any length of time. Visits with
new acquaintances are more formal.

Giving gifts is a strong tradition in Russia, and almost every event
(birthdays, weddings, holidays, etc.) is accompanied by presents. For
casual visits, it is common (but not required) for guests to bring a
simple gift (flowers, food, or vodka) to their hosts. The object given
is less important than the friend ship expressed by the act. Flowers are
given in odd numbers; even numbers are for funerals. If friends open a
bottle of vodka (which means “little water”), they customarily drink
until it is empty.

Knowing the general attitudes is extremely important in Russia. Tankred
Golenpolsky in his book Doing Business in Russia emphasized the need the
right local partner in Russia by asking the following questions:

Where should you invest your money?

When should you invest your money?

How much money should you invest?

Answering these questions correctly can assure success elsewhere, but
not in Russia. In Russia, everything begins with selection of the right
partner to work for you (Golenpolsky 27-28). Having the right partner
with the wide network of people is extremely helpful for starting your
own business in Russia. Therefore, it is extremely important to know and
understand Russian attitude and behavior patterns in order to deal with
Russians and successfully build the relations in Russian environment.
Later, the authors give the following recommendations on choosing the
right candidate who “must meet some basic requirements such as fluency
in English and an education background comparable to his or her Western
colleagues. He or she preferably should be married since this indicates
a degree of stability and seriousness, and the spouse must be ready to
fit into a new system of relationships -relationships that did not exist
in the former Soviet Union. (Golenpolsky 29-30)

Although food is plentiful in the cities, many products are expensive.
Hence, the average person eats imported fruits and vegetables
infrequently. People on fixed and limited incomes (mainly the elderly)
eat more bread and potatoes than any- thing else. Urban residents more
often have meat and dairy products. Rural people have gardens. Urban
dwellers usually grow vegetable gardens in the country or on plots near
the city. Traditional Russian foods include borsch (cabbage soup with
beets), pirozhki (a stuffed roll, eaten as “fast food”), golubtsy
(stuffed cabbage leaves baked with tomato sauce and eaten with sour
cream), and shi (soup with sour cabbage). Borsch is still one of the
most popular foods in the country. Its ingredients (potatoes, cabbages,
carrots, beets, and onions) almost complete the list of vegetables used
in everyday life. Pork, sausage, chicken, and cheeses are popular, but
they can be expensive. Russians drink coffee and mineral water; juice
and soda are available. Vodka is preferred to wine.

Russians have little leisure time because of the hours they devote to
getting food, working extra jobs, or taking care of their households.
Urban Russians spend nearly all their spare time at their dachas
(country cottages), if they have them, relaxing and growing fruits and
vegetables for the winter. In the summer, people Re to gather mushrooms.
Cities have relatively few nightclubs and entertainment usually ends
before midnight, even in Moscow.

The country’s favorite sport is soccer. Winter sports such as ice
skating, hockey, and cross-country skiing are also particularly popular.
Most families like to watch television in the evening. Russia has a
grand and abiding heritage in cultural arts. The people highly
appreciate theaters and movies, but these are available only in big
cities. Rural people can watch movies at community recreation centers
called dvorets kultury (palace of culture) or the smaller dom kultury
(house of culture)

New Year’s Day is the most popular holiday in Russia. Almost everyone
decorates fir trees and has parties to celebrate the new year.
Grandfather Frost leaves presents for children to find on New Year’s
Day. Easter and Christmas observances, long interrupted by communism,
regained their prominence in 1990. Christmas is on 7 January, according
to the Julian calendar used by the Russian Orthodox Church. Women’s Day
is 8 March. Solidarity Day (I May, also known as May Day) is a day for
parades. Victory Day (9 May) commemorates the end of World War II and is
deeply important to most Russians.

The business week is 40 hours, with Saturdays and Sundays off. Offices
generally are open from 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 p.m. They close at lunchtime
(1:00 P.m.). Prices in stores are not negotiable, but prices are
flexible on the streets, where an increasing number of items is sold.
Capitalism is booming in Russia and a new generation of entrepreneurs is
beginning to thrive. Numerous small businesses and joint ventures with
foreign firms are finding success, and employees are buying state-run
factories and working to make them profitable. Under communism, there
were no incentives for bureaucrats to perform well or even be nice to
clients, so the usual answer to any question was “No.” This practice is
still found in society, but “no” is no longer final. One must simply
bargain and be persistent to get what one desires.

Russians prefer having social interaction before discussing business.
Trying to do business on the phone without seeing the prospective
business partner is ineffective. One often spends a lot of time in
meetings before even a small deal can succeed. The business climate is
characterized by the high level of uncertainty in Russia. However, any
companies successfully adapted to the Russian environment. In the Rising
Russia the following industries are of particular interest for foreign
investors: gas and oil refinery and export of oil, pharmaceutical, food
and food-processing industry, aluminum extraction and manufacturing.
Leasing and franchising opportunities exist in agricultural sector where
the government established a policy encouraging farmers to obtain the
modern equipment. The number of contracts were signed with car
manufacturing plants such as Vojskiy Avtomobiliniy zavod and Moskovskiy
zavod. Russia welcomes the foreign investors but has a number of
difficulties in it such as corruption and organized crime, difficult
environment in business and tax laws, unsuitability of local currency
and unstable political situation due to the war in Chechnya. However,
the new Russian government took active steps toward the Chechen
populations supporting the international terrorists and the terrorists
who were fighting the Russian troops.

The First Chechen war cost a lot to the Russian government. The second
war was more successful than the first one but still Russians are in the
active process of guerrilla war with Chechen bandits. These challenges
can stop potential investors from using the opportunities of 150 million
people market.

Russia is a federation of autonomous republics and regions. Vladimir
Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin as a president. The president is strong
and has power to dissolve parliament, set foreign policy, and appoint
the Prime Minister. The Federal Assembly has two houses, a 176-seat
Federation Council and the 450-seat State Duma. The Constitutional Court
is Russia’s highest. The voting age is 18. An array of political parties
is represented in the Duma. The actual party names are less important
than their alliances. Communists form the largest block, but not a
majority, and nationalists and liberals form other substantial voting
blocks. Recently, new Russian president implemented the measures for
strengthening his power and ability to react and influence the national
economy but many there are critics.

Russia’s natural resources give it great potential for economic growth
and development. Natural gas, coal, gold, oil, diamonds, copper, silver,
and lead are all abundant. Heavy industry dominates the economy,
although the agricultural sector is potentially strong. Russia’s economy
is weak and unstable. Liberal reforms designed to attract foreign
investment and privatize the economy led to higher unemployment, high
inflation (above I 00 percent), and lower production. Organized crime
and corruption weigh heavily on the economy’s ability to perform. Real
gross domestic product per capita is $4,828. Poverty is increasing as
fast as wealth. The currency is the ruble (R). Nearly all transactions
are made in cash.

Education is free and mandatory for everyone between ages six and
seventeen. In 1994, new curriculum guidelines were introduced to
encourage choice and innovation over previous approaches to teaching,
but many public schools are unable or unwilling to implement the reforms
due to lack of money and clear local leadership. However, a few are
embracing new ideas and even teaching basic market economics to young
children. Students attend primary, middle, and high school. They can
specialize in their last two years. Private schools offer a high-quality
education to the wealthy and influential. Education is highly valued,
and Russia’s literacy rate is 99 percent. More than five hundred
universities, medical schools, and technical academies are found
throughout the country. Russians have a distinct advantage of a
high-standard education and they are actively using their intelligence.
Russian large intellectual potential and a system of educating brains
even with its drawbacks has produced a number of talented people who can
work at least at the same level as their Western counterparts.
Unfortunately, this educational potential is not fully utilized by the
current condition of the Russian economy. The facts on Russian
immigration to such developed countries as Canada, Australia, New
Zealand or United States confirms this fact. ( HYPERLINK
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomer/welcome/index.html
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomer/welcome/index.html). The
educational potential of the nation is probably the most important
factor that can bring the nation to the family of the
high-industrialized nations.

Russia with its rich heritage of music, theatre performance, poetry is a
distinct expression of the Russian media history. Currently, together
with the old ways of communications such as cinema, theatre, newspapers
and TV new avenues of the human interaction are rapidly developing.
Internet brought by the introduction of Western communicative abilities
is changing the Russian youth. Russian students are not isolated from
rest of the World due to the Internet. However, the introduction of this
powerful source of information exchange mainly affected the large cities
where there are enough resources. Countryside does not have a full
access to the Internet and can not enjoy the full advantage of Internet
using. The scope of media coverage in very wide in Russia. Russians
commented on the Olympic Games, War in Chechnya or situation in the Near
East.

Russian media is the most advanced among the CIS media in terms of the
connections with the foreign media sources. Russians have to create a
new media channels to deliver messages. They do not have such strict
censorship like Republics of the Central Asia or Caucasus. The Russians
reformed TASS and have a closed connection with CNN News, Reuters. MTV,
a Musical channel established a Russian speaking music channel. Russian
media played a great role in covering the news and war operations in
Chechnya and was one of the major reasons why Russians pressured the
government to stop the massacre. Russians receive news from abroad
mainly by TV (ORT- Obchestvennoe Rosiyskoe Televidine), (RTR-Rossiyskoe
TeleRadiove Vechyanie), TV-4, TV-6. Eduard Sagalaev together with CNN,
headed by Ted Turner arranged NTV and NTV+ for broadcasting on Moscow
and St. Petersburg. The second source of Information are the various
newspapers in Russia. Most of them were originated during or after the
era of Perestroyka. However, many remained from the Soviet Era but
changed their profile to be more “readable”. Before the newspapers only
printed what they were allowed to print on political or economic topics.
They could touch sports or weather occasionally. Now newspapers can
criticize the government and give their comments on the economic
situation in Russia. Radio is usually listened in the countryside or
where people do not have televisions.

Unlike people in America, many Russians use the public transportation
and do not have cars except in Moscow and St. Petersburg. However, due
to the high traffic, people prefer use subways to get to their work
place. As a result, radio does not enjoy such popularity like here in
the States.

The last, but most flourishing, medium is Internet. It enjoys the
relatively lower costs of information exchange. Many newspapers have
their web sites where they place the information, news and current
events. Russian youth are becoming more and more exposed to the
Internet. Internet getting to the colleges and homes. The example of
Russia organized search engines are HYPERLINK http://www.rambler.ru
www.rambler.ru , HYPERLINK http://www.lib.ru www.lib.ru . Larger
resources are allocated on the information databases such as HYPERLINK
http://www.news.ru www.news.ru , HYPERLINK http://www.omen.ru
www.omen.ru , which specializes on music and entertainment. Russians
made an advance step in terms of the amount of servers but they are
closely followed by Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Despite the rapid development of the Russian media there are still some
challenges and problems the media faces. Russian government was not
pleased with the way Russian reporters disclose the situation in
Chechnya, Kursk, fire in Ostankino and other major events where they
government was not acting at its best. Amnesty International reports on
the arrests and interrogations of the Russian reporters in Chechnya by
the Russian military. The reporters are being killed and the government
does not want to do anything about it.

Russians are facing another dilemma. The society has mixed feelings
about their identity and their role in CIS and the World. This reflects
on the ability of the Russian media to cover the news. They can not
figure out what is more important for the Russian society and what is
not. The difficult relations with West are a special circumstance of the
Russian society. Russians do not want to be portrayed as “losers” to the
West. In fact, in his speech at the West Point conference a chief editor
of “Foreign Policy” Zakartia said that Russians did not lose the cold
war. They want to change their system and life better. They do not think
that the West won it. He argued that thinking in such way and failing to
cooperate with Russia made the United States lose the Russia. This
relationship prevents the Russian media from showing the real attitude
of Western democracies on the events because the media do not want to be
portrayed pro-Western. The Russians are making steps toward
democratization of their society and political system and it has a
reflection on the Russian media. The Western nations should provide the
full support to this movement while understanding the situation in
Russia and the challenges Russian go through.

After the collapse of the Communist regime left Russia with an
inefficient economy, regional conflicts and problems with the
neighboring countries. Russia wants to become a democratic society with
a developed market oriented economy. It has a large potential especially
in human resources. Russians are educated, talented and bright people
who are willing to work hard if they are paid well. Russia has a vast
variety of natural resources that can attract foreign capital. Russians
are welcoming foreign investments. All these conditions will surely have
an effect and lead Russia to the family of the most-developed nations in
the world. It might take long time but it will surely happen.

Works Cited

Brudny, Yitzhak M. Reinventing Russia: Russian nationalism and the
Soviet State, 1953-1991. Harvard University Press Cambridge,
Massachusetts, London, England, 1998

Tankred G. Golenpolsky, Johnstone M. Robert and Kashin A. Vladimir Doing
Business in Russia Basic Facts for the Pioneering Entrepreneur. The
Oasis Press, Grants Pass, Oregon, 1995

Dunlop, John B. The Rise of Russian And The Fall Of The Soviet Empire.
Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1993

Finckenauer, James O. and Waring, Elin J. Russian Mafia in America:
Immigration, Culture, and Crime. Northeast University Press, Boston,
1998

Official Site for Immigration to Canada HYPERLINK
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomer/welcome/index.html
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomer/welcome/index.html

Alexandr Soljenicin, “Odin deny Ivana Denisovicha” One Day of Ivan
Denisovich Trans. Rustam Tashpulatov.

Biblioteka Moshkova HYPERLINK http://www.lib.ru www.lib.ru

Information Database HYPERLINK http://www.rambler.ru www.rambler.ru

Russian Gazeta HYPERLINK http://www.gazeta.ru
www.gaz???????????????–???????????????????????????????????????–?????????
??????????????????

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