Russia_Sabs

Russia's position on Iran nuclear power

2010-03-12T20:04:00.006Z

As the world struggles to find a formula for dealing with suspicious nuclear developments in Iran, Russian diplomats have been holding bilateral talks with Iranian officials on a proposal they say could defuse the crisis.To put the situation in perspective, Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, estimated to be in the region of 16,000.
Moscow has tabled an offer to enrich uranium for an Iranian reactor under international supervision as a way of appeasing international concerns. Although Russia already enjoys good relations with Tehran, it is not interested in a nuclear-armed Iran on its southern doorstep. Nor does Russia want to see nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, experts say. In addition, an agreement would be a boon to Russia’s image as a peace broker in international politics. Russia wants to be seen as one of the big players, not as sitting on the sidelines. Russia also has strong economic interests in Iran. Besides conventional arms, Moscow sells Iran nuclear reactors. For example, the light-water commercial reactor at Bushehr, built by Russians, was sold for more than $800 million. Two other similar nuclear projects are in the works, Ferguson says. The Russians might cut a deal with Iran by saying that they will give you a good price on fuel if you allow them to build. Russian trade with Iran is also growing. In 2005, Russian exports to Iran totaled roughly $2 billion. Russian exports to Iran could reach $10 billion in the coming years.

Aissatou Nafi Maiga

effects of globalization on russian economy

2010-02-12T08:31:00.002Z

the process of economic tranformation brought dramatic changes to Russia's economy.The disappointeting economic results of the first decade of transformation which brought macroeconomic instability, and increasing poverty and inequality are often understood as results of Russias's opening in the context on Globalisation. In this article, the impact of Globalization on russia is discussed, and it is shown that responsability for the economic crisis is not globalization but a combination of the legacy of the centrally planned economy, together with incorrect policy choices after the beginning of transformation. Early attemps to transform Russia using Shock Therapy and applying a few guidelines dubbed the ''washington concensus'' failed due to the complexity institutional, but change does not mean a failure of market economy and not at all inevitable consequence of Globalization as popular misconception would imply.
In Russia statistics import/export activity, foreign investment, bilateral and multilateral technical assistance programs reveal that very few regions have been incoporated in global economy

Ndeye Marie Diakhate

What is the impact that globalization has culturally in Russia?

2010-02-12T01:15:00.000Z

Globalization eliminates the boundaries between the countries and provides new opportunities.
In spite of all the differences between business cultures, we can’t neglect certain common grounds that constitute business in general. For example, each business deals with profit-orientation, professional development of staff, etc. And, thanks to globalization, today various countries can share and learn from each other in order to adopt new elements in their own operation.
Having been off the market system for many years, and under the pressure of “command” authority, Russia had difficulties to enter the world market. While globalization was already involving all other countries, it did not “touch” Russian business and management styles until the 90th, when the country started reforming its own business style. Now, Russia constitutes a part of the business world and is interconnected with the world system. Russia adopted some well-known management models as well as developed its own business strategies. Employees get more and more appreciation for their knowledge, experience, and creativity. They are also given more choices and responsibilities at the workplace. I think, this indicates the development of a new management style, which has more similarities with American and European ones.

To summarize, globalization provides many opportunities as well as challenges in business. In order to better utilize the opportunities for different countries to operate successfully, under the conditions of cultural diversity, we need to go beyond our cultural stereotypes. Curiosity, openness and strive to reach mutual understanding should become good features for intercultural management. We can learn a lot from each other, but we need to learn to be tolerant and respectful to all the differences we face, when we do business together.

Close to half a century later the experience of youth in the former Soviet Union has little in common with what it meant to be young under state socialism. Russia is a case in point. Here integration into the global economic and political system has had ramifications for the self-identifications of young people. Many young Russians’ cultural practices are today so closely aligned to Western models that cultural homogeneity appears to level youth experience on a transnational scale. At the most general level it is a contribution to the debate over the dynamics between global (Western) and local (Russian) cultural production and exchange. More specifically, the volume contributes to an understanding of how young people negotiate these dynamics on the level of culture in Russia.
Russia has undergone huge economic and political transformations in the post-Soviet era. .

Speaking at the government council session in St. Petersburg, Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoi listed threats which exist for Russian culture. First of all, he considers the threat of globalization which is occurring in the entire civilized world in economics, social life, law and everyday life. According to Shvydkoi, this is a call to preserve national culture, and now in many countries for example the Czech Republic they are remembering that they are a Slavic people in order not to dissolve into European culture. Shvydkoi said that it was important to preserve the many colors of Russian culture.
Shvydkoi said the second problem is the rupture in the root of primary culture. 'A generation of artists grew up who did not walk barefoot in the grass in childhood,' he said. Shvydkoi said that it was necessary to return to a full-fledged artistic education in school. Moreover, he warned that culture could go along a commercial path because the market pressures on culture are very strong and culture has had to learn to earn money.
Shvydkoi also said that a large break exists in the financing of culture in Russia.

FATOUMATA DIA

The affect of Globalization on Politics in Russia

2010-02-11T23:48:00.001Z

Globalisation has become popular in Russia. It has become popular when people around the world have stopped talking about the rise of a new global economy, and instead have begun talking about its crisis.

Russia is often discriminated on the world markets. The process of globalization implies growing competition but it is necessary that it proceed on an equal basis. It's an awful fact that Americanization has already influenced our national mind. The globalisation affect Russia politically by the breakup of the Soviet Union , russia was also defined as a nation in transition to democracy. Democracy and the West are now seen in very negative terms by increasing segments of Russia society. This follows from theories of nationalism that relate its ris to the emergence in a modernizing multiethnic state.

Mame Marie Ndiaye

effects of globalization on russian economy

2010-02-11T21:50:00.001Z

Le processus de transformation économique a apporté des changements dramatiques pour la société russe et l'économie. The process of economic transformation brought dramatic changes to Russia’s economy. Les résultats économiques décevants de la première décennie de transformation, qui a mis l'instabilité macroéconomique et la pauvreté croissante et les inégalités, sont souvent considérées comme des résultats de l'ouverture de la Russie dans le contexte de la mondialisation. The disappointing economic results of the first decade of transformation, which brought macroeconomic instability and increasing poverty and inequality, are often understood as results of Russia's opening in the context of globalization. Dans cet article, l'impact de la mondialisation sur la Russie est discutée, et il est démontré que la responsabilité de la crise économique n'est pas la mondialisation mais une combinaison de l'héritage de l'économie planifiée, avec des choix politiques incorrectes après le début de la transformation. In this article, the impact of globalization on Russia is discussed, and it is shown that responsibility for the economic crisis is not globalization but a combination of the legacy of the centrally planned economy, together with incorrect policy choices after the beginning of transformation. Les premières tentatives pour transformer la Russie en utilisant la thérapie de choc et d'appliquer quelques règles surnommé le «consensus de Washington" a échoué en raison de la complexité du changement institutionnel. Early attempts to transform Russia using shock therapy and applying a few guidelines dubbed the "Washington consensus" failed due to the complexity of institutional, but change does not mean a failure of market economy and not at all an inevitable consequence of globalization, the conventional wisdom implies. But this does not mean a failure of the market economy and is not at all an inevitable consequence of globalization, as popular misconceptions would imply.
In Russia statics import and export activity, foreign investment, and bilateral and multilateral technical assistance programs reveal that very few regions have been incorporated into global economy.

Ndeye Marie Diakhate

Globilization's affect on Russian society

2010-02-11T20:56:00.002Z

Russian society has been experiencing dramatic changes that affected the country's politics, economy and social life.
Socially, Western music and other types of pop culture have influenced the Russian Youth. Russian language, as many English words and constructions have become wildly fashionable. Some of the terms borrowed from the languages of countries with a longer capitalistic and technological tradition (like the USA, for example) have corresponding equivalents in Russian, the English terms are being extensively used by the population, as further evidence of the social changes that have taken place in the country. Due to globalization, transnational corporations have quickly emerged.
Poetry has declinedgivingplace to crime fiction,historical and romantic novels.
Drug abuse has come into the open with disastrous consequence; more than 3 million drug addicts. TheRussian Orthodox Church has grown since 1991 after the fallof the Soviet Union, as churches and monasteries have reopened and been restored although the holidays of Easter and Christmas have been reinstated (according to the JulianCalendar). In 1996 about 75 percent of believers in Russia considered themselves Russian Orthodox, 19 percent Muslim, and 7 percent other.Virtually nonexistent rituals such as church weddings have become common, most Russians have remained, if not confessed atheists, quite unobservant.
Doctors are poorly paid and poorly trained. Shortages of nurses, specialized personnel, and medical supplies and equipment persist. The AIDS epidemic has severely increased; the number of HIV positive people has grown from less than 100 in 1989 to an estimated 1 million in 2003.
About 98 percent of population over age fifteen are literate. Constitution guarantees right to free preschool, basic general, and secondary vocational education.In 1995 there were about 500 postsecondary schools in operation, including forty-two universities. In 1994 the construction, industry, and agriculture sectors employed 53.5 percent of the work force, and the services sector employed 37 percent, a distribution typical of developing economies. Unemployment rate has decreased from 7.90 % in 2003 to 6.40% in 2009.
On the sports side, ice hockey and tennis are the most practiced in Russia. It was ranked 3rd in number of both gold and total medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The past 15 years have been a period of intense international change. Many aspects of international life have experienced rapid transformation having imapcted the Russian society in different aspects that both have pros and cons.

Aissatou Nafi Maiga

STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGAM IN RUSSIA

2009-12-25T14:57:00.004Z

World Bank Approves Largest-Ever Loan to Russia for Structural Reforms

Structural adjustment is a term used to describe the policy changes implemented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (the Bretton Woods Institutions) in developing countries. These policy changes are conditions (Conditionalities) for getting new loans from the IMF or World Bank, or for obtaining lower interest rates on existing loans. Conditionalities are implemented to ensure that the money lent will be spent in accordance with the overall goals of the loan. The Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) are created with the goal of reducing the borrowing country's fiscal imbalances.The IMF has helped foster a severe depression in Russia. Russia in the 1990s has witnessed a peacetime economic contraction of unprecedented scale--with the number of Russians in poverty rising from 2 million to 60 million since the IMF came to post-Communist Russia. The IMF's "shock therapy"--sudden and intense structural adjustment--helping bring about this disaster. Given the monopoly structure of the economy, as well as the large amount of cash savings accumulated by Russian households, inflation soared 520 percent in the first three months. Millions of people saw their savings and pensions reduced tocrumbs.

Washington, August 6, 1998 The World Bank today approved a new US$1.5 billion structural adjustment loan to the Russian Federation to support accelerated economic reforms needed to stimulate lasting growth, and to cushion the social impact of the transition to a market economy. The loan - which is part of the US$22.6 billion lending package from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Japanese Government announced last month by the Russian Government - is the largest-ever made by the Bank in Europe and Central Asia. It is also the third in a series of Bank structural adjustment loans made to Russia since June, 1997. The two previous loans totaled US$600 million and US$800 million, respectively.

Agenda for Change

As Russia has completed its first phase of reforms in its transition to a market economy which has reduced inflation, lowered trade tariffs, and ended both price controls and centralized planning, the World Bank believes that the country's immediate priority must be to act in four key areas that will contribute directly to the resumption of growth and the maintenance of economic stability.

Reform of Infrastructure Monopolies

Improving efficiency, transparency, and competition in Russia's electricity, gas, oil, and railways monopolies should produce substantial benefits for the rest of the economy by stimulating lower costs, easing production bottlenecks, and promoting investment.

Private Sector Development

Dynamic private sector development will be key to the resumption of sustained growth in Russia. With price and trade liberalization substantially completed, promoting the private sector will mainly depend on a combination of reforms that would create a fertile business climate.

Fiscal Management

Fiscal reform has become an essential condition for restoring market confidence in Russia's ability to complete its transformation into a market economy. The World Bank believes that the Russian Government is keenly aware of its need for fiscal reform, in particular, sharply reducing government borrowing and improving the way it manages its finances.

Banking Sector Reform

Comprehensive reform of Russia's banking sector is a prerequisite for long-term economic stability and a robust financial system.

This third structural adjustment loan also complements the Bank's previous efforts to support Russia in creating a social protection system that meets the needs of a market economy, in particular a US$800 million Social Protection Adjustment Loan and a US$28.6 million Social Protection Implementation loan approved in June and October 1997, respectively.The loan is repayable in seven years, including a three-year grace period, at the standard LIBOR-based interest rate of US single currency loans. So far, the Bank's commitments to the Russian Federation total about US$11.4 billion for 41 projects.

Aissatou Nafi Maiga

GEM RUSSIA

2009-10-29T23:40:00.002Z

THE INEQUALITY BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN RUSSIA?

The richest and most successful are the men. As of March 2009, there were 32 billionaires in Russia, and not a single name on that list belongs to a woman alone. Women’s role in this society continues to be seen as traditional, while the financial power is reserved for men.

Despite the fact that women are on average more educated than men in Moscow, they hold little over 15% of management positions. Naturally, there are very few women who made their way up to the top, but the same women happen to be married to Russia’s most affluent men.

HDI RUSSIA

2009-10-29T14:08:00.008Z

Human Development Index (HDI) A composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development – a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. The HDI rank is determined using using HDI values to the sixthdecimal point. Performance in each dimension is expressed as a value between 0 and 1, the higher the number the better the result.

Because of the closed nature of its politics, Russia's HDI figures only begin in 1990 where they show a HDI figure of 0.818. These statistics were taken in between the period when Russia was rejecting communism and the eventual end of the USSR in December 1991. In those years a great deal of hardship was endured by the Russian people (as they have always done in their history unfortunately) and this is reflected in the 1995 HDI figure of 0.771. The political turmoil in those years naturally eroded people's standard of living. The HDI figure for 2000 was 0.785 and in 2004 it was 0.797, which shows that in the decade or so since 1995, life for ordinary Russians has improved, but has yet to reach the standard set in the last days of the Soviet Union.

HDI (2001) :0.775
HDI (2003) :0.795
HDI(2005): 0.802
HDI (2006) :0.806
HDI (2007) : 0.817

Aissatou Nafi Maiga

2 DIFFERENT INTEREST GROUPS IN RUSSIA

2009-10-09T01:29:00.005Z

FIRST INTEREST GROUP
Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia

Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia is an association of academics and scholars whose research interests are related to the Russian empire during the 'long' eighteenth century - that is, from the start of Peter I's reign in 1682 to the death of Alexander I in 1825.
The stategy is the creation of a wesbsite in order to :

to provide members with news about meetings, conferences and relevant publications

to carry information for the wider academic community about the Study Group's activities
to archive and digitise the contents of the Study Group's Newsletter for wider academic accessibility.

Projects realised

New Book on the Princes Kantemir

A new work on Prince Dmitrii Kantemir and his son Antiokh by Stefan Lemny (head of the history collection at the Bibliothèque nationale de France) has recently been published in French by Éditions Complexe.

VIII International Conference of the Study Group - Durham 2009

A conference at Van Mildert College, University of Durham, in the United Kingdom. The dates for the conference were from Saturday 4 July to Thursday 9 July 2009.
The theme of the conference was Russian history and culture during the long eighteenth century (i.e. late c17th - early c19th centuries).

PLAN

2010 Meeting of the Study Group

2010 Meetinghe next UK meeting of the Study Group will take place Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 January 2010 at the High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. of the Study Group

Aissatou Nafi Maiga

CURRENT NEWS HAPPENING IN RUSSIA

2009-10-09T00:48:00.004Z

SCANDAL. Forward to the past: FSB bans selling modems without a passport

Publication time: 7 September 2009, 14:28

FSB has remembered days when all radios receivers in the Soviet Union were subjected to obligatory registration, and is going to adapt old rules to the conditions of "information revolution", says InfoxRu website.

A draft prohibiting selling of USB-modems without a passport is being developed in the department.

Lawyers and technical experts are assured of meaninglessness of the initiatives of FSB: registration of the buyers of USB-modems actually would not identify the subscriber, as modems that work with networks of Wi-Fi and WiMAX, do not transmit registration information to the network.

Meanwhile the Lubyanka (FSB HQ) has considered selling USB-modems without a passport an "abnormal practice". As a result, the FSB is developing a draft that restricts selling of mobile devices.

Now, a passport is required when purchasing a USB-modem only in cases when the device is got along with a SIM-card, or when a contract with the subscriber is concluded at the purchasing.

The independent experts are surprised at the initiative of law enforcement agencies. They admit that they do not understand how a change in the rules of selling USB-modems will give the FSB new information on users.

There are modems designed to operate in networks, which provide a rigid identification of subscriber's terminal, it is a GSM and CDMA. This allows you to attach a hardware ID to the individual subscriber. As for Wi-Fi and WiMAX, that modem is not transmitting to the network registration information, it is absolutely senseless to sell them by passport.

Wi-Fi or WiMAX networks works with any modem, that address to them, so it is not a problem to buy a modem in Ukraine and use it in Moscow", experts commenting on the initiative of FSB.

Department of Monitoring,
Kavkaz Center

Russian commander 'used' special troops to block police search of relative's factory

Publication time: 23 September 2009, 02:38

One of Russia's most senior military commanders is being investigated over claims he used special forces troops to block a police search of a factory owned by his fugitive son-in-law.

The allegations, made in the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta, have prompted the defence ministry to launch a probe that threatens the career of Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov, head of Russia's airborne troops.

A Kremlin favourite, the general is a decorated Hero of Russia and commanded Russian forces in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia last year.

The scandal is an awkward test case for the Kremlin's high-profile war on corruption, while Kremlin critics say it confirms their fears that the practice of abusing official office for personal ends has become routine.

"This is simply beyond the realm of good and evil," Yevgenia Albats, editor of liberal magazine New Times, told Ekho Moskvy radio. "That General Shamanov takes Special Forces troops and sends them off to solve his personal issues is a nightmare situation."

The allegations are backed by a leaked police intercept of General Shamanov's mobile telephone conversations in which he is heard ordering a subordinate to mobilise twenty Special forces troops to stop and "intern" a police investigator trying to search a Moscow factory. According to Novaya Gazeta, the factory, valued at up to m, is owned by the general's son-in-law. His son sits on the board, and his daughter is laying claim to half ownership. The general's son-in-law is a fugitive from justice who is wanted for attempted murder.

General Shamanov told Novaya Gazeta he refused to comment on what he said was a personal matter, dismissing the allegations as provocative rumours. If he does lose his job, human rights activists will not shed any tears. They accuse him of presiding over numerous war crimes in Chechnya. The General, 52, denies wrongdoing.

Source: Agencies

Kavkaz Center

Puppet Dagestani Official Killed in Moscow

Publication time: 30 September 2009, 07:15

A senior Dagestan official who survived three assassination attempts at home has
been shot dead by gunmen in southwestern Moscow, investigators said Monday.

One suspect, a 32-year-old Dagestani resident, was detained while apparently
driving a getaway car.

Two gunmen fired at least 20 rounds at Alim-Sultan Alkhmatov, head of Dagestan's
Khasavyurt district, from automatic rifles as he and two bodyguards got out of a
car at about 8:15 p.m. Sunday at 21/1 Novocheryomushkinskaya Ulitsa, the
Investigative Committee said.

One bodyguard was wounded in the attack.

Alkhmatov, 44, died from his injuries while being rushed to the hospital in an
ambulance.

"The actions of the group of criminals were very well-planned," Anatoly
Bagmet, chief of the Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee, said in
remarks from the crime scene broadcast on Vesti-24 state television.

Source: Agencies

Kavkaz Center

Aissatou Nafi Maiga

RUSSIA Overview

2009-10-01T21:58:00.001Z

RUSSIA'S President: Vladimir Putin

A/Physical Aspect of Russia
In terms of territory, Russia is the world's largest country. With a total area of 17,075,200 kilometers (6,592,735 square miles), Russia covers about one-eighth of the world's land surface. Russia is 60 percent larger than the world's second-largest country, Canada. But, like Canada, much of Russia's territory is located above the 50th parallel, where subarctic and arctic weather conditions are prevalent.
Russia stretches from its westernmost point in the city of Kaliningrad, just north of Warsaw, Poland, to its easternmost point at Big Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. Within eyesight is Little Diomede Island, belonging to the United States just off the coast of Alaska's Seward Peninsula. Russia's great breadth of territory includes many different geographical regions. These include areas of permafrost (areas of eternal ice) in Siberia and the Far North as well as taiga and steppes (vast grassland). Much of Russia's northern and eastern coastline is hemmed in by ice for much of the year, complicating navigation. However, Russia has year-round warm water seaports at Murmansk on its northwestern coastline of the Barents Sea and at Vladivostok at the far eastern coast on the Sea of Japan.
B/Population
Russia's population is predominantly urban, with 73% of its population of 141,903,979 citizens residing in urban areas.^[2] Russia has experienced a population loss of about 5 million since it peaked shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. Currently, population growth is nearly stagnant, with an overall growth rate of -0.02% since the start of 2009.^[3]
The United States Census Bureau estimates that Russia's population will decline from the current 143 million to a mere 111 million by 2050, a loss of more than 30 million people and a decrease of more than 20%.

Roughly 80 percent of Russia's population is ethnic Russian. The remaining 20 percent is made up of a wide variety of ethnic groups including Tatar, Ukrainian, Belarussian, Moldavian, Kazakh, and many others.The country was made up of more than 100 ethnic or "national" groups. About three-fourths of the population of Russia is urban. Moscow, Russia's capital and largest city, is home to some 9 million people. Russia has a well-educated population with near universal literacy.

Previously Russia was the world's sixth most populous country, following China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil.

C/Regime Type

In accounting for why Russia stood on the brink of disintegration in the 1990s, most analysts neglected to account for why it managed to hold together. The tools developed for understanding regionalism in Russia left little room for explaining (much less predicting) how regional mobilization against the state might be contained or even reversed. In this regard, Vladimir Putin’s rule has been striking for the speed and apparent ease with which the Kremlin managed to tame the regions. And contrary to expectations, regional leaders greeted the increasingly authoritarian re-centralization of power in the Kremlin not with jeers, but with applause. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in four Russian regions, the paper argues that the tide of regionalism was reversed by the activation of integrative practices along Russia’s internal borders. The research makes an original contribution to the empirical literature on post-Soviet politics in accounting for the puzzling success of the Kremlin’s regional policy under Putin. It further contributes to the theoretical understanding of borders in political science by conceptualizing the relationship of internal borders to regime type and processes of state formation.