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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:33 am Post subject: What's good about Russia? |
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I don't mean to be aggressive here, but I can't recall ever liking anything Russia has done from way back when up to now, nor ever wanting to visit there. Russia seems to be the most brazen of the world powers in giving money and weaponry to military groups that want to break off in areas like Georgia and Moldova, they cut off energy supplies to countries when they don't get their way, they moved in and took a number of important Japanese islands after the war, deported their people and moved their own in and now refuse to give them back, problems with drugs and alcoholism seem to be rampant, etc. etc.
Then again, I don't know a great deal about the country. I'm hoping someone can shed some light on some parts of Russia that are worthy of respect. Besides authors. |
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merkurix
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Location: Not far from the deep end.
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:55 am Post subject: |
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We have to be aware that Russia is one of very few Western countries that have experienced a genuine democracy up until less than 20 years ago. For as long as it has existed it has always been a autocratic monarchy, ruled by czars and when the monarchy was overthrown in the early 20th century, Communism took over for another 70 something years. No democracy at all during any of that time. But as things are, I agree with you. But it has potential. It will take a while for Russia to evolve into a fine, fine democracy.
Oh, how about musicians? Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky? |
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bignate
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Location: Hell's Ditch
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:19 am Post subject: |
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Containing Russia: THE SOURCES OF RUSSIAN CONDUCT - Yuliya Tymoshenko
Interesting article about how with every advancement Russia seems to make, a negative aspect of their actions becomes apparent.
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Thanks to high energy prices, the chaotic conditions that prevailed across Russia in the early 1990s have given way to several years of 6.5 percent annual economic growth and a trillion-dollar economy. Living standards have improved (although life expectancy has not), the middle class is growing and increasingly confident, and the stock market is booming. Russia possesses the third-largest hard-currency reserves in the world, and it is running a huge current account surplus and paying off the last of the debts it accumulated in the early 1990s. The ruble has been made fully convertible and may even be undervalued. Russian membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) beckons. Ordinary Russians are grateful to Putin for the country's stability and economic growth, and they are proud that Russia appears to matter when great global issues are debated. No wonder, then, that Putin's popularity rating is around 70 percent -- a sustained achievement that any politician would envy.
Yet, for every step forward that Russia has taken over the course of Putin's second term, it has taken a step backward. Greater state control of the economy -- especially in the energy industry, where, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the state's share of oil production has doubled in three years -- has bred corruption and inefficiency. Serious political opposition has been muzzled. Newspapers and television and radio stations have been shut down or taken over by the government and its allies. Kremlin cronies have replaced elected regional governors, and Russia's parliament, the Duma, has been emasculated as part of the Kremlin's drive to monopolize all state power.
Russia's foreign policy has been equally troubling. Moscow has given Iran diplomatic protection for its nuclear ambitions, and Russian arms sales are promiscuous. The Kremlin has consistently harassed neighboring countries; former Soviet nations, such as Georgia, have faced near economic strangulation. In February, Putin spoke favorably about creating a "gas OPEC." |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:59 am Post subject: |
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Oh, how about musicians? Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky?
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Not to mention well-regarded writers like Tolstoy, Dostoyesvsky, Gogol, Chekhov, Gorki, Pasternak, Sholokhov, Solzhenistsyn, and Nabokov.
Except for the first section of Notes From Underground, a chapter from Crime And Punishment, and about two thirds of Lolita(which was written in English), I've never read any of these guys. People tell me they're good. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, and some pretty significant pieces of cinema...
And at least one really cool artist...
That's Marc Chagall. |
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xtchr
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:50 am Post subject: |
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The architecture: St Basils, everything within the Kremlin, Hermitage etc.
The most awesome subway system (Moscow). |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:22 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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Oh, how about musicians? Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky?
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Not to mention well-regarded writers like Tolstoy, Dostoyesvsky, Gogol, Chekhov, Gorki, Pasternak, Sholokhov, Solzhenistsyn, and Nabokov.
Except for the first section of Notes From Underground, a chapter from Crime And Punishment, and about two thirds of Lolita(which was written in English), I've never read any of these guys. People tell me they're good. |
And, and you forgot Bulgakov... but we'll forgive for the Chagall mention.
In any case, Mith doesn't want writers (but he should take a look at the absurdist, Daniil Kharms).
Other artists: Bakst, Filonov, Serebryakova, Vrubel', Kandinsky, Malevich, Petrov-Vodkin, Roerich... Go here: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/foreign/russian/art/
No open bottle laws.  |
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Fresh Prince
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: The glorious nation of Korea
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:49 am Post subject: |
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Space
Developing and launching the first satellite and launching the first space station in human history, the Salyut 1 which was launched in 1971 and putting the first human in space.
Military
Defeating the German Eastern front in World War II and had the Americans not developed nuclear weapons, they would have been the first ones to invade Japan. Many scholars believe that this would have likely resulted in far more casualties than the two atomic bombs.
Science
The periodic table of elements.
The Russians were taught to believe that they invented the radio, lightbulb, and television.
Sports medicine advances.
Psychology
Ivon Pavlov discovered conditioning. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:30 am Post subject: |
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| Fresh Prince wrote: |
Space
Developing and launching the first satellite and launching the first space station in human history, the Salyut 1 which was launched in 1971 and putting the first human in space. |
*slaps head*
Oh yeah. Can't believe I forgot that.  |
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thebum
Joined: 09 Jan 2005
Location: North Korea
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:47 am Post subject: |
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| the women are demons in the sack |
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VirginIslander
Joined: 24 May 2006
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:50 am Post subject: |
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| Ten million more women than men. |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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Their slavic soul.....see Nietzsche for a discussion on this.
DD |
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The Hammer
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ullungdo 37.5 N, 130.9 E, altitude : 223 m
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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deleted
Last edited by The Hammer on Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:20 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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The Hammer
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ullungdo 37.5 N, 130.9 E, altitude : 223 m
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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Fedor the Great.
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cwemory
Joined: 14 Jan 2006
Location: Gunpo, Korea
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Vodka? Although I understand that Poles and Ukranians also take credit for it. |
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