2011-09-16 A Brief Lesson in History
My Political Science class just ended and I wanted to update all my readers on Russian conflicts because my Professor is wonderfully entertaining. After reading this you will walk away with a wealth of knowledge that will be useful in many conversations.
-Russians are excited about global warming because half the land mass of Russia is uninhabitable, as the average temperature warms they predict by 2050 Russia will have the largest amounts of usable land (currently held by Brazil with the US in second).
-The average life span of a Russian is 67 years old. Female is 74 and Male is 61. The Russian government is really excited about this because the retirement age is 60 so most Russian men never even receive these retirement benefits which means the country saves money.
-Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia’s population is decreasing slowly and consistently.
-Russia has 5 times less cars than the United States. And 10 times more deaths automobile-related.
-Russia also has many less guns in the country, yet 4 times as many gun-related deaths than the United States.
Onto the real issues:
(First off Caucasians in Russia refer to people from the Caucasus region, not white people)
-So the Chechen issue. Kind of a big deal but to be honest I did not know much about it before. Here is a brief summary that will prepare you for future conversations. Basically the Chechens (since the implosion of the CCCP) have wanted independence, and have used a great deal of violence to achieve that goal. While today they are still part of Russia, the area they live in is practically sovereign, and almost completely purged of any non Chechens. They receive federal money to stay peaceful and in a statistical analysis each Chechen receives 6 times more money than another Russian citizen. They also love Putin.
It should also be noted that Putin is the head of the United Russia Party while not being a member.
So the Russian government is literally paying the Chechen government to hopefully have less attacks on the Russian territories, essentially paying a ransom.
-Georgians and Chechens hate each other. Very deep seeded anger. But the Georgians are also afraid of the Chechens. Every time the Republic of Georgia tries to purge two neighboring regions (South Ossetia and Abkhazia) of minorities, Russia hands the Chechens money and weapons, looks away and tells them to invade to defend the (for the most part) innocent citizens of these small territories.
And what I have learned from Professor Dmitriyvich, is that Russia was better off during the Soviet Union (CCCP) times.
This concludes my own lecture. Hope you enjoyed it and learned a great deal about Russia! Till next time.