The+Society+of+Russia

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Russia, one of the greatest powers in the world is corrupt. That is the plain truth. Though seated as one of the members of the veto position in Security Council, it has earned that reputation for its strong military, but not for its strong politics and society. Russia now undergoes through a nationwide trouble of various societal problems intertwining each other. Ranging from civil conflicts to mafia problems, Russia is becoming more devastated every second. For this project, our group has decided to focus on six societal/political/demographic problems going around in Russia which include:
 * //Introduction//** (Dino):

1. Mafia & Terrorism - Linking all the problems in Russia ranging from political corruption to racism (Neo-Nazi Gangs) 2. Political Corruption - 3. Civil Conflicts/Tensions - The issues going around inside Russia that relate to warfare amongst different cultures such as Czechnya 4. Racism - 5. Population Demographics - 6. Poverty - The harsh differences between the social classes.

MAFIA & TERRORISM (BK):
__**Brief and Basic Stuff:**__ The Russian Mafia & Terrorism

__**Power:**__ -there are thousands of mafia groups throughout Russia -however, not many are large enough to pose a serious threat -the two biggest Mafia gangs in Russia are Dolgopruadnanskaya and the Solntsevskaya -this crime organization in Russia is notably ranked as the most dangerous criminal organization in the world -a 2008 report for the U.S.A. revealed that this bratva was present in San francisco working with local drug cartels and also involved in prostitution, arms deals, credit card fraud, etc. -this group has an effect not only on Russia but also other places around the world
 * Solntsevskaya Bratva:**
 * Dolgopruadnanskaya:**

__**Other:**__ -apparently they are an aid to the economy according to a man named Mr. Steele “If it was not for the mafia there would not be an economy. They are a major driving force behind what goes on here.”

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Terrorism:
Terrorism in Russia has a long history. It started during the times of the Russian Empire. First of all what is TERRORISM? Terrorism: violence against civilians to achieve political or ideological objectives by creating fear -Soviet secret agencies used tactics such as hostage-taking, most notably during the Red Terror and Great Terror campaigns

Moscow: around the end of the 20th century, significant terrorist activity took place in Moscow. -apartment bombings and the Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis..

-not only Moscow but other cities such as Chechnya, Dagestan and others have been affected by Terrorism as well

Recent Attacks:


 * Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis:**

__**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis

2010 Moscow Metro Bombings:**__ Recently, Russia was struck by yet another terrorist attack. For more information: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8592190.stm

Terrorism in Russia has come a long way. Terrorism just cannot be stopped in the country of Russia. From the Russian Empire to the Red Terror, to recent attacks, Russia has been the focal point of terrorism. The Red Terror wasn't named like that for no reason. It was literally a period of FEAR and TERROR. Punishments were severe and those who were punished were not really bad people at all.

"Do not look in the file of incriminating evidence to see whether or not the accused rose up against the Soviets with arms or words. Ask him instead to which class he belongs, what is his background, his education, his profession. These are the questions that will determine the fate of the accused. That is the meaning and essence of the Red Terror."

When many people hear the word terrorism or terrorists they think of the Middle East. This is mainly because of the 911 Attack on the World Trade Center. However, the Russians level of crime is also at a high level if not higher than the Middle East. Gangs, Mafia, Terrorists all exist in Russia. People are greatly affected by the level of crime/terrorism in their own country.

Stats:

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__**BIBLIOGRAPHY**__: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/03/98/russian_mafia/70485.stm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solntsevskaya_Bratva

" Russia: A Timeline Of Terrorism Since 1995 - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2010." //Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - Free Media in Unfree Societies//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. .

"Behind the Moscow Theater Siege - TIME." //Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. .

POLITICAL ISSUES/ Corruption (Dino):


media type="youtube" key="7Su3SmdwjiQ" height="273" width="344" align="left"Currently, Russia is known to have a lot of **political corruption** within the government. It is noted **__2.3__** in the Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI), __**143rd**__ in the world--which is very low since the CPI ranges from 1 to 10. Comparing to Myanmar and Somalia, there is only 1 point difference (both nations are the CPI number of 1.4). The Kremlin, though a historical site, is known to represent the government of Russia, but currently due to the harsh corruption within the politics--is mostly centered on the **"left-wing"**. Even the president, Dmitry Medvedev emphasized the fact that Russia is now a vertical political system and has squeezed out all opposition parties. His statement could be easily proved by seeing the type of Russia's political parties that are allowed to vote since 2007 which include:


 * Video next to the post will describe what the situation is going on for the recent elections, as Putin is going out of office (it could be said, Putin was the blame for many of the hardships in Russia's policies)

//POLITICAL PARTIES for 2007 Elections:// 1. United Russia - not left or right wing 2. The Communist Party of Russia - **left** wing 3. The Liberal and Democratic Party of Russia - right wing 4. Just Russia (Rodina Party/Party of Pensioners/Party of Life) - **left** wing 5. The Union of Right Forces - liberal-right 6. The Yabloko Party - liberal- **left** 7. The Russian Party of Patriots - patriotic- **left** 8. The Party of Peace and Harmony - patriotic-** left ** 9. The People’s Party of Russia - **left** 10. The Agrarian Party - **left** 11. The Party of Social Justice - ** left ** 12. The United Socialist Party of Russia - **left** 13. The Party of Revival of Russia - ** left ** 14. The Green Party - ecological 15. The Democratic Party - right 16. “Free Russia” Party - liberal-right

17. “The People’s Will” Party - conservative-clerical Around out of 17 political parties, 10 parties are siding with the left-wing showing serious **political corruption** going around in Russia. Also, women are not represented too well in the government. In Russia, around 54% of the population consists of women, but only a few of them are allowed to participate in government jobs. Men still dominate in politics, with the exception of Valentina Matvienko. However, in local governments there has been an increase of participation for women which means things are improving.

__**BIBLIOGRAPHY:**__ 1. "Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition - Business & Finance." HS.fi. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. . 2. here)., 2002 is available. "Russia Profile - Political Parties & Movements." Russia Profile - Russian politics, Russian business, Russian current affairs and society. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. . 3. " Russia has huge political and economic problems, says Dmitry Medvedev | World news | guardian.co.uk ." Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk . N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. . 4. "Russian political problems are serious | CNHI News Service." CNHI News Service | . N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. . 5. "Soviet flag on Flickr - Photo Sharing!." Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. .

CIVIL TENSIONS in Russia (Dino):
One of the biggest civil conflicts going around in Russia includes: Czechnya. The events in Czechnya show how cruel and unfair the Russians were against them unlike other nations.

Czechnya was used to be part the Soviet Union as a nation. However, as social tensions have increased, the Chechens wanted independence due to their distinct racial differences. Stalin, the leader, during this time did not want this, because he wanted power--and a lot of them. However as the Cold War came to an end, Russia collapsed along with it and the other previously "Soviet-Union controlled nations" became independent--MOST of them except CHECHNYA.

CURRENTLY (For past 20 Years) 1. **Russia is forcing Chechnya to become part of Russia**--through the act of sending military units to fight against the nationalist forces. 2. Chechens then started to take part in terrorist activities by first regaining their capital, Grozny, in 1996 3. After the regaining of the capital, Russia had to give their independence--but not their country's name 4. Chechnya became an independent nation, HOWEVER the ruler during those times was very corrupt 5. The **Russian government soon "accused" the Chechens for leading an air bombing** in Moscow--therefore started to take counter-terrorist actions for precautions (REMEMBER, ACCUSED--not PROVED yet) 6. In turn now there is an on-going warfare between the Chechens and the Russians between the fight for their independence 7. Recent 9/11 incidents and terrorist activities, made the Russians look good, though actually the terrorism that the Al-Qaeda and the Chechens are leading were different (Chechens were aiming for a nationalistic view) 8. Moscow now continues "Chechenization" or the transferring of powers to the government officials opposed to their independence 9. One of these leaders include the prime minister Kadyrov, and now is becoming a threat towards the Russian officials because he is further getting dangerous.

NOW the Chechens only have two choices: join the nationalist side or join Kadyrov's side. This is now becoming a civil war in Chechen to see who receives the most power, and the root cause is because of Russia. Russia's "selfish" attitude towards expansion allowed them to make great mistakes in Chechnya. Especially the Moscow air bombing incident during the 1990s. The Chechens were blamed for it, and not proved--therefore making it more suspicious of whose fault it is. Therefore it could be said that the current civil conflicts that have and are still going on are directly caused by Russia's intervention and their selfishness.

__**BIBLIOGRAPHY**__: 1. Powerpoint: 2. " Dictionaries, Languages, Chechen ." //Christian world wide web Search engine and Links Index. The Christian Google.//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. .

RACISM "Russia Out of Control" (Brian Kim):
Racism isn't a factor that only applies in North America, with the Jews, but also in Russia. It is a major conflict that has to be dealt with in Russia; Russia is a country that surely expresses the rejected of foreign countries, colored people, etc. President Vladimir Putin stated his lack of work towards protecting the foreigners in Russia, really needed due to such factors as population. So, basically Racism was pointed/shown towards people who aren't ethnically Russian. Massive incidents, such as the "Out of Control" incident, has had 252 victims due to racism. Racism is a crucial event that Russia is in need of change in, such suggestions by decreasing the victim rate with the increase of protection, or the restriction of foreigners in areas of high racism displayed in Russia, etc. === **Russia's police and prosecutors need to tackle head-on the growing scourge of violent racism in Russia** Kate Allen===

In 2005 Russia, there were approximately 400 people killed or assaulted; the rate of death/assault are continuously increasing as years have gone by. A) The intense/brutal murder of a Senegalese Student just for attempting to become school president. B) The Murder of Vu Ahn Tuan, 20 year old Vietnamese student, stabbed to death with the reason being Vietnamese **
 * Russia expresses hatred towards foreigners:

Racism to variety of ethnicities: Hostility - > Africans I) Africans are treated one of the worse out of all the hostilities. The Africans and Caucasians were killed the most. Hostility - > Caucasians II) The hostility towards caucasians are similar to the hostility towards the black people. Hostility - > Jews III) Hostility towards Jew is shown by killing the Jews with no other reason except the use of the excuse,  "a recent surge in anti-Semitic manifestations" in Russia.

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 * Video Resources:** A brief video about Racism, including scenes of violence

1) " Racist Crimes Decreasing In Russia, But Watchdogs Still Wary - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2010." //Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - Free Media in Unfree Societies//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. .
 * Bibliography:**

2) " Russia: Racism 'Out Of Control,' Says Amnesty - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2010."// Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - Free Media in Unfree Societies//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. .//

**POPULATION Demographics (Brian Kim):**
//**Russia's Population Crisis:** A huge societal issue that is known to have become a crisis: Russian Demographics. The crisis is a widespread issue to Russia, with Russia with high death rates (due to alcoholism), along with a decreasing life expectancy rate and birth rate. Due to this, Russia has no choice but to decrease in economy and weaken in politics. With the increasing death rate and decreasing birth rate occurring in Russia, is causing Russia to suffer in many scales. Recent studies of Russian Population have shown that the country's population is declining by 700,000 people per year, causing an increase of "old aged" labor, and formation of ghost villages. Russia continuing at this rate of decline in human population will cause its population halve in the middle of the century, which is 2050.

 **The collapse of the Russian population, in my view, will not only continue, but it will actually accelerate** - Viktor Perevedentsev

A) Men Health Care Issue** - One crucial reason why the Russian population is facing a major downfall is because of the men and their health In meaning, the men in the Russian Society were addicted to abusing alcohol usage, smoking (highest smoking rate in the world), and because of the spread of HIV and AIDS. Because of the men health issue, young men death rate increased, birth rate decreased.
 * Major Causes of Rapid/Accelerating downfall in Russian Population

- Another main reason why the Russian Population Crisis is occurring is because of, not only is Russia facing this issue, women are having the inspiration of working more which leads to a massive decrease in fertility rate. Women in the present world today focus more on jobs and worry more about their own, personal incomes. Also, this causes sex to be a less meaningful activity, from an activity of love & production to nothing but pleasure.
 * B) Less** [[image:http://www.rand.org/pubs/issue_papers/IP162/IP162.f1.jpg width="365" height="314" align="left"]] **Sex, More Work**


 * [Figure 1--Total Numbers of Births and Deaths in Russia, 1959-1995]**

A) Usage of Ethnicity and Scare- Mongering** Usage of Ethnicity is a brilliant, strategic plan of Russia in order for the act of increasing population. With the creation of programs to control immigration, hiring people from other countries to join their own country and live there, is one solution taken by the Russian governments. Another way Russia is attempting to resolve such issue is Scarce-Mongering. The whole idea of scarce-mongering is to change the religion of Russians to Muslim, due to Muslim groups and studies have shown to always have an increase in population. Studies have shown for the majority of Muslim countries to have an increase of 100,000 population, or even to the point of having a 50% increase in population!
 * Action(s) taken to prevent the issue

**Key terms & concepts** 1) **Demography:** A study of the death rate, birth rate, income rate, disease rate, that shows the changing "structure of human population." - Demography relates to Russia by the key concept of the Russian Population Crisis, as explained above. 2) **Ghost Villages:** An abandoned village, city, town, etc, because of economic downfall, human-nature disasters, government action, war, etc. - Ghost Villages relate to Russia in a huge sense; because of the downfall of human population shown, Ghost Villages are increasing, soon causing economic downfall to certain areas of Russia due to lack of labor, and human population. 3) **Scarce-Mongering:** An act to change a countries belief to Muslim - This idea of Scarce-Mongering is a huge discussion topic for helping Russia become populated.

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 * Video Resources:** A brief video about the Demographic Crisis in Russia

1) Petersburg, Caroline Wyatt in St. " BBC News | EUROPE | Russia struggles with population crisis."// BBC NEWS | News Front Page//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. . 2) "Russia: what demographic crisis? | openDemocracy."// openDemocracy//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. . 3) "Russia's Demographic "Crisis": How Real Is It?."// RAND Corporation Provides Objective Research Services and Public Policy Analysis//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. .//
 * Bibliography:**

POVERTY Issues (Angie Kim)
- Because this country can hold both extremes; obesity and hunger, the poverty of Russia is a mystery in and of itself. There are many factors that have resulted poverty problem of Russia. -Russia’s weather and its climate are the greatest impact. The majority of Russia is too dry and cold which prevents them from having proper soils and weather for supporting agriculture. One fourth of the Russians lives under poverty. -Poverty in Russia is a extremely realistic problem for most of its population. -Because extreme amount of Russian citizens are below the poverty line, they can expect no less than a significant amount of their citizens to be penniless. -Impoverished areas are mostly in the cities, not the countrysides of Russia. -The average income of a Russian is $145 per month which is enough for carrying on a life in a rural area, but, not sufficient for urban livings. -In Russia, the growth of obesity is severe. It is announced that about one out of five children in Russia are overweight. -It is more likely for the high and low income families than the average income families. -The obesity rate was effected by political and social issues of the Soviets and Russian history. -Due to the change of women’s roles in their communities--active roles to not as active roles--as the Soviet regime took over, many women became overweight. However, men’s obesity rate are roughly the identical.

__**BIBLIOGRAPHY:**__ "Harun Yahaya." The Winter of Islam and The Sprin to come- Chenchnya//. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. < http://www.harunyahya.com/spring03.php>. "World Food Prize."// Poverty in Russia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. 

CONCLUSION & Future PROSPECTS
By seeing these current events, the future doesn't seem bright for Russia. Society is breaking down every second as more and more events take place, that further catalyze their own destruction. The mafia and terrorism going around the nation already corrupts the nation and divides it into two social classes: the wealthy (ones who take part in mafia business) and the poor. Also the power of the mafia is directly related to the politics, as the use of money corrupts their viewpoints and allows the mafia to take control of the government. Russian politics, though now changed their prime minister, is still undergoing through a highly "corrupted" viewpoint as most of their political parties emphasize on the "left-wing" side, or the egalitarian side. There is no opposition to the political parties, therefore change is very limited in Russia. Civil tensions also increase problems for Russia as they have to support the sides that favor them, in which is not actually fair. Racism is also very, deeply present as people constantly create stereotypes with each other. In one video source, there is a black man for candidate at a spot in the government, but he is treated with disrespect due to his color. Also, Russia's declining population is degenerating their ethnicity, and allows more different ethnicities to flourish. HOWEVER, due to the ongoing racism tensions get worse. Poverty is also a deep issue from the beginning that destroys Russia as a nation.

By seeing these events going around in Russia, all intertwined, it is hard for our group to come up with a conclusion that Russia is in a way towards a more positive attitude. We personally believe that it will take time, and a very long time to solve all the society issues Russia is currently going through. The question is now, when and how can these society issues could be solved, and they could be actually be solved by stopping the corruption the mafia is bringing along with racism within the nation. If these two factors are destroyed, political balance could be regained, poverty could be reduced (as the middle class would return), and terrorist activities within the nation could be reduced--further helping the nation. Also stopping racism could help prevent the various violence going on in Russia, help accept Russia's declining population and be open to immigrants that could help raise their economic status as a nation, and also even allow civil tensions to be less serious by understanding their ethnicity and culture better. However, without Russia trying to make effort into solving social issues around their nation, like what the new prime minister believes--Russia will go through a hard time.